The most boring entry yet

Well, things have quieted down here a bit after a pretty intense couple of weeks. So I am back in Port-au-Prince working on day-to-day stuff. I will soon bring a camera with me on a typical work day and show you how I roll, PAP-style. It’ll be at least 1.43 times as exciting as this.

For excitement, you have to go to Cité Soleil, where the UN is battling armed gangs in what are looking more and more like full-scale battles. You feel the presence of the “bleu helmets” everywhere here. MINUSTAH (the mission’s acronym) armored vehicles sit by every major intersection and military patrols are incessant. You also find them in grocery stores, at the gym and at all the hotel bars. The funny thing is that the bulk of troops securing Port-au-Prince come from Uruguay, Guatemala, Burkina Faso and Jordan and the one characteristic they share is their very small stature, a trait exacerbated by the bulky helmets and Kevlar vests. They remind me of Dark Helmet.

The attitudes toward the UN presence here are mixed. Some (like me) are grateful for the level of security that they bring, others, like these nutjobs, see them as agents of foreign oppression. One thing all Haitians agree on, however, is the notion that the UN staff are not exactly workaholics, a perception shaped perhaps by their strategic encampment at beach resorts and prolonged siege of hotel swimming pools, activities that have earned the peacekeeping force the nickname of TOURISTAH.

The big news for me this week is my upcoming trip to Santo Domingo (for fun) and Miami (for work). I’ll be leaving this Saturday via bus to the Dominican Republic for some well-earned R&R. From what I’ve heard and read, Santo Domingo is a beautiful colonial city. Also, relatively few people get kidnapped and taken to Cité Soleil there, so I will be able to stroll more than the isles of the Big Star supermarket and the empty hallways of my building. And in Miami, I plan on fully playing the role of the Haitian visitor, loading up on American goods and boarding the returning flight with at least half a dozen cardboard boxes and plastic bags.

‘til next time,

Max