To Market We Go

Dats and I outside the Catholic Church at the heart of Cap Haitien.  Bud and Jane and little Sammy picked us up at 8:00 to head downtown.  Sammy had to see two different doctors and then we were going to market to help buy food for the orphanage.  During the first Dr. visit, Bud walked us around Cap a bit.

Dats was eager to hold Sammy while we waited outside the cramped, dark waiting room.  Although this looks like Dats just doesn't know how to hold a baby, this is actually something that Sammy enjoys quite a bit!  He likes observing the world upside down.  He also paid attention to every motorcycle to pass by.

Dats loved the game as much as Sammy did.

The view across the street during our second doctor visit. This was the scene of an unfortunate - and bizarre - lowlight of the day for Dats.  Bud, Dats and I were sitting on the stoop outside the Dr. office, minding our own business when a rather portly Haitian woman approached us and wanted to shake our hands.  She was barefoot and oddly dressed.  She asked Bud for water and he replied that he had none.  Then she turned to Dats and asked him (apparently) if he were married.  He didn't know what to make of it and when she held out her hand to him, he just stared at it blankly for a moment.  After a pause, Dats went to shake her hand and she pulled him up off the stoop and started dragging him down the street, saying in Creole, "We are going to the church then." We were all kind of laughing about it until she suddenly bear-hugged Dats, lifted him about four feet off the ground and then suddenly and forcefully slammed him butt-first onto the street.  He was in shock and so was I and the woman just turned and glared at me without saying another word.  Weird!  Dats wasn't physically injured, but the incident spooked him - understandably!  He decided he preferred to wait inside Bud's vehicle.  A few minutes later the same woman came walking down the street again, this time smoking a cigarette -
through her nostril! 

We were relieved to finally move on from the Dr. office once Sammy had gotten a couple of shots and get to the business of buying food for the orphanage.  Jane buys two weeks' supply at a time.  The kids get chicken about once a week, but otherwise it's sardines and rice and beans.  The man with the wheelbarrow is waiting for the store to fill Jane's order, then the bags are piled into the wheelbarrow and he delivers them to the car - for a price.

We had lunch at a restaurant called Lakay (The House) with Bud and Jane and some other missionaries who sometimes gather there on Saturdays.  It was a time of good food and fellowship.  And Sammy kept us entertained throughout the meal.

In the afternoon, Dats was happy to hang around the mission.  After an ugly stomach bug throughout last week, the Bundy children were finally all healthy enough for some serious outside play time.  Here Brianna shows Dats her dad's fish pond.

Even Jake was back to normal.  By the end of the day, Dats was recounting to me all the things he did with the Bundys today and it sounded like a week's worth of activities.

Our day ended as most of our days have ended here - with Skyping the family back home.  The internet connection has been slow (it seems to take FOREVER to upload these pictures) - but reliable.  And for that we have been very thankful.