Today was a slower day for the Haitian Pilgrims team. Keith, Sue and I walked our normal 3 miles, but then we went back to the NOVA facility and ate a leisurely breakfast and hung around the facility until Sue finished with a phone conference. Then we went over to Boileau to meet with Father Ingrid. After our meetings, he served us a very delicious Haitian meal (so much for losing weight while I was here). The food is so good – fresh fruits, vegetables, a slaw they call picles, which I love, goat, pork, and a cornmeal dish, similar to Polenta. I wish I could bring some of the fresh fruit home with me – it is so wonderful. After lunch, we toured the clinic again and were lucky to see the children. They swarmed Mama Sue and then me – because they wanted to see the pictures I took of them with Mama Sue! They are all so adorable and loving, greeting all of us with Bon Jour and good mornings and high fives!
We finally left around 2pm and headed to the beach to relax and just chill out. The beach was absolutely stunning as you can see in the pictures and the best part was we had the entire beach to ourselves! We headed back to town around 4:30, so we could clean up and meet Jean Robert, Yvanni and Erone. We wanted to thank them for all of their hard work and dedication to helping Haitian Pilgrims. Then Alix took us out to dinner, so we could experience a Haitian restaurant. It was open area restaurants just off the beach. I wish I could have seen it in the daylight, but I wasn’t disappointed, as the stars were out and the sky was gorgeous. We had grilled lobster and conch with fresh avocados and fried plantains. Another delicious meal!! Pere Ingrid joined us and we met his sister and niece. We drove back to Cavaillon around 9:30, and the roads were filled with people walking, motorcycles, cars – I would be too scared to drive at night, as there are no street lights and with so many people on the roads I was afraid we would hit someone. It’s hard to explain – you’ll just have to come down to experience it.
It’s been a wonderful experience, as well as eye opening to the conditions here in Haiti. The people have been wonderful to us and I pray that God will bless them and guide us down the road he wants us to go.
– MaryLynn Hilton