My First Day

For those of you who don't know, this is Sofia. I'm updating this blog in Haiti.  

First of all, I'm not a morning person. I started my day by waking up at 3 AM to get on a 5:00 flight. Eww. The plane rides were easy and smooth, but I didn't sleep at all. On our flight to Cap-Haitien, we sat by a father and his daughter, who was about my age. They were traveling to Haiti with a similar objective: to help. It was their first time to Haiti, and we talked the whole time.

When we arrived at the Cap-Haitien airport, I was shocked by the size of it. The building itself was close to the size of a big house. It was not at all what I expected. They checked our passports with straight, bored faces, and then we went to get our bags. No, not like at a U.S. airport. They put the bags on a rack and people had to come and claim them. It was chaos! People were shouting Creole words, bumping into me, and not letting us get through. Now I know how immigrants feel when they come to America: lost.

We got our bags and waited outside in the heat. My phone said that it was 90 degrees then. Holy. Crap. The only thing that I could do to cool off was take a cold shower. Looks like I'll be taking showers 5 times a day...

Amy picked us up and drove us to her and Jenn's house. The town was not what I expected, but in a good way. My mom told me that the stink would be awful and that there would be lots of poverty. To say the least, it was pretty much the opposite. There still was a lingering stink, and poverty was still there, but the Haitians were fully clothed, carrying phones and walking around town.

The market was a crazy experience, but a good one. People were yelling 'Americano!' and 'White!' while staring at us. I always hate it when people stare at me, but I now know how people who aren't white feel living in the U.S. I bought bracelets and metal geckoes for all of my friends who are anxious to hear about my journey. We ended the day by going out to eat. It wasn't a fancy place, but the food was amazing! I had a hamburger(of course) and tried the plantains and pikliz that Amy and Jenn had.

I will have another post done tomorrow night. Thank you all for supporting me!!

Lots of love,
Sofia