Photo update

PHOTOS UPDATE
Making photographs in Haiti has been difficult thus far. When we're in the car, both Regi and Sacha (my designated Haitian drivers) drive like they're training for NASCAR. Given the less than smooth road surfaces, I do all that I can to hang on and not bounce off the interior walls and roof. When we're in a traffic jam, which is most of the time, we tend to lurch forward to gain even the smallest space advantage over the other drivers. This situation is not conducive to good photography.

The other factor is that I am inhibited about leaning out of the car or walking around (something I've yet to do in 3 weeks here) with my camera ready to snap pics of the locals and their country. A more practical issue is the fact that being white AND carrying a digital camera immediately tells all those around me that I might have some money, and it may be worth knocking me over the head for my cash stash. That last item may be paranoia, but everybody I talk to about being here (Haitians) tells me to lay low and draw as little attention to myself as possible.

An American woman photographer for Associated Press routinely wears a kevlar flack jacket when she goes out to make photos. I don't want the pictures that badly.

Anyway, despite the limitations I've added some new snaps to My Photos on Yahoo.

The link is http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/chilekwk/my_photos
Click on the Haiti album

Here's a brief description of the photos:

0057 - livingroom - our living room in maison bois moquette. Does this look like a bachelor pad? Where are all the empty Prestige bottles??

0059 - entryway - our entryway in maison bois moquette

0060 - click123 - This is the only cyber cafe that looks safe enough to enter. It is a hangout for tech-starved foreigners and it's run by a Haitian who went to university in the US. Most internet access in Haiti is via satellite dish. The phone system is much like the electricity: occasional and unreliable. The satellite isn't so reliable either.

0061 - Sacha/phone - Sacha in front of maison bois moquette doing what he does best...talk on the damn phone!

0063 - guardkitty - This is our feline friend whose mission in life is to get into our house. She settles for scratches and rubs when she corners us in the yard. This is her game face. She has 2 kittens who have eluded my camera thus far.

0068 - view - a view of Port-au-Prince from the El Rancho Hotel in Pétion-ville, the home to many UN peacekeepers. This view looks northwest. Gonaives, where the horrible flooding took place, is just over the mountains to the left side of the frame.

0071 - slums/hills - Amidst the beautiful green hills above Port-au-Prince you can see what is actually a pretty upper class slum. At least the buildings are mostly concrete and rebar, likely made from materials borrowed from a construction site. No building codes in this neighborhood.

0073 - sugar care - sugar cane vendors sell freshly cut cane. It's quite wonderful, with an almost honey-like flavor. Not like the shit you get in the US (even Hawaii). The large stalk, peeled by this young man, is 5 gourdes. It's a long and satisfying treat, as long as you have a place to spit out the pulp.

0076 - kittyonduty1 - her usual location, where she employs an assortment of methods--both vocal and physical--to gain entry into our home.

0077 - kittyonduty2 - making sure our door mat is properly fluffed

0078 - pothole/Borno - this is the same pothole intersection near our house where the water leak took place (see below). It used to be Grand Canyon-esque, and every car had to completely stop to negotiate the abyss. Before I could get a photo, we had a torrential downpour, which washed gravel and dirt into the pothole and filled it in somewhat. It's called Haitian public works. The street construction you see is a 1/2 completed drainage curb. I don't expect it will be completed during the 4-5 months I'm here in Haiti. Besides, the street surface all around the drainage curb is LOWER than the curb.

0079 - streetleak - This is an intersection near our home. One day a broken pipe was bleeding water into the pothole. The flow stopped when the water ran out. Public water in Haiti comes and goes. Most wealthy people have their own reservoirs and cisterns and don't depend on public water. This leak continued the next day when the water came back on.

0084 - Sacha in studio - Sacha in our makeshift studio, with the actors set-up in the background. The fashionable fabric print on the wall is covering up fiber insulation (probably carcinogenic) that was glued to the wallboard. Haitian soundproofing.In order to get an idea of the room's size, I am completely against the wall taking this picture. Total dimension is about 15' x 9'

0086 - mousefood - our studio mouse likes to eat our sound blankets each evening when we're away. The other day, he was making noises like he was humping something. I hope he's not breeding.

0088 - Ken in studio - Me at my station, ready to record and edit the dubbing on SKIN DEEP. I spend between 6-10 hours in this position each day. A hole in the ceiling drips water to the spot just to my right when it rains. I have to move the equipment when I hear thunder, and we put a large trash can under the spot to catch the water. We need to empty it every couple of days. The mouse lives immediately behind me in a supply cabinet just out of frame.