Into Haiti

Today I sprayed my eyes with deet. Like straight on. Accidentally, of
course. Fortunately, I had bottled water to wash it off a bit, but
then it got on my nose and mouth… Anyway, I can still see so all is
good.

Today was also our first entry into Haiti. The border crossing,
despite the presence of UN Peacekeepers from Uruguay, was a bit scary.
Dominican vehicles aren't allowed to enter, so you cross on foot. Kind
of like crossing from Texas to Ciudad Juarez but with goats.

The differences between the two countries crystallize in an instant.
The language, the people, the extreme poverty. We also acquired a
whole new set of translators. This was great, except when they were
all talking at the same time, with the quadrilingual translators from
the DR… At one point I had six translators following me, all saying
vastly similar, yet different things. But they were all awesome.

Today we visited a community. There were (possibly rabid) dogs, but
fortunately, the interpreters and health worker were totally cool with
them and made them go away. They laughed at me for being scared of the
(possibly rabid) dogs, but at least I don't have to get rabies shots.

The number one thing about going into Haiti, aside from obvious health
and security issues, is that you need to cross the border BEFORE it
closes. Even the Lonely Planet (who gave me a free copy) says so. And
to make things interesting, Haiti is an hour behind the DR. Our group
had split up, we were headed to either a drinking well or a malaria
breeding ground (we're not sure which), when our trusty Club Med
translator pulled out his logistics executive hat and had the driver
turn around to take us to the border pronto before it closed. Note,
you CAN allegedly cross the border after hours, but you would get
really dirty.

Tonight at dinner and cervesas (I didn't have cervesas) I sat next to
one of the DR's top entomologists (no, not epidemiologist) who totally
gave me THE most fascinating lesson on mosquitoes. Seriously. Not
enough to learn more necessarily, but enough to go on a mosquito
catching trip with their group tomorrow night!