Day 2: safe arrival in Jeremie

6pm Sunday: Ate dinner with representatives from Pure Water for the World. The dinner was basically for them, but besides their group -- a dozen strong -- I think I was the only other person staying at the guesthouse. So they asked me to join them. Based on the discussion, it seemed as though they're a group of Rotarians. They were mostly Americans, but from as far away as Australia.

7:00pm: Zonked out before the sun set.

10:00pm: Awake.

Midnight: Asleep for the night!

5:30am Monday: Roosters crowing, sun rising, me awakening.

6:30am: Carry my three backpacks -- each stuffed more than a Thanksgiving turkey -- downstairs and out to the land rover. Eat a fried egg and my first melted, but now frozen, Hershey bar... which was melted again before I finished it... which took about three mins max.

7:00am: I'm an eyewitness to the chaos of the Port-au-Prince domestic airport. OK, this isn't exactly newsworthy. And I'm sure it's like this everyday. But on a smaller scale -- all planes appear to have 10 to 20 seats -- it's even more out-of-control.

8:00am: Survive the madness, get my boarding pass and make the walk to the 3-step door / ladder and jump in. Actually was kinda funny because there was a nun sitting right next to me who kept looking at me as though I'd be able to help her buckle her seat belt. Thing is, as she chuckled, we both knew her problem wasn't a lack of knowledge in basic mechanics. The problem was that the buckle was at the end of the belt and the two pieces still weren't reaching each other.

9:00am: I hear the computerized countdown in the cockpit... 30, 20, 10... touchdown! Back in Jeremie. Safe'n'sound.

Nuff for now. Gotta hit the books.

Tim White