The brightly colored truck is a Tap Tap; taxis all over the city that people jump into and give a few cents when they jump off.

Took 800 photos today. Stunning and disheartening conditions.

Visited a parish that offers schooling and training for children and women. Medical care too. This beats the poor people you see on tv commercials These were people on the edge of survival. Smiling.

Our hostil (called Hospice St. Joseph) is safe and clean, no hot water but that feels good actually. Internet is down due to Bill and Ana, so they say. Never felt heat like this. Heading north into rural areas, namely Gros Morne, tomorrow and Sunday.

Check out fonkoze.org to learn about the people who are hosting us.

More later if I can get online.

bB // Sent from my mobile

Nuns taking care of 30 infants while their mothers learn to sew. Just got back from the slums of Port au Prince. More pix to come.

Not since my first trip to King’s Island when I was, what, four or five years old have I felt utterly unprepared for what I’m about to experience. Trying to plan and pack for every contingency that could play out was impossible. I know I’m staying in three different spots, starting with Port au Prince, but I know nothing of these places. Google yielded no results for the hotel I’m staying at or one night.

That may or may not be a good sign.

The hurricane with which I share my name is evidently veering north away from Haiti. Part of me is disappointed. How many times does someone get to come face to face with an eponymous hurricane? If Bill the hurricane would have won, there’s no doubt I would have made the CNN homepage; one of those headlines you can get a t-shirt made of.

A quick aside for those gluten-free readers: American offers no GF meals for purchase. In fact, no item within their meal packs is even vaguely GF. I’ll put that $6 toward surgery for coach-length legs.

Speaking of. Time to stretch.

On my way to o’hare to catch my flight to Haiti. Testing a mobile post. Stay tuned for more in the next 6 days!