Dawn in Haiti
I do not look pretty!
Our mission to leave Haiti started at 5 am. We headed to airport, turned in our vehicle and got in line to confirm our seats on the MFI flights out that day. We had previously confirmed these seats twice before. However the person responsible for the list had left the day before and took the list with her, so we had to wait all day in hopes of getting back to the US. In the end we stood on the tarmac for 11 hours before we boarded.
What made this wait even harder was the ammount of military aircraft evacuating other civilians who were working in Haiti. It was an option for us but we would have to abandon our attempt to fly on MFI to get on a waiting list for the military flights. We were then unsure which city we would arrive in. This significant delay totaly ruined any plans to fly out of Orlando that evening and I was able to get a hotel near the airport, so I could catch a flight the next morning.
The airport was basicly a military base and I was as close as I am ever going to get to experiencing life in Iraq or Afghanistan that our troops live with every day. The security was extremely intense with armed soilders never more than a few yards from you and patroling in ATVs and Hummers.
OK, what I can't express is how hot it was on the tarmac for those 11 hours. This heat was amplified by the jet exaughst and the cement dust blowing off the city. The soldiers looked so hot in their full combat gear doing security patrols. I was so greatful to be in a tank shirt and jeans.
In the end we were able to board a turboprop which took us to the Bahamas to refuel then continued to Fort Pierce where our vehicle was waiting, so we could drive to Orlando where I spent the night waiting for a flight the next morning and Captain Jon went to visit his sick Dad.
I will be back in a month before I head to Liberia, to build some wireless networks for some of the organizations working to provide the emergency medical services these people deperately need.
Mark -Out
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