a road less wandered

A bit of travel, a bit of work, a whole lot of adventure.

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Daniel Boones bike shop Houston! Fun fact ** They are Houstons oldest bike shop! We hit us all the major attactions!! These guys help us get all kitted out for our trip and didn't even laugh at us (or at least to our faces). They did tell us we where crazy but it wouldn't be the first time...

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Because our internet and my blog didnt agree, Im a bit behind. So for now I am going to post our trip as it currently is with a few flash backs to the Caribbean! Hope you are all enjoying it!! I know I am!!

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The UN roll through town.

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Just a normal load for these Haitian cars!

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Haitians love their Football!! 

Children play football in an empty street behind Cap-haitien

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Rain in Haiti

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Impressions

The concrete spends the day absorbing the sun's heat then works all night to keep Haiti warm. Its very effective. The only time it cools down is when in rans, and when it rains it pours. Often there's thunder and lightening and of course the power goes out. If the rains heavy enough then rubbish and top soil wash down from the hills. Unfortunately due to a lack of city planning the hills are being built up and the vegetation needed to keep the soil washing away is disappearing.

Coming from a country that is so passionate about the environment Haiti can be hard to look at. The waterways are disgusting, rubbish and soil wash down, get caught in the marsh, then built on. Meaning the waterways are becoming thinner and more polluted. Its hard to see how things can be made better. As an outsider it easy to say things. But how can the attitude of a country change when for the most part people are poor and removing rubbish in an environmentally sustainable way is expensive? How can you move to a cleaner energy source like solar power, when theft of everything is a major problem? Not to mention a high startup cost. How do you get people to not pee on the side of the road when some people don't have toilets? In reality people here are more concerned with surviving the week than creating a cleaner environment, and how do you argue with that? Anyway there is plenty of people working on Haiti's problems so I just stick to the physio stuff.

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Ber and her daughter Ruth braiding Ninas hair!

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Ber and Charles!

Haiti is not a clean country, forget rubbish bins let alone recycling. Rubbish piles up in the gutters and sides of the roads until someone burns it or its collected to be buried. Combined with the heat sometimes Haiti is also not a nice smelling country. Everything uses coal or diesel even the power station, hence the lack of reliability, so combined with the burning of rubbish there is  a lot of sooty dust. Charles keeps the house clean and Bernadette is a magician with stains. So much so that my running shoes are now a brighter pink than when I brought them and all my white clothes glow in the dark. No joke. It unreal. Everything is hand washed while sitting on a small stool on the floor.

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As famously stated by badjelly the witch "Im melting, Im melting" and nothing could be more true. The warmth of a thousand puffer jacket dresses clouded us, which would be ok if we weren't in already in a furnace. The heat alone might be alright but it's also about as humid as the inside of a plastic pie wrapper at the petrol station. Its one thing to know where you are heading will be hot (its the Caribbean so no kidding) but there isnt alot you can do to prepare for it. Given the fact that both of us are winter lovers the heat was something neither of us were ready for. The plan for the first week is to adjust to life in Haiti and the power does a good job of encouraging us not to use our fans. The power cuts out at least once a day and if you're lucky it won't turn off for too long at night. Thankfully we are in a section of town that at least gets power some parts don't have that luxury. A lot of things in Haiti are like that things you think are necessities really are just a tool to make life easier. For us having unstable power means sometimes no fans at night therefore some pretty average sleep. Or purchasing food needs to be done everyday because the freezer is unreliable. Luckily we have Bernadette she's our Haitian mother. We don't speak the same language but somethings don't need words to be communicated.

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Ber making peanut butter - roasting the peanuts!

 a cart full of boxes of blankets and clothing

Haitian women walk along the boulevard carrying their shopping on their heads

The street outside our house.

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arriving in Haiti

I meet Nina in Miami at the airport hotel. Turns out her bags where checked from LA through to Haiti, hopefully. It's been a couple of years since we last saw each so we reminisce about our Uni days, catch up on the ongoings of old classmates and discuss our love for Canada. The next morning were up early to check in, after getting lost a few times we find where we are meant to be, sort our tickets out (not sitting together) then clear customs. Nina loses her ticket and after a brief panic, a search through customs, while trying not to look suspicious - not easy in America the ticket is located and we are good to go. A whole 3 hours early. As we wait to board it becomes apparent that we are probably the only first time visitors to Haiti on our plane. Everyone seems to know each other and we stick out like chalk on a blackboard. The flight is stunning with views over the Caribbean, the view on my right wasn't bad either. Despite my lack of french or creole and his lack of english I discover he's a criminal lawyer in Haiti. And that's about the extent of our conversation. The man behind us did tell me he thought I looked like an angel and he wished he spoke more english to we could talk. So that was nice. As we fly over Haiti it strikes me that it's more mountainous than I expected. The plane touches down and everyone claps, apparently that's just what you do. As we disembark we walk across the tarmac and are welcomed in by a band playing traditional music. It reminds me of flying in New Zealand when I was a kid, apart from the fact that security have guns and the temperature is just about double home. Customs cost us $10USD which caught Nina and I unaware luckily for Nina a nice man behind her lent her some cash. I think Haiti may be the only place I've traveled to where you clear customs faster as a foreigner. Our bags are slid along a old school conveyor belt and after 10 nervous minutes Nina's bag shows up! Robyn's waiting inside the terminal after sweet talking security into letting her through. Finally we are in Haiti!

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Chicago for Shannons birthday

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Catching up with friends

18 months ago did one of the coolest road trips across america with a pretty cool chick. Shannon is now working on her masters in Charleston Illinois.I fly through Chicago anyway so it makes sense to do an extended layover and catch up. My flight is delayed and we arrive at the hostel around the same time. Its shannon's birthday so first on the agenda is food and some beers. We pop next door to walgreens and address our plans for the night over the beer fridge. I stayed at the same hostel last time and there's a pretty cool rooftop so we decide to head there and see what's happening. A group of students from Washington state are in town for the annual Latin American students conference. They're a fun bunch, we chat about Shannon's and my travels and the conference. They convince us that Washington is America's most beautiful state and we convince them of the merits of visiting NZ. Eventually we head out to a couple of local bars and see a blues band and a man dressed as a crocodile. But hey, 'merica. Shannon, Hugo (one of the group from Washington) and myself get hungry and head for food. One thing you can't fault America on is their Mexican food!! The next day we wake up early with the intention of doing some sightseeing. By around midday we are on our way into the city. Given its a saturday and the weather is good we expect it to be a bit busy but not "wait in line for 2 hours to visit the aquarium" busy. We give up on seeing the museum and the aquarium and instead walk along the bay back to The Bean. The Bean is a must do in Chicago. The shiny chrome structure just screams "get a selfie" and everyone is willing to obey. Shannon and I oblige and get enough selfies to fill our memory cards. Next stop is the Willis tower with a quick coffee stop first. 40 mins later we finish a survey which was meant to take no more than 5mins but we get our free coffee and head to the tower. The timing worked out pretty well after waiting (unexpectedly) over 2 hours to get up the tower we watch up the sunset over the city. Pretty soon hunger sets in and it's time for Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza!!! After eating way too much pizza we head to Al Capone's bar - the green mile, for a quick beer. The place has a cool vibe and an amazing jazz band playing. The next morning we head for navy pier, we've picked up a stray along the way. A guy called Andrew, a Chicago local had a few too many beers and had fallen asleep on the couch at our hostel. He's excited about being a tourist in his own town so he tag along for the day. The pier is pretty touristy but is something Chicago is famous for and now it's been ticked off. With that done it's time for Shannon to head home....

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Shanghai!!

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Shanghai

I have 2 days in Shanghai but no money so I stay in a hostel near the bund. The bund is an old financial district with beautiful buildings and statues. Its become a popular destination with tourists and there is plenty to do. I spend most of my first day walking around the area, Shanghai is a real mix of western and Chinese culture and architecture. A friend Zoe who I meet in Chiang Mai has been living and working in Shanghai for the past year. Unfortunately she's pretty busy with work due to recent Chinese holidays but has plenty of advice on Shanghai's hot spots. One place is the rooftop bar in my hostel with views of the bund, river and city. Picking a beer up here instead of dinner. I spend 50 Kuai ($10) for a corona and kill all hopes of some late night dumplings. Anyway as I sit making sure I enjoy my beer and the view I get chatting to a fellow kiwi. One of 4 I've meet on my trip so far. David is at a conference in the city but has been working in Singapore and before that Korea. Taking pity on my poor backpacker ways he shouts me dinner. We opt for a well known western restaurant in one of the malls on the bund. Over dinner we discuss Arrowtown and Dunedin (David's hometown) and little kiwi quirks that make us stand out. Given we didnt start dinner until after 9pm its pretty late by the time we finish. The restaurant staff don't seem too concerned, but the crew refurbishing the floor downstairs are a little surprised by our appearance. We edge our way around the workers towards the exit...... Its locked. We try several other exits and at this stage it looks like we're staying the night. As we attempt the exit by starbucks an employee points us in the direction of a door that looks distinctly like a staff only door. But with our options limited we head for it. The first door is unlocked (yes!), we bypass a confused looking security guard and head for the second door and are spat out onto a back alley. By Shanghai standards the night is still young so we head to a jazz and blues bar. The live band has just started and as we sit down the singer comes running through the bar in time for the first set. Few people are as talented and charismatic as this guy. The woman in front of us is clearly enjoying herself (and the cocktails).The music is brilliant, broken with witty tunes and some crowd involvement. Eventually almost everyone is up dancing and some girl is on the singers shoulders. Three sets later, the band finish for the night and so are we. A few people recommended taking the tourist tunnel to the other side of the river. Thats pretty much the plan for day 2 until I meet up with Zoe later that night. Anyway you take a cable car through the tunnel and are dazzled by a light show. There's a bit of a description in english but I think some of it has been lost in translation. About 15mins later I reach the otherside. The buildings over here are more spaceage than the bund. The large pink pearl tower stands out like something from back to the future. There is a floating circular walkway which really is a brilliant way of getting people off the roads. After a few hours of people watching and walking around I head for the subway. The trip costs 1 kuai which is around 20 cents NZ, its crazy how cheap somethings are here. As I make my way home 2 girls stop and ask me to take a picture of them. No problem, I know all about the selfie only holiday pics. One of the girls works in Shanghai and has a friend visiting for the weekend. We get talking and they invite me to join them at a traditional tea ceremony. Great! As we enter the building and sit down for tea I remember the warnings from JR and Leanne about tea ceremony scams. They invite you for tea then charge you huge amounts of money. Dumb move Lucy, Dumb move. I start explaining that I only have 80 kuai or $15NZD (bit of a white lie but I can't afford any more). I give a sob story about being a broke backpacker and that I'm leaving the country tomorrow to go do volunteer work. I lay it on pretty thick. Anyway the ceremony is cool, I ask loads of questions (mainly about cost) and Gigi one of the girls does a good job translating. The ceremony finishes and I'm charged a 100 kuai. Even now I'm still not sure if it was a scam and they took pity on me or whether the girls were genuine. No time to ask I have to meet Zoe. Zoe tells me one of the bars in town is having an opening night. From what I hear they do this whenever business is suffering but it's a win for us as it's also Ladies Night! Before heading to bar Rouge Zoe shows me around. We go to an older part of the city, its known to be a bit touristy. We walk past groups of people playing karaoke and sections of traditional buildings now have shops in them. One of Zoe's favourite dumpling shops is here. You line up and are served which ever dumpling flavour is on the menu today. Todays flavour = pork soup dumplings!!- i'm writing this retrospectively and I still remember how great dumplings are. After our amazing soup dumplings we pop into another local hotspot and somehow score 6 drinks for the price of one. Zoe met the bartender last weekend and between you and me I think he's got the hots for her... Next stop bar rouge! Initially I am stopped because my shoes are too casual but we sort that out and head in. The bars like any other but we do the Chinese thing, take WAY too many selfies in the bathroom and occasionally breaking to warm up on the dance floor. We do also head outside to admire the views of the city. Over the music I hear a familiar sound. Another kiwi. We get chatting as kiwis do. Turns out we worked together, there's that 2 degrees of separation we are famous for. The next day is bittersweet I'm leaving Asia but I get to see Shannon and it's her birthday!