A New Year

If I'm being honest, I wasn't ready to come back. I have had a crazy past two weeks of traveling, visiting family, Christmas shopping etc. I needed a couple days of rest, but After looking at the cost of changing my flight I decided to just go. I get on the plane and my seat is in the very last row. I'm surrounded by loud Kreyol and my heart is immediately content. I sleep for the full three-hour flight from Atlanta to PAP after getting up at 3 am with Native and my youngest brother, Bear, to drive to the airport. Landing. From snow to palm trees. I suppose I won't be needing my flannel. Thamar (my best girl friend in Haiti) picks me up at the airport to take me to her house. Thamar and I haven't seen each other for a year and I am so happy to be with her again. She is doing really well. She is confident. She is beautiful. She is strong. She is a single mother. She has her own business. She can cook better than most anyone I know. She is so kind. One of the most genuinely kind and loving people I know.

Everyone knows her and tells me how wonderful she is. I am honored to be her friend. I truly admire her. It is the eve of Haiti's Independence Day and Americas New Year's Eve. Thamar has a lot of cooking to do and I join in to help. We are both really tired but we are doing our best. We talk and talk as we slice meat and smash bañan peze.

The music is pounding and as the night goes on it gets crazier and crazier. The streets are filled with hundreds of people and everyone wants food. Thamar, two other girls and I are running the kitchen and the waitressing. Of course I would get roped into this. It makes me laugh. The kitchen is thick with the smell of frying meats and plantain.

The music is so loud we have to yell just to hear one another. The doors are wide open and there is a constant flow of people. Everyone is wearing fun clothes. Everyone loves Thamar's food and rightly so. I am in Kafou which is one of the most dangerous areas in Haiti. I don't feel endangered at all. I feel safe and content. I just feel comfortable and like this is all second nature. It is wild here tonight. So wild. I love it. I am tired though and now after taking my bucket shower and writing it is almost 2 am. Goodnight.

4 am comes early. My eyes are burning. Thamar wakes me up because she said the bus has almost arrived. Jacques is waiting for us. We rush into the car and are on our way. She has been working all night and hasn't gone to bed yet. She's so tired. Poor thing. Hopefully she will get some rest soon. We arrive just after 4 and I am still sitting on the bus. It's 5:30. I wouldn't have minded another hour and a half of sleep, but I got to see Katy and I'm happy for that. Sitting on the bus. Totally packed with people. You thought this bench seat was made for two? Think again. Four of us squeeze together on this bus seat.

The diesel fumes are thick. I look out my window and can see the shadow of the man fixing the suitcases on top of the bus. His shadow is dark and strong against the worn once white building doors. He moves and organizes everything with ease. There is something so powerful about his shadow against this building. Konpa, traditional Haitian dance music, blasts from seemingly every direction. People are still celebrating. We are finally leaving. 5:40. Nice. The breeze is wonderful. Even if it is smoky and dirty, it's still way better than the diesel fumes.