On my way back home

We are on our second day of travel now, flying from Santiago, Dominican Republic to Miami. It takes two days because you can't get through the border and into Santiago in time for a flight out. It's not that far but things take much longer to do in Haiti.

Yesterday morning we had breakfast at then began the good-byes. We had some time to dance and play with the new arrivals and the resident children used their morning recess to give us all hugs and kisses, asking when we will be coming back.

All week long getting all of us together has been like herding cats and that morning was certainly no exception. Our luggage was picked up from our houses and carried on the carts as before. This time though it was market day and traveling across the border was much more difficult because the crowded streets but fortunately we had Linzi and Jude assisting us. At one point, a cart in front of us carrying salt and grains turned over, blocking the path and then on the next street we ran into a traffic jam with a ambulance. Finally we made it to Hotel Masacre and loaded up into the van. Then we began our 3 hour drive with multiple check points along where Dominican guards had to check to make sure we were transporting any Haitians.

We made it back to our hotel which was such a great welcoming. Ahh, to have a hot shower and snuggle into a soft bed for a little nap. The adventurous group (Matt, Ashley, Toby, Lacrecia and Cliff) went to the large wal-mart type store to get some supplies to send back to the orphanage.

Cookie (the Dominican that assisted us across the border on arrival) was back in Santiago and she took us to a local restaurant for dinner. It was a nice restaurant but I think most of us would preferred the chicken pot pie that had eaten the night before. At the end of a trip like this, there's nothing better than comfort food.

Amanda stayed up to meet the incoming team. I think she got to bed around 1am. Cliff and I stayed up till 1:30 chatting. You'd think after rooming together all week we'd have covered everything already but actually we were so worn out each night we hadn't spent that much time talking. He's certainly the one to go for information and we had a great time exchanging stories.

Breakfast, check out and transfer to airport uneventful. Several stop points at the airport for security check but we actually moved through quickly despite even having pat-downs just prior to boarding.

We met a group from Birmingham who in the process of setting up an orphanage in DR. They know Micah and his group, the ones came to the orphanage with Johnny.

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