We're Back

I arrived in Haiti today after a delay in our flight the day before. I was supposed to fly to Port au Prince (PaP) on Monday and stay the night. Tuesday morning I was to get up and take the last small flight to Port de Paix (PdP). Though I had a delay, I was happy that I didn't have to get my checked luggage at the airport and drag it to the hotel. We all got up Tuesday morning and grabbed the first flight out. The only problem was that when we arrived in Haiti, none of our bags had showed up. Between us all, we were missing 12 checked bags. For me, it wasn't a big deal because I have stuff here and didn't have anything of great importance in my bags. In the long run, though it was a little bit of a hassle, Sonlight saved a lot of money for several reasons. For starters, we didn't have to pay for the hotel rooms. Between us all, we saved on three rooms. Further, whenever we fly on the smaller flight from PaP to PdP, there is a 70 lb limit. We have to pay by the pound for any overages. At this point, it was the airline's responsibility and they had to pay for our bags to show up. To make things even better, for those who did have all their bags, some of us were able to claim one bag each, so they didn't have to pay any overages either. So, as I said, it was a little hassle but in the long run we saved close to $1000.00. I guess delays aren't always that bad!

At the smaller airport, we take a twin prop plane and this one seemed to be newer. I don't want to say it was brand new, because the instruments inside didn't look new, but the outside and the inside upholstery did look new. I think it just had a makeover, but it was nice nonetheless. Below is a picture of the plane we were on. I had to take a picture of it with my phone so the quality is lacking. I still haven't replaced my camera that I had dropped in the ocean last year, so bear with my pictures until I do.



After we arrived back at Sonlight, we all had lunch and then spent some time seeing everyone that we hadn't seen for several months. I was happy to see Ermilien who works at Sonlight, and a few of my students. I was standing at Roger and Norma's place outside and heard Jeffney, who is now a senior, ride by on his bike and shout, "Hey, Mr. Doug!". A little later, I saw Bendjy, who had just graduated, working at some of the apartments we have here. It is good to be back and to see everyone that I haven't seen since school ended. It's great to see their faces and smiles as we all came back.