libertybele...
You are brave to venture into Port au Prince. There's no way I'd go out of this country right now. It's just to dangerous; Joe has put a price tag on all of our heads.
I thought I was at the time. It is a really funny story. But it was in 2002, and things were slightly better then in this sh*thole of a nation today.
Once there, I was told repeatedly NOT TO GO ANYWHERE ON MY OWN, FOR THEY WILL KILL YOU. I got the message.
When I arrived at the airport, a friend of my wife's from work(who is Haitian, now living in USA) was there attempting to arrange an adoption for some girl that was a daughter to a friend of his. He promised to meet me at the airport, and we were to get a beach house together, and he was going to show me his country of origin, relax on the beach, etc. I flew in on Tuesday, planned to leave on Saturday, and explore and relax, for I had been working long hours prior to the trip.
This jerkoff friend of my wife never met me. Imagine literally 100+ Haitian men looking at me at the airport like I could make a good dinner for the family. I stood outside the airport for an hour+++, he never showed. Called, he did not answer. An older Haitian man came up to me a couple times asking if I had someone coming for me. The 3rd time he approached me, I told him, it appears my ride is NOT coming. He offered to take me to the hotel near the presidential palace. So, I went with him. He took me to a taxi with a 300+ lb guy behind the wheel, he sat in the passenger seat up front, I got in the back.
Yes, I was a bit nervous. Thinking anyone moves the wrong way in the slightest, I was mentally prepared to do anything in my defense. LOL
Bottomline, took care of my business the next day. The friend of my wife still did not show up. If I had seen him, I am fairly sure I would have hit him with the intent of doing major damage, I was so angry in his regard.
As an aside, I sat in the middle seat between two medical missionaries flying to Haiti to help the people. They told me they got this and that vaccine, etc. Needless to say, it did not occur to me. Well, next day after I did my business, I trusted this guy at the hotel who was living in Maryland for ten years, back in Haiti to visit his mother, he offered to show me around.
So, the one medical missionary calls out my name on the streets of Port au Prince and tells me about the clinic they conducted that morning. She says, 'you will not believe it, there is a yellow fever outbreak on the island, and we do not have shots for it'. I asked, if it was transmitted via mosquitoes, and of course she answered in the affirmative. Just one more thing to worry about.
Well, when I was in my hotel room, I am clapping my hands attempting to kill a mosquito about every minute. No netting over the bed, so I wrapped myself like a mummy with the sheets. Needless to say, I had easily a dozen mosquito bites after one day. They had malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, maybe west nile virus, and God knows what else. I stayed that day, and got up the next morning at 4:30AM and headed to the airport to get out of Dodge.
And there they would not let anyone leave early. Would not allow anyone to approach the ticket counter. I was first in line. No air conditioning either in a terminal that was four walls, no seats, nothing. When the the gatekeeper finally left his post, about 100 people rushed up the serpentine rows to approach the ticket counter. There was also a gatekeeper there. Mind you, I was trying to get to an American Airlines ticket counter and being told I could not approach.
The woman behind me was a medical missionary, clearly of means, who got sick with something and wanted to go home to her doctor in Atlanta, GA. The gatekeeper approached the two of us, and I told her, "either I get on that plane, or I am going to lead this bunch to tear this airport apart". She allowed me and the sick lady behind me approach the counter. She asked if we had baggage to check, we both indicated carryon only. It took us 40 minutes to go through their departure routine, and each pay $100 for the change in our tickets.
We were walking to the plane together, an A300 model, the exact model I do not recall. It was hot as hell. The plane took off, I was thankful to leave that God forsaken sh*thole. Once we leveled off, I asked one of the flight attendants, how many empty seats were on the plane, she indicated 82 empty seats. That is 82 x $100 in revenue for American Airlines lost. I just shook my head and thanked God I was out.
