Beach Day

     Picturesque is one of the best ways to describe the beach we had the privilege to go to today. Deep, rich colors of blue spread out before you as you lay on comfortable hammocks underneath the swaying palm trees, Haitian music playing in the back ground overlapped with the comforting sound of waves breaking on the sand...just beautiful.
     The ride to the beach, however, was not peaceful. I think that the best way to describe Haitian traffic and towns is an organized mess. Somehow, they make it all work. There will be people suddenly speed walking across the road right in front of a tap-tap (a Haitian transportation truck, kind of like a taxi) and motorcycles weaving in and out right in front of you and around you. A Haitian traffic jam is so much different than an American traffic jam. In America, people may not always be patient, but they will, for the most part, stay in their lane. In Haiti, the center of the road is often ignored and most drivers have zero patience and will pass you at the slightest opportunity.
     Construction on some spots on the road though the mountain made the ride there extra interesting. At one spot we had to stop and back up to make room for a dump truck to tip dirt on the road almost directly in front of us. At another spot, we got into a slight problem with a motorcycle. For this incident, yet another dump truck was trying to back up, so we had to quickly stop and back up also. One of the motos coming up behind us managed to stop behind the truck with some room to spare, but the other was going too fast and crashed into the one that stopped, thus making it ram into us. The driver wasn't very happy to say the least. No one was hurt and I'm pretty sure the motorcycle worked again.
     At the beach we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and warm water. The waves were perfect and many of us had fun diving and jumping under and over them. You could easily see where the sand ended and the reef began, and its a good thing we were careful to not step too near the reef! There were many, many sea urchins that would probably not be pleasant to step on.
    I think most of us were missing America at lunch as, yet again, we, (all the teens) ordered a burger and fries. They were amazing. Not long after lunch, almost half the group and I, (Alinda) went snorkeling. Although nearly one of us drowned, (don't worry, he's fine) I think we all had a great time floating over the coral and seeing many cool fish. (Dory was definitely the best!) It was a humbling experience to be floating far from shore and all you can see around you are large waves and cliffs in the distance. It makes you see just how small you are, and just how amazing it is that a God who made all that, loves us.
    After supper, I was went over to the Grace House to return some items a few of the kids wanted me to keep for the day, fully intending to only stay for a few mins, but I ended up staying for about 20 mins, just letting the kids "braid" my hair and listening to everything they wanted to tell me. I honestly think I enjoyed those 20 mins of just being in the middle of all those happy, beautiful kids, as much, or more, than I enjoyed the day at the beach. Every night at devotions Dan asks what we saw God in. Today I saw Him not only in the big things, like the wide expanse of open sea, but in the small things, like little kids just wanting to tell me what they did that day.

-Alinda :)