Day 8- Market Saturday

Day 8

It was a slow moving Haitian Saturday. I was the first one awake as my automatic mind alarm clock went off. I came out to the kitchen to grab some coffee and breakfast. Cindy and Perrine were awake as well, busy making “Saturday eggs”. Everyone is excited for eggs on the weekends because there is the time to make them. I was busy getting caught up on writing my blog when I realized how hungry I actually was. I ended up eating cornflakes with banana because I couldn’t wait any longer. Sarah came to the table and requested some help with a powerpoint for a presentation they are giving to the Haitian MSPP. So, I worked on putting together the powerpoint and the staff were so glad that they didn’t have to do it. I did not quite finish so I am sure that I will be working on it tomorrow as well. We decided to do some baking and we got a little carried away. We made five packages of brownies and banana muffins.  Around 11, Perrine asked if anyone would like to run some errands and go to the market in town. Jessica, Winter and I all wanted to go, so she gathered the motos.

We first stopped by the hospital. Perrine has been changing the dressing on a man named Jeramine’s leg every two days since January. He is an HIV positive patient so the healing process has been incredibly slow. She thinks that if she continues to change the dressing he will be all set by December. Perrine is an incredible person. She is incredibly hardworking, and cares deeply about all the people in Haiti that she comes in contact with. She is one of the only in country staff that can converse well in Creole and she legitimately does not give a crap about what anyone thinks! We were not able to find him at the hospital so Perrine said that she would go tomorrow to find him. She also wanted to check on our ICU momma while we were there.  She is doing even better today, speaking more clearly, and better able to move her leg. Perrine massaged her breast and was able to get a little milk out. Definitely a small victory for us!

We hopped back on the motos and head to the market. Saturday is market day for the Haitians in the central plateau area. They come from long distances to buy and sell at the market. It is jammed packed with people and we draw a lot of attention for being the only white people around. Winter purchased sandals, sunglasses and some snacks. Jessica also bought snacks. I bought pink and purple nail polish because I promised the girls at the orphanage that I would come back this week and paint their nails. I was very excited that I was able to find decent nail polish.

Let’s chat about the food at the market. If you weren’t a vegetarian prior to going to the market, you will want to be one by the time you leave. The chickens are tied up their feet and occasionally flap their wings. Larger animal are skinned and hung by the rafters. They hang until all the meat is sold. Flys are all over the meat and all you can smell is the putrid spoiled old meat. None of the Haitians even blink an eye at the smell or the flies. However, I am holding back vomit the entire way through the meat section. Sarah had asked that we get her cashews from the market. Perrine negotiates and gets a cup and a half or raw cashews. Later on we see cashews that have already been roasted and I ask if this is what Sarah actually wanted. Perrine says, “Nah, Sarah likes all the traditional Haitian things.” We continue on. We ask Perrine if there is somewhere to purchase ice cream because we want to treat the house with ice cream and brownies. She is very directionally challenged and we wander for a while before she figures out which direction we need to be going. When we get to the Triplet mart we are all presently surprised by the AIR CONDITIONING. I think we wandered around the store for 30 minutes just “looking” at what we could possibly buy to stay in the AC for a while. It was glorious!!! We purchased 4 pints of ice cream costing $15. Perrine says that’s what she expected it to cost because it is the only place in town you can buy it! We are very pleased with ourselves and head back to the house to share our goodies.

Back at the house Megan has been busy cleaning part of our room and the nasty shower curtain. Perrine gives Sarah her cashews and she looks at us like what the heck are these!? She definitely wanted the already prepared cashews. So we helped her peel all of the cashews and soak them in water before roasting them. I have a new appreciation for the time it takes to make the nuts we purchase so easily in the store. It literally took us over an hour the peel all of the cashews. We ate dinner and then had brownies and ice cream after. Everyone was so pleased! Jessica, Perrine and I went on short walk after dinner. It was pitch black shortly after we started and I was very glad that I brought my headlamp. I was able to call home and catch up with family after the walk. It felt good to see everyone via facetime and relax. Tomorrow Perrine has planned an adventure for us all. I am glad we had the weekend to reboot and refresh. It will make the upcoming week manageable as I know I will have many clinical days coming.