Day 1: the familiar and unfamiliar

Sean, Lindsay, Alex and I got up at 9 for our noon flight, got our tickets, ate some Wendy's and got on our flight without a hitch.

After landing was a whole different story. The airport looked fantastic compared to what it used to be. It was just pretty much a warehouse with a bunch of tables in it for customs. Now it looks like a totally normal airport.

The Lindsay, Alex, Sean and I got our stuff from baggage claim and walked down the familure walkway where we saw Ronald holding a 410 Bridge sign. He was so excited to see us and I was pumped to see him. We went out to the parking lot and loaded in to a big Hyundai bus. That took us to a gas station that was pretty much just a knock off BP. We met up with the two previous flights in the gas station and everyone else loaded up in to our bus. That is where the issues start.

Sorry there are no pictures for this part, my phone died.

We stopped at a traffic light where guys usually beg or try to sell us soda of some kind. Our windows were open like they usually are and right when we took off, a kid about 15 years old jumped halfway in the window and stole one guy from our group's phone. We stopped real fast but the kid had split. Two of our guides jumped out, found a cop and went after him while we waited. Eventually they came bak with one of the guys who was around. He said he knew who took it but wasn't talking till the cop kind of put the hurt on him. After a while they figured out that he had handed off the phone in Port Au Prince's biggest slum and we were probably never seeing it again. The guy was obviously upset but he acknowledged that stuff happens. Aftermath that whole fiasco we got on the road to our hotel, the same one we were at last year.

The place looks awesome, even better than I remember. Still crazy beautiful from the front view as well.

Dinner of some beef type thing, chicken, rice, and potatoes. We also had this interesting banana flavored soda that tasted like banana Runtz.

We debriefed at the hotel and our guides, Ronald, Wudki, and Marc said they were really excited for us and incredibly sorry about the phone.

Tomorrow we go to the churches and play with the kids. So I will leave you with this awesome picture I didn't get to show anyone last year