Exhausted

These past couple of weeks have been really busy for me. My students, Raynold and Nathan have been right by my side almost every day wondering what they get to learn next. I'm so thankful to have students like them but it's been an exhausting schedule to try and keep. I guess that's the life of a teacher.

Today was my last day at the office in Pignon, I fly back to the States on Friday. We spent the morning learning about pumps and the afternoon in the laboratory. I've had a terrible head cold these past couple of days too which means I'm off to bed and will have to cut this post short. Here's a few photos of Raynold and I in the laboratory and my little buddy Lawrence.

A journey for water

This weekend I was in Port au Prince to do a bit of shopping. But Saturday turned out to be Labor Day in Haiti and all the stores were closed. So I took the opportunity to go exploring in the mountains above Port au Prince. I stopped at the Baptist Mission for my usual banana split, mmm, sooo goood. The veranda of the cafe looks across this spectacular deep gorge in the mountains. I've always wondered how people get over there, so I asked the security guard. He said to head up the mountain a bit more to Kenscoff and then hang a right. Within a few minutes I was hanging a right at Kenscoff and off on another rocky trail in Haiti. Every time I start off on one of these I say a little prayer that my motorbike won't fall apart on the way.

After about 30 minutes down this trail I stopped to enjoy the view.

I noticed a girl with an empty bucket about to descend the valley in search of water. I asked how far it was to the water source and she replied, "not far". So I left my motorbike and started hiking with her, down, down and down further. We finally arrived at the spring. It was only a trickle of water out of the mountain. The girl used a plate to scoop a bit of water, pour it into a bowl and then into her bucket. It took about 5 minutes to fill a 5-gallon bucket.

The ladies at the spring were having all kinds of fun with me. They kept trying to talk me out of my watch, my backpack and my money. I managed to keep them at bay for the most part. But here's Beatrice with my helmet on.

Then, after 30 minutes of filling buckets, our group was ready to start the journey home.

The trail goes up.

And up

What a journey...