Nov 2 My Haiti Trip

I wake up to Julie saying "Wake up I'm excited!"  It had been about 4 years since we had seen each other last.  Julie ran out to Starbucks for breakfast while Korina and I woke up.  We walk to the end of her street where there is a private beach club and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side.  This was Korina's first time in the Atlantic so it was kind of a big moment!  There is a warning sign before entering the beach about Manowars on the beach.  We walk down to the water to see the beach covered in blue bubble like jellyfish call manowar.  What is the plural of that...Menofwar?  Anyway, we walk up and down a beautiful beach and then Julie steps on a manowar.  POP!  It scared all of us, but nothing happened.  We then get in the car and Julie takes us out to eat in South Beach at this cute little outdoor restaurant.  Food was delish!  Oh man, the people watching was great! We walk down the mall area a few streets to meet Michael, Julie's boyfriend, who was working a close by.  We saw Versace's mansion that took up an entire block.  He was shot on his front steps a few years ago.  After that we go pick up Nyasia at her friends house and head to the grocery store for dinner and some last minute things for our trip.  We go home and go to the pool for a bit.  Korina and Nyasia were the only ones who went it.  Water was sooo cold!  No, thanks.  I had such a nice visit with Julie that I think we will stop there over night every time we go to Haiti.
Our plan was for Julie to drop us off at the airport before she had to study since she worked early in the morning.  We cram all our stuff back in the car and cram Korina in as well.  We get to the airport, hug and send Julie on her way.  We go the IBC counter to see if it is open.  It's not so we have to get luggage carts to lug around until they open in the morning.  The night before Dr. Sarah J Preston Hesler(she has a lot of names) had missed her flight so she was going to be on ours, but wouldn't be in for a few hours.  There was only a very small portion of the airport that we were allowed to be in since we did not have boarding passes and international flights was in a completely different area.  We ate at Sbarro's which was so nasty we gave it back.  We go back down the escalator to the IBC counter and park all our stuff around the corner.  We made ourselves a little nook and blocked ourselves in with our carts.  We charge our phone, camera and computer and touch base with the fams.  A few minutes later, Sarah shows up and we all hug.  We are all exhausted, smelly and just meeting each other for the first time.  She is an amazing person with a great sense of humor and it is obvious we are going to get along great!  We call Des once we are all together and have a quick meeting via cell phone.  Des tells us the latest news about the birth center, Last minute things she wants us to know about Haiti and wishes us an amazing and wonderful trip.  She has got to be a great boss to work for.  Korina and Sarah stay up chatting and working on their computers and I layout my sleeping bag.  I put my headphones in, eye mask on and get my sleep on sometime around 1am.

Nov 1 My Trip to Haiti

I only got a few hours of sleep before Korina and her mom got to my house at 4am.  My sister arrived shortly after to take us to the airport in my Durango.  We had 4 Rubbermaid totes, 2 pieces of luggage and 2 carry on.  We need those little airport carts to help us move 50 yards.  Our tickets were given to us by Korina's friend Therese who works for Southwest Airlines.  Korina and I were flying standby on buddy passes and couldn't get on our first flight.  Everyone we encountered working at the airports was really nice and helpful.  We were only charged for half of our totes in Portland.  The flight we ended up getting on was the 7:55am flight to Vegas to Nashville to Ft. Lauderdale.  We talked to lots of people who were really thankful and excited about our trip to Haiti, which made me feel very blessed to have this opportunity. I am really excited to be traveling with Korina as she has never been on the east coast.  We slept on most of the flights.  We each purchased a travel pillow and  those blackout masks.  Those were amazing!
We ate at every airport and never had a ton of time in between flights.  At PDX we at a warm breakfast at a cafe with a waitress who knew what she was doing.  In Vegas we ate Subway.  $23 for 2 six inch subs, 2 bags of chips and 2 drinks.  Highway robbery!  In Nashville we had burritos and a chicken ceasar salad.  Finally landed in Ft Lauderdale.  You can feel the humidity as soon as you exit the plane.  We go the Southwest office to pick up our totes and luggage and wait for Julie.  She is right on time and Korina can't believe how hot it is.  It wasn't that hot, but the humidity was pretty bad.  Julie was even cold...Floridians.  We had started to panic on the phone about us not fitting our stuff in Julie's car, but we managed!  Korina was curled up in the back seat like a pretzel.  I was quite comfy in the front seat.
Julie lives in a little apartment building in Key Biscayne Florida.  It looks just like Melrose Place.  The apartments surround the pool.  Nyasia was spending the night at friends house.  Korina and Julie hit is off as I knew they would and we stayed up late catching up and touching base with our fams.