My back hurts.
Medical missionaries were here for a few days last week on their way over to the clinic they’re building in Haiti. They had shipped a lot of stuff for the clinic to Bánica, and they’ve been working the past several days taking it all over to Haiti. Yesterday Mr. Kirby and I had the chance to ride over with them and see the clinic and the surroundings and all. It was an incredible drive as far as scenery goes, and aside from the sun it was a pretty comfortable trip. That’s me all the way on the right:
The road wasn’t the greatest, but you really don’t feel that many bumps from up top. There were a couple scary-ish spots, though, where the road kind of dropped off without too much room to spare on the sides, and down in one of the little valleys we did see what seemed to be a burned up truck frame that must have gone too close to the edge a while back.
Since the blog is in a good mood today, here are a few more pics from the trip -
crossing the bridge over to Haiti:
the scenery - I'm telling you, pictures just don't hack it, but it gives you an idea:
The clinic was really something else – it’s going to be a beautiful facility. We got a tour of the place – when they’re finished, they’ll have a medical clinic that includes an operating room, dentist suite, laboratory, overnight/recovery rooms, and a pharmacy, plus a staff house with a kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms. I guess I’ve gotten used to the way of life in Doña Tagó’s house – the bathrooms with flush toilets and showers with hot water really impressed me!
The medical missionary people are staying over at the clinic till Thursday, so the plan was for Mr. Kirby and me to catch a ride back with another guy in another truck that was heading back to Bánica, but when we got to the clinic, he wasn’t there. So, we rode back with Fr. Gee and Lulún on their motorbikes, which was all fine and good, except for the fact that Fr. Gee has this metal box on the back of his bike which cuts passenger space down to the bare minimum. That’s the reason my back hurts. =)
But, even though one of Fr. Gee’s tires popped on the way and it rained for the last leg of the trip, we made it back, no worse for wear, and I think I’ve decided I really like motorbike travel, as long as there are no metal boxes involved.