Okay, so first I have to apologize. The title of my blog yesterday did not match my blog. I was tired, so chalk it up to old age forgetfulness and 1 hour of sleep! And yes, there was a, ew, hair in my pizza at the airport, and yes, I ate the pizza (sans hair), because quite frankly I was terrified I would be eating nothing but craisins and nabs for the next week and a half. So now that housekeeping is out of the way, on with today's journaling.

Our day started at 5am..well, technically, I was awakened at 3am by a moped driver apparently testing the durability and longevity of his liquor cycle motor. It took about half an hour and then I figure he either passed out drunk on the sidewalk or went home. Either way, the raucous noise stopped and sleep ensued.

I honestly don't know what to say about our 12 hour bus trip to Haiti today. Honestly. Little Miss Carsick took half a phenergan (supplied by one of my fellow "always prepared" nurses on the team) and sacked out for about 2/3 of the trip. Glad I fished my pillow out of my bag before the trip. Let's take a minute to talk about the bag. I think it's high time my hubby buy me some real luggage. I'm tired of the redneck comments about my luggage being covered by racing sponsor logos. Samsonite baby, Samsonite. Enough said.

At one of the points I was awake, we stopped at the Pollo Red for some breakfast. Those that were brave enough to try the local fare munched on everything from empanadas to funky meat and cheese "biscuits". I say meat, because I was afraid to ask what it truly was. As we boarded our bus (a lovely Hyundai built "tour" bus, about half the size of a greyhound, with windows beautifully accented by blue curtains...you picturing it yet??), I sat down with my Coke and Doritos (costing me approximately $2) and settled in for the ride. One has to begin thinking about rationing ones liquids when traveling on a bus for 12 hours...bladders only hold so much!

The rest of the trip was consumed by a game I call "Pot Hole Dodging or Face a Blown Out Tire and Whacked Out Suspension", snacking on my 4months worth of food rations and, you said it, sleeping. Bus sleep is never a good sleep, but on phenergan, ANY sleep is good. And I made the entire trip without commiting the "V" word. Yea!

As we crossed the border into Haiti (note to self and all future Haiti/Dominican Republic travelers...AVOID travel on Thursdays, also known as market day, or in North Carolina, flea market days...I have a whole new insight as to why they are so big in NC!) we began to take in the damage, little by little. The further we went, the more damage there was, and the more tent cities there were. Some homes were difficult to tell if they were that way from the earthquake or from just plain ol dilapidation.

We finally made it to our compound, a lovely barbed wire protected and security protected concoction of buildings. Our first warning? Stay away from the scorpions. They aren't the kind that kill, but the kind that make you wish you were dead. Also a good idea to avoid the tarantulas...they can't cause a lot of harm, but they may make you scream like a girl and pee in your pants when you see one :)

So my spiritual wisdom for the day? Can't put it into words. Every day God shows Himself to me more and more and I cannot wait to share it all with you one day. This trip is about helping people, but it's also a faith journey that God is using to build me up for something...I don't know if that excites me or scares me, but I think I 'll go with excited.

More tomorrow...wound care and triage are my assignments...here we gooooooooo!!