Haiti

March was a busy month (really, we have no months that are not busy). We had a team retreat for a few days, and then our family went to Haiti and the Dominican Republic for 18 days. We had our annual meetings with our counterparts in other Latin America countries. It's always a good connecting time with other people in the same role as us, especially those balancing life with little kids. Last year these meetings were in Bolivia, and the year before was our first week in Guatemala. 

First time traveling as a family of 5. Everyone did great. 

Haiti was fascinating. There were still remnants of the earthquake, which was now more than 5 years ago, mixed in with intense poverty.
This was a view of Port-au-Prince as we took a bus and left the heat of the city for the cool mountains, where our meetings were held.

A common sight in Haiti. Overcrowding is an understatement here.

We visited one of MCC's projects, where they support a school. This was one of the students, getting to know Ruby. 

A few scenes from the countryside:

Road side drink service.

A few small tiendas (stores) in front, with houses that look like small sheds scattered throughout the countryside. 

Bananas. Or maybe plantains. 

We traveled to another part of Haiti. Most of the group took off for a few days to visit some more MCC projects, and a few of us moms and our kids stayed behind.

It was a pretty gorgeous place to be "stuck" with all three girls for a few days by myself.

The girls swam for hours every day. Hazel officially learned to swim and can now swim, unassisted. Of course, neither girl is strong enough to be in the deep end by themselves, but I am totally a proud mom that both girls could "dive" down and get toys from the bottom of the pool, and swim and kick all over. 

In this picture Ellie was the center of attention of this group of kids. I finally asked them to back off (as best as I could since they spoke French) as they started splashing her and getting in her face a bit. She's used to, when we travel, being goggled at for being a little gringa (white) girl, but I felt like these kids were too much in her face and not respecting her distance.

Idyllic beach playground. 

Time-out Time.
With Michael gone, the girls had some hefty tantrums and time outs. I had to snap this picture.
Both girls had lost swimming privileges and were told that at the beginning of swim time they'd have to sit out for a while. This may have been a more effective consequence if the pool hadn't been empty. Oh well.

The girls loved kayaking with Daddy.

We did a lot of traveling by bus and plane, and the girls did well.

Michael was able to see more of the MCC projects than I did, so I don't have much to share about the work there. Overall, our impressions of Haiti were a mix: the food was delicious, the difference between Haiti and DR was telling of a long history of colonialism and development. We kept wanting to speak Spanish and forgetting that we were in a French or Creole-speaking country.

After a week and a half in Haiti, we took a bus to Dominican Republic to spend some time resting and relaxing as a family and with a few friends. Pictures to come of DR.