Nou kontan

The land surrounding Cap Haitien is beautiful. The plane trip here may have provided me with the most exquisite sights I've ever beheld. The deforested hills and mountains are encased by a thin layer of green (Grass? Moss? It's hard to tell.), and are full of dips which make them appear like human backs (like the contours of the spine and pelvis and shoulders). It was dusk, so the shadows and the green were intensified, and glowed as if sprinkled with gold. It was so breathtaking that it made me cry.

There are various types of palm trees and leafy trees scattered through the hospital and hotel grounds. The sky is a clear and cloudless soft blue all day except near dusk, when thunderclouds (cumulonimbi, if my memory of 5th grade science class isn't faltering) roll in. Buildings are made of "block," a mixture containing mostly sand. What I've seen of Cap Haitien (or O'Kap) is composed almost exclusively of one or two floor structures. The hospital buildings are mostly painted white, but in town each building or stretch of buildings is painted in pastels or brighter colors.

Free breakfast at the hotel includes fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, a plate of fruit salad (guava, banana, and pineapple, though none of these has been especially ripe), and bread to be coated with mango preserves and a thin peanut butter flavored with pepper. An unusual PBJ, indeed. Ice water is gulped down throughout, as the heat and humidity bring perceived temperature to 100-110 degrees, and we lose a lot in sweat. Lunch is a Power Bar or two scarfed down while working. The cheapest dinner option is rice and beans with a rotating side of vegetables. On top of this goes a white gravy flavored with pepper and cloves. A popular and tasty topping to sprinkle on (but lightly, since it is very spicy) is a kind of vegetable slaw called picklese. On my first night here I had a dessert of rum raisin ice cream!! The raisins were soaked in rum for long enough that they didn't taste horrible (i.e. like raisins), and the ice cream was actually iced condensed milk- very refreshing, sweet and tasty! Typing about it now is making me wish that I could have some more of that instead of my second Power Bar...

Days are long, steamy, and slow. It is hard to notice that progress has been made, but indeed I have done a good amount of work already.

So far I have not been sick. My legs are coated by mosquito bites from my knees down because professional dress here for women includes knee-length or longer skirts, and the mosquitoes are not deterred by my generously applied coat of DEET. Please cross your fingers that the malaria prophylaxis and the bednet will help me get through this trip malaria free!

Please keep sending through emails; it is very nice to hear from you, and I haven't been getting very many emails these days!