An Adventure in Arriving at HATS

Irene here.

I started my first trip to HATS-Haiti on Nov 27. The first thing to go wrong was that the ticket agent at Air Canada had a problem with my passport when we checked in. My passport had my middle names and my ticket only has my married name Mrs. Irene Steer. So it took some time to clear that up and we had arrived early in anticipation of any problem with the extra luggage. Once we cleared that up we were through security.

Now came the wait for our plane to arrive and board. It was a long night, Jim slept for a while, however I could not sleep. Long night and we finally arrived in Montreal around 7am and met up with Sandra and Dickie and had a bite to eat for breakfast while we awaited our flight to Port an Prince, Haiti. Between boarding and finding our seats I lost my passport and was escorted off the plane by two stewards to empty my carry on luggage to try and find it. The stewards helped me search my carry-on luggage and coat pockets and it was not to be found, however Jim in the meantime searched around my seat and found it as it had fallen between the seat and the window. Thus, the plane was delayed for about half an hour because of the lost passport.

We arrived in Haiti early afternoon on Wednesday. However, Karen still had no idea I was with the group. We spent a fair amount of time finding luggage and then looking for our ride. We finally got on the road around four pm. We arrived at HATS around 6:30pm. I hid behind the bus to complete my surprise for Karen. It took her a while to finally see me and she screamed in delight. Surprise complete. She has been after me for years to come to Haiti. Also was good to see all the kids in person instead of on Face Time.
It was good to finally get on ground that did not move.

Yesterday we went to St. Marc for supplies and a bank run. Very interesting watching everyone’s driving skills, or often the lack thereof. Thank goodness I wasn’t driving though the offer was there for me to take over. I passed, thank you very much.

~Irene