5 hour flight from SFO to Philly at 0830. After sitting on the runway for 2 hours, a 4 hour flight to the Dominican Republic, since flights directly in to Port-au-Prince are still unreliable. Had to get up at 430 to take BART at 530...blah blah blah I'm crabby and need a nap. It doesn't help that I worked a 16 hour shift in the Sonoma ER Saturday night, slept some Sunday day, then hosted 3 of our group (Jane, Jason and Jeanna) at the house, then decided to finish my Massachusettes medical license application and 2009 taxes instead of sleeping. Brilliant.
Airports are airports. I won't bore you with any further details.
But people are not just people. We met 2 Irish folks sitting in front of us on the flight to D.R. Part of the national network there, being sent down to do a Haiti story. It was interesting, they were kids like us, in their 30s. Guess kids are doing a lot these days. She talked about taking different angles to the story--international vs local control, the negative effects of US trade agreements with Haiti, and some other things that I found interesting at the time but just can't remember now of course. Jason shamelessly said they could follow us around..."We're both good looking." I quickly changed the subject, asking them more about Dublin. But don't get the wrong idea--I'm much more shameless than Jason.
The long day of travel had a happy ending--El Presidente light beer and pizza waiting for us at our hotel. I love Heart to Heart--the organization we are working with. They appear to have their stuff together. At the airport, someone was waiting with a little sign for us. One of these days there will be someone with a sign "Dr Lorenz" waiting for me with a limo or something. With some Cowboy cheerleaders, too. Maybe not in Haiti or the third world or ever really, but I think you get me. Anyway, the sign, van and pizza was nice. And I love shitty Latin American light beers. El Presidente light is basically Bud Light, Latin America version. After a couple of those, I'm ready for bed, and to get up in 3 hours for an 8 hour UN van to Haiti.
Two more things--the tile in the bathroom is amazing. Given my 2 recent tile jobs, had to include that shoutout and admiration of the Dominican handiwork. Finally, I get over 400 + channels in Spanish in this room. Don't worry, I'll be on the floor in a tent tomorrow. When the guy showed me the room, the first thing he did was find the 3 "adulto" channels on the TV. Hilarious. I asked him to find me some bad telenovelas and dubbed 80s action flicks with the governor of California.
Tomorrow, to Haiti...
No comments:
Post a Comment