the sound of one horn honking

BC hired a driver to take us to Jacmal and back because we had too much crap to haul it to the bus stop comfortably. He picked us up late yesterday because there was a brief rainstorm that dumped a truly unbelievable amount of water on us.

As a result of the late pickup it was well after dark by the time he dropped us off at the guesthouse.

There are a couple of things that I observed about the trip.

1. Haitian driving can best be described as, "He who hesitates is lost." The trick is to honk your horn to notify pedestrians and other drivers when you are overtaking, passing, pulling into the oncoming traffic, driving up on the sidewalk or otherwise trying to be the first to get into that small gap in vehicles that you can see just a few cars ahead.

2. Rush hour in Portoprens lasts 24/7.

3. The roads in and around Portoprens are not as good as the ones in Jacmal. There are potholes, piles of rubble overflowing onto the road, sections where there is no pavement, sections covered in water and sections where there are massive holes which may or may not be blocked off by giant concrete barriers.

4. Pedestrian traffic is even heavier at night than it is during the day if that's possible. The average side street in Portoprenz makes Yonge St look like a graveyard.

5. Pigs, goats and chickens move about freely.

6. There are no streetlights.

7. Haitians do not slow down at night

8. They also talk on the phone

9. While driving a stick.

It did occur to me at one point that Axel would be right at home here.