Haiti 05: Mes Chambres

I divide my time between two cities in Haiti. I work from Monday to Friday in Leogane, about 35km to the west of Port au Prince. My weekends begin after a 1.5 to 3hr commute through streets filled with all manner of conveyance, commerce, refuse, restaurant and the people who make these things happen - looking anywhere from destitute to immaculate. It is surreal to climb up out of Port au Prince into the more affluent suburb of Petionville - leaving behind the vibrant and sometimes harrowing city scenes - to arrive at our house (read mansion) in Mont Calvert.

My room in this house is larger than any room in mine at home. It has a king size bed and windows that look out over the brick paved terrace and empty pool to all of Port au Prince beyond and way below. This view has of few parallels that come to mind. At night it reminds me of Vancouver - looking toward North Van and the lights of Grouss Mountain are similar to the massive settlement (read slum) of Corail Cesselesse situated on the slopes of the foothills to the northeast of PAP. The lights of the city below make the vista tres Hollywood Hills. At 5am I can crack an eye open to be filled with a sky full of grey-pink sunrise filtered through two big x's of hurricane tape - melted to the glass. I am on the lookout for a razor blade to scrape these off so I can watch the dawn transition into the day through orange to lemon to blue without the earthly/edgy point of reference.

PAP Beyond

I am happy to spend an entire Saturday reading in this room and venturing to the kitchen for a snack or two. I've yet to practice yoga at the house where there are many inspiring locations to chose from - three balconies and lots of roof space. As recurring aches and pains from old hockey injuries and a pain in my hip that I suspect is hereditary mount I promise you readers that I will complete my 60min. Hot Hatha Flow class by 10am Saturday (I'll follow up to confirm completion).

Leogane Cell

I did manage a hopeful and pain-filled session yesterday in my room in Leogane between Shane's bed and mine - which is a feat I assure you. Our room in Leogane is 8'x 12' with two single beds festooned with mosquito nets. That leaves 18" between beds to complete the thankfully linear oriented series of asanas (postures). My hip still hurts but I am bouyed by the prospect of returning to such a positive and grounding practice here in Haiti. This room is located in the women's dorm (?!) of our base in Leogane - replete with massive equipment hangers, concertina wire-topped walls, mogul-lawns (see photo), shotgun totting security guards and two house keepers who correct my Kreole in a cocaphany of syncopated rounds of encouragement until I get it right.

Lawnmower with Adapter Required.

Leogane is low-lying coastal jungle so it's hot and muggy with as many mosquitos as you could ever reasonbly hope for. Shane and I used to share one fan so our night's would pass in oscillations of heat and breezy relief (read menopausal) with whining accompaniment of the one mosquito that has spontaneously manifested itself within the sanctuary of the netting. Luxury of luxuries we have hit on bringing our office fan in to our sleeping cell so quality of life is improving in Leogane for all.

The sweetest sleeps by far (as related below) are had in Embouchure.