Day #41. Happy May Day. Agricultural Day.

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On the road at 4:10am for the long trip to St. Marc. Traffic and markets looked ‘normal’ for Haiti. 

Very few masks on the streets even though as of the day before, they are required in the Petionville suburb of Port au Prince, with the threat of several days in jail or $100-$250 fine.

Cory got in line at the bank 20 minutes before opening time with his mask at 8:10 a.m. and about 50 in line. It seemed like at least that many more cut into the line during the 3 hours of waiting, part in the hot sun.

[Why I never travel without a book or Kindle. But Cory must like the time to just think!}

 The end of the month is extra busy and hours were reduced so it turned out to be an extra bad time to do banking. 

The biggest one.

Only 11 people were allowed inside the bank at a time, standing where tape marks had been put on the floor. Some people, like medical workers and elderly, were allowed to walk through the drive through for faster service but vehicles were not allowed, maybe due to the line of people snaking through the parking lot.

Most of the employees and about half of the clients were wearing masks. 

Cory did not feel that folks were more scared of him being an obvious foreigner. 

Two stores had boxes on the floor around the teller so that folks had to stand with some distance from them. Some stores and the bank also had buckets out front with spigots for hand washing.

Supplies looked to be about normal but food prices are slightly higher or close to normal based on the dollar exchange rate. the problem for Haitians is that most of them don’t get regular raises, banks don’t pay much interest, and Haitian money has lost about 10% of its value against the dollar since we returned in January.

We were gifted some of these orchids last year after they bloomed
so it was interesting to see new colors

It had been 6 weeks since Cory had shopped for supplies. Buying cement took Cory about an hour but he finally got four 92# bags for about $6.50 each. This was the same small hardware store he bought PVC pipe for the nursery and cement from last trip but it must have had the best cement prices in town with everyone from motorcycles to a big dump truck getting loaded with cement. 

The  person in front of him bought about $500 worth for the dump truck and a person behind cut in by saying he had a question, “how much is cement” and then proceeded to buy 20 bags. Cory’s patience got a lot of exercise but he didn’t know where another cement dealer was so he waited. 

While waiting for the cement to be loaded he noticed an agricultural store across the street, so it turned out to be a blessing to get a 100# bag of 20-20-10 fertilizer and a small bottle of insecticide.

The highlight of Cory’s day was stopping in at some friends and exchanging plants and trees.

We’d heard talk about people in our area hiring someone to bring the rain. There’s a local man who can predict when the rains will come. He had accepted payment this spring but then the rains didn’t come. 

He’s was slightly beat up on Good Friday because of the lack of rain.

A few light rains allowed most of the beans and corn to sprout but the small seedlings needed rain badly. 

With the rains being more than a month late [and some people planted early based on rumors about an early rainy season] people were getting desperate. 

I prayed that when the rains did start that our Lord would get the honor and glory, not some paid rainmaker. 

1st one of the above..and more blooms to come.

Groups of people from the village church and other churches and surrounding area came together from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday to pray. They prayed for 12 hours. 

Tuesday night it rained almost 1/2 an inch. The last 45 minutes of the drive up on Wednesday Cory drove through rain and we received 1.65 inches total. Arrival time at home: 8:45pm  

Thankfully only a little bit of the cement, flour, dog food and fertilizer, wrapped in tarps, got wet before it was brought into the house.

Tomorrow is May 1st, Agricultural Day in Haiti. We will plant something in the next couple of days! With the coming of the rains Cory and the guys will be planting trees and plants along with corn, beans and vegetables.