We have made it to Haiti!

Flying from Manchester Airport was hard as I was so obviously leaving Lorraine for 6 weeks, and at that moment the return journey seemed a long way away.
I think the prayers offered for a safe and trouble-free journey must have included the luggage because the given allowance was 23kg and, and with no prior checking, my bag weighed in at 22.7kg - including all the anaesthetic equipment.

The flight left on time, and arrived early into JFK Airport New York, and both immigration and customs cleared with no trouble.
The hotel was fine, clearly used by some flight crews as elevator up to the 8 floor was occupied mainly by Chinese flight crew.

Knowing that it was Pentecost Sunday I was keen to find a church: and a little search on the Internet turned up a possibility in the centre of New York that promised a Eucharist at 5.00pm. But then how does an "Alien in New York" find the way? (Particularly when the Alien is as timid as ET?)
Eventually need and necessity overtook nervousness and a few enquiries led me to believe that a 1 bus and 1 subway journey would lead me directly there...
Unfortunately essential maintainance work substituted a shuttle bus for half the subway journey, but I guess I got to see more of the Jamaica suburbs of New York that way.
Eventually on the tube, and within 6 stops, Lexington Avenue was reached. Now for the church...

The church website offered what seemed to me a highly stylelised grid map until I realised that this is the way New York is built! And walking from subway to church was as simple as the map suggested.
Enquiry at the desk in the entrance hall confirmed the 5.00pm service, and as my body clock was expecting a sleep I decided to find a coffee shop. Starbucks just met the situation.... An Americano in America, and then to Mass.

St Bartholomews, or St Barts to its friends, is in size comparable to Westminster Cathedral, but this is the informal service. About 45 people, and the Rector - Buddy- preached about Pentecost.
Greetings and thanks between us at the Peace and at the conclusion of the service found me leaving with his thanks for being prepared to go to Haiti, and reminded me of Mark (R) commission to me to go to Haiti out on behalf of the people of St Luke's.

A retrace of the outward journey gave me the opportunity to help a native New Yorker understand the subway schedule changes, (and also got me his tube map.)
On the shuttle bus with William (it seems all New Yorkers are polite and helpful) and some directions back to the regular bus; then an extremely pleasant taxi driver directed me to the right bus
stop home. And having remembered that the hotel was where the bus route terminated, there was little need for anxiety over missing the stop. (just enough though to remind me of my nature!!)

Got back to room to find answerphone message from Dale - the first of the New Zealand physios to be flying out. We were in the same hotel and arranged to meet in the foyer at 4.00am the next day.

Found the hotel bar and ordered a burger (what else in the States?), resisted a beer (this journey will be teetotal until the return leg) and instead ordered iced tea.

Sleep was tricky... Not wanting to miss my alarm and a messed up body clock combined to compound the usual feelings of insomnia that I get in new places. However I got 3-4 hours sleep.
Met up with Dale and checked in with no problem to what was clearly a very Spanish flight!
But again a prevailing tail wind and the blessings of so many throughout the world gave added impetus to the expression of "flying on a wing and a prayer", and we landed in The Dominican Republic (to very Spanish applause) about 20 minutes early. Again customs and immigration were cleared uneventfully and we were met by Robyn and Ruben in the arrivals hall.

Roads and driving in the Dominican Republic is a long way from the roads and drivers in the UK. And yet there is considerable skill demonstrated in that finely judged overtaking chances were taken with a style and grace that was completely at odds with the condition and age of the truck we were driving.
At one point, after re-fueling, the car was left with Dale and me as Robyn and Ruben had to get some pharmacy items. The diesel pump was then needed so I tried to drive the truck away, soon realising the handbrake was broken. We sucessfully swapped drivers on the least steep part of the forecourt with some nifty footwork by Ruben!
Some of the reasons for Ruben's speed became apparent when we realised that the border closed at 5.00pm, and we had the street market and immigration to negotiate.
The border crossing allows vehicles to cross in single file, and it quickly became obvious to me that the biggest get priority by default. Against us were lorries and trucks, and in front of us were cars and a mass of pedestrians. Robyn led us to the border and made the negotiations, and somehow (was it a miracle?) Ruben appeared at the gate, the last, or nearly the last, car to cross. Also the luggage, just lying in the back of the truck was untouched. Thanks be to God.

Have to admit to a certain anxiety wondering whether we would cross the border, and also felt very uncomfortable about the overt begging, not forgetting the heat....

The journey from the Border to Cap Haitien was about a further hour, and although driven much more slowly, there is an artistry about Haitian drivers which seems to allow them to find the narrowest of
gaps and then to squeeze through un-marked. I would have deemed it miraculous until the obvious damage inflicted to bodywork, lights and windscreens became evident, (and the damage to human bodywork was shown to me at the hospital later on). But despite that, and with a near total lack of
crash helmets and absolutely no seat belts, I still hold that there is an artistic interpretation of the driving skills.

Robyn's flat is roomy but pretty basic. Potentially three bathrooms, but not all the basins are plumbed.... No running water in the main kitchen, and a separate charcoal kitchen (no chimney) and no hot water at all!
Hatians seem to accept communal living, and having been given a room to myself is a luxury. There are no outside windows though, and the window that looks out to the corridor has no curtains. It is a very hot room but ably serviced by a fan, without which it would take a lot of getting used to.

Robyn shares the house with Rozita (a student nurse of 32) and Ma Theo (a more elderly lady whose family now all live in the USA).
The arrangement though strange seems to work.
Learning to bath with tepid water and a plastic pot is fun and refreshing and very welcome.
Electricity is fairly constant, with only a few brief power cuts, but I value the torch!

Our arrival was met with some delicious food from a nearby eatery - chicken, rice, beans and salad. No chance of starving, and little chance of losing weight!
Sleep came easily, but with it the inevitable early waking as my time clock learns to adjust to Haiti time.

The hospital and work there is yet to come...