Backlogged in Haiti

I haven't put anything up in a while... I know...

It's just that after the dream week I spend in Paris with CQFD (did you see the pics?), it was... difficult to write again and to get back into the spring of things...

So I left Paris on the wings of British Airways at 7AM on a sunday, to fly to Miami where I would stay one night before I hooked on an the early monday morning flight to Port-au-Prince (PAP for friends).

When I got to Haiti, I made straight for the office where my 4 teammates were waiting for me to start the audit. It was nice to see C. again, a gentleman I worked with in Guinea and who (coincidentally) was my neighbour way back when in Burkina Faso in the early 80's when I was a toddler and he was a little kid...

Getting to Haiti means a lot of hard work, but it also means loads of fun: my team is young, dynamic, eager to go out and do things. I'm sure I won't have to many B.O.R.E.D. moments here.

PAP is a nice city, and slightly messy, but nothing quite as bad as Conakry in Guinea. I am amazed that they have public lighting here.

Our first week here was also the week of the legislative elections in Haiti. Thankfully, it was a peaceful political event and the planned hunker-down week-end turned out to be a weekend of visiting the nearby mountain village of Fermathe, where we had the opportunity of buying and tasting local cakes, of visiting an old fort.


This is just an example of the beauty of Haiti....

Later in the night last saturday, 2 of my teammates and I went to a "concert" with a fellow co-worker who had free tickets from one of her friends. Amazingly, it turned out to be...

STARMANIA (TYCOON) .... an all haitian cast of singers, actors and dancers, on the original text and music of the Plamondon/Berger duet, with bouts in Creole.

I'm very optimistic about my stay in Haiti.

Tonight, our local counterpart is taking us out to play pool, and tomorrow to the Beach. Also,
Haitian art is very colorful and lively. I look forward to digging more on that.

More pics to come !

Cheers !
The Beaver

Thanks, Cindy and Son's in Southern Utah for posting on my guestmap !

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Pics !!!

Look, I've uploaded some pics ! Click on the link in the sidebar to enjoy them !

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Alive !!!

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know I'm still alive.

I have plenty of pics and stories to share about Paris, and about my present location : Port au Prince, Haiti.

Will put some stuff up as soon as I can !

Salut tout le monde, je voulais juste vous dire que je suis toujours en vie !

J'ai plein d'histoires et de photos a partager a propos de Paris, et de ma location actuelle : Port au Prince, Haiti.

Je mets tout ca en ligne des que je peux !

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

Snuffleupagus !!!!!

Snuffleupagus You scored 58% Organization, 43% abstract, and 62% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables. First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean. Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type. Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself. You are somewhat organized, both concrete and abstract, and both introverted and extroverted. I bet you didn't think you were Snuffleupagus. Let's find out why. You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Alloyius Snuffleupagus (and all Snuffleupagus') is not sloppy by nature, but he moves so incredibly slowly that it is impossible for him to be totally organized. You both are about equally concrete and abstract thinkers. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course. Snuffy generally has very basic interests, but he explores his abstract sensitive side when he plays his snuffleflute. You both are somewhat introverted. Originally Snuffleupagus was very shy and was only Big Bird's invisible friend. However as he has aged he has started to build new friendships with new characters. Like Snuffy, you probably like to have some time to yourself. However, you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations. The other possible characters are Oscar the Grouch Big Bird Cookie Monster Ernie Elmo Kermit the Frog Grover The Count Guy Smiley Bert If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also if you want to tell me your favorite Sesame Street character, I can total them up and post them here. Perhaps your choice will win!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 52% on Organization You scored higher than 26% on concrete-abstra You scored higher than 52% on intro-extrovert

Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

The Beaver




My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

SAGA PART 4 – BENIN, AT LAST !

The next day, I took my flight to Cotonou and landed there, exhausted and eager to get some work done.

I went in the office on Friday, only to find out that they were closing at 2! So this left me with a Saturday to rest, and a Sunday to visit the very poetic town of Ganvie :

It was amazing to visit the town on water, and to wave hello to all the children screaming “Yovo! Yovo!” (Apparently, that’s what whiteys are called, here.)

The ride to the town itself took about 40 minutes, on a small canoe hailed with a makeshift sail:

When you get to the village of Ganvie, it’s like an apparition out of a dream:

On and around, we weave in and out of canals. The village of Ganvie was built in the 18^th century by locals that were fleeing the slave trade. Since, the population has grown to a 30,000 inhabitants. Ganvie has a primary school and a small hospital, but of better lack of a welcoming infrastructure, all older kids who wish to pursue an education need to leave. The people of Ganvie live mostly of fishing, but there has been a growth in tourism recently.

On the way back, the sun was setting and I marveled at the poetry of the scenery, as we slowly made our way back to shore:

The Beaver

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

SAGA PART 3 - Air Maybe? Definitely!!!

But the eclipse did not only save Tintin from getting burned at the stake. It also saved me from a whole day of work….

At noon on the 30^th of March, I landed in Abidjan, only to find out that Air Ivoire had forgotten to mention that our flight had been cancelled.

I must say that flying with any airline in West Africa is folkloric at best. First, on arrival, one has to board the plane by walking on the tarmac and walking on these:

Second, (and this is where Air Ivoire’s reputation is made true) flights get cancelled ALL THE TIME.

Lucky for me, there was a flight the next morning, and Air Ivoire was sweet enough to accommodate the other cancelled travelers and myself at the very lofty Hotel Ibis Plateau.

I did not visit Abidjan though. In fact, I made arrangements with the hotel’s driver to visit, but he cancelled… because he had to go pick up more cancelled passengers!

I nevertheless had the pleasure to see the skyline of Abidjan, and to observe the city during the 30 minute drive.

Despite Cote-d’Ivoire’s troubled events of last year, the city appeared unscathed and relatively peaceful. Nevertheless, I was not inclined to tempt my fate and go around. The troubles of 2004-5 were a recent memory, and I had no intention of being another casualty on the already long list of expats that got hurt in this violent town.

That night, I had dinner and got tipsy on account of Air Ivoire, in the gracious company of my petulant American colleague, a cynical and amusing Croatian doctor, and a warm and funny businesswoman from Cameroon.

The Beaver


Thank you Emmanuel.K.Bensah II in Accra, GHANA, for posting on my guest map!

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

SAGA PART 2 - ONCE IN A BLUE MOON

Leaving Accra:

The next morning, I woke up at 5AM to make my connecting flight to Abidjan. I was both lucky and unlucky: while I was in Ghana on the day of the eclipse, I was also unlucky because I was flying DURING the eclipse, and thus, missed the whole thing. Here is what I missed:

(Courtesy of Middle-East News)

This raises some amusing thoughts for me, as I would remember the famous eclipse that saved the Cartoon hero Tintin from being burnt at the stake.

When we got out of the airplane, the light was strange, but what tipped me off on the eclipse (sharp as I am) was that passengers and crew alike were :

1) wearing paper sunglasses;

2) snapping pictures at the sun with the paper sunglasses over the objective.

No, it wasn't a blue moon that day, but never the less, on a black sun day, things happen...

The Beaver

Thank you, Adrianna and Will in Australia, for posting on my guestmap!

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !

SAGA PART 1 - IN THE NICK OF TIME

Well, here I am.

I finally made it to Cotonou, after a grueling 29 HOURS of travel.

Like I mentioned earlier, the sequence was planned to be this way:

Tuesday: Monrovia-Accra (2 hours)
Wednesday: Accra-Abidjan (1 hour), 10 hours of boredom and Abidjan-Cotonou (2 hours).

What really happened:

Leaving Monrovia:

On my last day in Monrovia, I took the time to take photograph my loyal Youpi in Monrovia:

We did make it to Accra on Tuesday night, although we really could have missed our flight. While my colleague thought we were scheduled to leave on the 29th, I thought we were meant to leave on the wednesday. So between the 2 of us, we were really going to miss our flight out of Monrovia. Thank god, the assistant caught it and we made it to the airport on time.

Now this got confusing, because we thought our flight was a 12. In fact, it was a 10:30. We made it there by pure luck as we took a leap of faith and went through the queue, thinking that at worse, we would get kicked out and put on the 12PM airplane. Turns out, it was our flight that was early. We really got lucky.

Arriving in Accra:

Arrived in Accra, a bad surprise was awaiting us: although my colleague J. had made sure to make reservations for us, the hotel gave our rooms away, leaving us homeless in Accra. Thankfully, we found rooms elsewhere to settle for the night.

The Beaver

Thank you , Easter Butterfly in Sweden, for posting on my guestmap!

My guest map is wonderful ! And you'd all be wonderful to post, all of you lurk mode readers!
Thanks and may the winds of Fate blow your way !