Green Saturday is the Day to Ride the Bus

            With the big game still a day away, I wanted to spend the Saturday getting to take in some of the main attractions of Green Bay, not having to do with football. I looked it up on the internet and one of the interesting features here appeared to be the locomotive trainsit museum. In order to get there I needed to either take a few buses or call a cab. Not feeling in the mood to pay cab fare, and wanting to get to know more about the area itself, I decided on taking the buses. I checked the local bus maps and I needed to walk a few blocks, take the number nine bus for a few stops, transfer to the number twelve bus, and then from there still needed to walk several blocks after getting off.

             I returned to Perkins, the diner I had a great meal at the day before, to start out with a hearty breakfast. What I didn't notice the day before is that the back of the menu had a section for people aged fifty-five and over(I wonder if they check IDs). I selected a bacon and cheddar omelette wrapped in a potato pancake, with a side of home fries. Knowing I was going to be out in the cold for a while, I also had a hot chocolate to warm my body up. I found the number nine bus stop rather easily, but had to wait nearly forty minutes for the bus to finally show up. I had a sweater and jacket on, but didn't dress as warm as I should have as I wasn't expecting to be out in the cold for that long a period of time. The bus fare is normally $1.50, but, to my delight I found out it was a free ride as per the town's Green Saturday program. I'm guessing its a method to cut down on motorists producing gas fumes by encouraging people to take a bus for free to get where they need to go. I sat towards the back of the bus and was surprised to see a civil rights notice up top towards the usual advertisements. Perhaps some riders in the area still don't know segregation ended around fifty years ago.

            The stop I was supposed to transfer to the number twelve bus was called Ashland, but I was riding for quite a while and there was no Ashland, the bus had an automatic voice system annoucing each stop. Eventually we did reach Ashland Avenue, in which I got off at, but it was basically a residential street, and furthermore, there was no other bus stops or transfer areas in sight. I looked around and saw a sign that said the neighborhood I was in was called 'Tank'. Not sure what do to, I saw an overpass down the road and figured if I crossed it, maybe they would be something there, but all that was there was another residential area, this time named 'Olde Norwood'. By this time my feet were beginning to get cold and I had given up on all hopes on getting to the museum, I just wanted to get back to my warm motel room. Across the street I did see a bus stop sign, but it wasn't for the twelve bus I was seeking, it was the eight. The good news though is that I saw the eight stops at the same area near my motel, so it was good for me to take. Luckily, the number eight came within minutes and I was on my way back from where I started out.

            I felt disappointed I didn't get to see more of Green Bay, so I did the next best thing I could by looking at some of the local stores near the motel. I found it amusing that one of the stores had a sign telling patrons that they weren't allowed to enter carrying concealed weapons. It was a store that sold indoor pools, I'm not sure how, even with firearms, that could turn deadly. Then another thing stuck out in my mind. Almost every stripmall, shopping center, and block had an establishment offering loans. There were cash loans, car loans, loans for this, loans for that, and it made me think, aren't there banks for that? Looking around, there were no banks, nothing. Unlike New York where every block has a Citibank, HSBC, Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, or local bank, in Green Bay none of these places are present. There are a few big building that have US Bank and M&I Bank, which seem to cater more for businesses, but for the local person, it seems around here these loan stores are relied upon for cash advances.

             Walking a little further I was distracted by the sounds of geese flying above me. When I looked up I saw them in formation, but not the usual V-shape I've always seen geese make, this time there was a straight line in front of the V-shape, making it look more like an arrow. I saw other packs of geese flying around in the afternoon with the same arrow look about them. Another interesting establishment I came upon was an apple store. I never been inside an apple store before, not dealing with macintosh, and since it was going out of business soon, I wanted to check it out. There wasn't much in there except bags of apples, canned goods, and apple cider. The cider was only $3.50 and I felt bad they were going out of business soon, so I bought one. The last store I visited was called Shopko, it was one of those stores that does everything, like a Walmart or Kmart. Checking out their DVD section I had my second delight surprise of the day by seeing a release of the latest and final edition of the Columbo series, a DVD I didn't even know existed. It was a no-brainer to buy that one as it gave me something to look forward to for the rest of the day.

              At that point I was happy I couldn't find the number twelve bus...

Ile a Vache Doesn't Make it Easy to Leave

            Who wouldn't want to stay on a nice island with warm climate and nice beaches, but it was time for us to leave. Unfortunately for us, the island had different ideas and getting back to Port-au-Prince wasn't going to be so easy.

            The Abaka Bay resort that took us from the mainland to the island stilled owed us a boat ride back to the mainland, even though we spent the final night at Willem's house. It turns out Willem needed to leave earlier than us to go to the mainland for business purposes, so he took a different boat as we were schedule to take the Abaka Bay boat at 11am. Willem had a boy escort us to the trail from his house to the resort, and he picked the route that was both the shortest and the most physically taxing. We climbed up and up and up again, while carrying bags. As soon as we reached a highpoint, we would look up and see another hill to climb, and it would happen again and again. We just about finished the bottle of water we were going to use for the entire trip home in about only ten minutes. When we finally reached the highest of highpoints, we saw the resort just below us and it offered some magnificant views of the land, but overall wasn't worth the physical toll to get up there.

             We had scheduled to have the boat take us at 11am to catch the 12:30pm Transport Chic bus, which would have been more than enough time to get there and get a good seat. That was the last bus leaving Cayes for the day and I needed to be back the next day to catch my flight to America, therefore it would have been bad and expensive news to miss that flight. Plus, we were just about out of money, so if we missed the bus, we didn't know how we would be able sleep at Cayes or buy new bus tickets if no refunds were available. The ride to mainland by speedboat is only about fifteen minutes. We first sat at the resort outdoor bar to have juice and water to cool us down from the demanding walk to get there. We arrived a few minutes before 11am and were anticipating to leave soon after we finished our drinks. As 11am passed and it became 11:15am and then 11:20am, so we asked when are we going to leave, we needed to catch the 12:30pm bus. Then the person we made arrangements with gave us the great news that they didn't want to make multiple trips with the boat, and were waiting for another group waiting to go to the mainland as well. To top it off, the other group first needed to eat lunch and then be ready to go.

             Something seemed wrong when she started yelling at the hotel staff in creole, and eventually I found out the trouble we were in. Luckily she had the idea of purchasing our return tickets in advance, otherwise there was no way we were going to be on time for that 12:30pm bus. Had the boat left at 11am, as we scheduled with them, the time it would've taken to drop us off at the mainland and return for the other group, would have been well before they were even done with their lunch. It was a case the Abaka Bay management didn't want to use up the any extra gas in the boat's tank. She called the bus company to inform them we'll likely be late and see if they could hold up the bus a little, but that was only going to last us so long. Around 12:06pm she asked one of the hotel staff to ask the group if they were done with lunch and ready to leave, fortunately they were. As we all rode together on the boat we explained the situation we were in and why we were in such a ruch. They were nice enough to offer us a ride back to Port-au-Prince in case we missed our bus and gave us their phone number, but our goal was still making the 12:30pm bus.

            The boat was getting closer and closer to the dock, and as soon as it seemed we'll be alright, the boat's engine cut off and we were stalled in the water. So close, yet so far away. It seemed as if everything was against us catching that bus. The driver eventually got the motor running again and we finished our way to the dock. The next challenge was finding a moto to drive us a few minutes to the bus station. There was one moto who was already about to take a lady, but after explaining our pressing time needs, she was nice enough to defer the bike ride to us. Once we reached the bus station I was happy to see the bus was still there. Just like on the way to Cayes, since we were late I had to take a cramped seat up front next to the driver. By the time the bus started moving the time was 12:45pm, so we got very lucky they held the bus up that long for us. On the road back there was quite alot of traffic caused by a UN truck that was smashed by another large truck apparently. The delays set us back about an hour, but it wasn't a concern as we were still going to make it back that night and I would be able to make my flight the next day.

            I guess my birthday gift to Ile a Vache included drama and action as well...

The Hike for Reasonably Priced Fish

            We returned to our guide Willem's house for our final day on Ile a Vache. The plan was for us to take a long hike to the marketplace to purchase fish and other ingrediants to cook up later in the day. We were to spend the night at his place and then head back to the mainland of Haiti the next morning.

             Like the day before, Willem and his dog met us at the end of the beach at the resort and we walked to his house to drop off our stuff. Walking around the property I saw he had a solar panel used to collect sunlight during the day which could be used to power lights and other electrical outlets at night. We started on the trail and things were going well at first, but we had one slight problem in that the dog kept following us. His property does have a fence, but there's plenty of openings for his dogs to get out anytime they please. Time after time he would see the dog and have to throw a rock or a stick in its direction to scare it back home. Once we thought the dog was gone, soon enough we would turn around and see it trailing us, and Willem would have to make it run back. The dog's last attempt came when we were about 20% into our hike, so the dog certainly knows the island.

            The hike was far more challenging than I anticipated and luckily we brought a bottle along with us. We walked over busted concrete bridges, up hills, down hills, on beaches, on dirt roads, back on beaches again, the trail never seemed to end. What also made it tough was that there were animal droppings of almost every species all over the place, so one must really walk carefully. Plenty of the local people were walking around on that in barefoot, which had me in some surprise. Willem must be quite a popular person on the island as almost every person we passed greeted him and offered a small chat. I took noticed that several of the homes throughout the countryside had graves of their relatives on their own property in mosuleum-style. Since there's no vehicles on this island, that I saw of, the mode of transportation besides feet or boat is via a donkey or horse. Frequenty we would hear a gallop and a few seconds later a person would come buy riding on a horse. Both adults and even small unsupervised children would also be riding donkeys back home with the goods they purchased from the marketplace.

            After about more than an hour of walking we did finally reach our destination, which was a jam-packed affair of people and booths. There were tons of trash on the floor and people were in close proximity passing by eachother. I was warned to guard my pockets very carefully. The marketplace is only open on Mondays and Thursdays, so on those days it seems like everyone on the island has to be there. We bought another bottle of water for our journey back as well as some fried finger foods from a vendor to hold us over. Our main goal was to purchase fish, and fishermen were catching them near the waters off the marketplace so we knew they would be fresh. It turns out two of the fish vendors we asked wanted way too much for their product. In Haiti, almost everything is a negociation when it comes to making purchases, and of course the marketplace is no exception. Unfortunately, these ladies weren't budging at all. The first lady had a whole cooler filled with fish and one would think she would want to get rid of them for as much as she reasonably could, but no. So in reality, we just walked away with some peppers and onions, but not the main goal of fish.

            We returned via the same route we got there with and passed the same terains, complete with animal droppings of course. Willem showed us his grandmother's property he grew up on and he asked some other fishermen we passed if they had any catch to sell us, but they didn't. The dog was happy to see Willem back and Plan B became for us to eat conch instead. As we took a nap at Willem's house to rest from the very long and challenging hike, a woman came over to cook up the food. She made a conch soup and prepared fried plantains, rice with peas, and cut raw onions that had a very spicy sauce on them. Willem sent for a young boy to buy two bottles of soda for us at a nearby vendor a few minutes away from his house. The sun went away as we ate, but Willem was able to provide us with some light from his solar powered generator. For the night, we were to sleep on his bed and he was going to sleep on his couch. Willem had to go out somewhere, but he was to return a few hours later. The first snafu was that it was only 7pm which is far earlier than I'm able to go to sleep. With not enough power available for a TV and limited light for reading purposes, time at night on the island moved very slowly.

            We did have a light in the room, but as soon as Willem returned home and sounded like he was settled in, she turned the light off and all of a sudden there was nothing but pitch black. There could have been a million dollars or a polar bear in front of my face and I wouldn't have seen it. I suggested we have some light as generally its a good idea to be able to see what is in front of you, even at a limited capacity. She was able to use her cell phone flashlight feature and we kept it on near my edge of the bed. Then for some reason something in my head told me to use the light to check the side of my bed against the wall, so I shined the light there and saw the absolute biggest spider outside of a petshop or a zoo I've seen in my life. Granted we did have a mosquito net covering the bed area that was to protect us from bugs, but no net is full proof. I woke her up and informed her of the spider, she was scared to even look at it thinking it was much bigger.

            When she finally mustered the courage to look at it, she complained to me it wasn't big at all and killed it with a shoe. She must have had a bad angle seeing it, as it wasn't as big as a tarantula, but it was certainly much larger than the ordinary house spider she claimed it to be. The thing looked like something that would be used for a Halloween decoration in someone's window. The fact it was initially pitch black in the room and something like that could be walking on my face made me keep that cellphone light on. I constantly used it to check around me and noticed the occasional mosquito or other bug flying around inside the net, just waiting for me to fall asleep. The night was long as it was maybe only 10pm and I still had about nine more hours to go till the sun would rise. Even with the light, I covered my whole body in a sheet and wasn't taking any chances of another one of those big spiders getting on me. Somehow, someway, I eventually drifted off asleep and woke up to little beams off sunlight entering the small openings of the metalic roof. I can't remember ever being so happy to see the sun.

            Haiti could be intimidating in certains regards, but that spider was the scariest thing I ever saw there...