Well, first the HOM staff and the folks on this trip had an English service, including the accapello singing of a couple of songs, including Amazing Grace.
As we started out towards the beach, the tap-tap I was riding in got one flat tire and another leaking air. They replaced the flat one, and then rushed off to a 'tire shop' along the way that patched both bad tires. The equipment was very crude. They busted the seal of the tire using a broken axel, and then opened it the rest of the way using a leaf spring. The tires have tubes, so they remove the tube and patched the leak by pressing a can with fire in it against the hole. Then they put the tube back in, and after putting the tire back on the rim filled the tire. Apparently they don't have air pump nozzles that can hold the valve open, so they remove the valve, fill the tire, and then quickly stick the valve back in. No balancing of tires or front end alignments here!
After that it was a bit over an hour to the beach in tap-tap. Not a trip I'd like to make on a regular basis, although a lot of it was on roads that were pretty good by Hatian standards. My behind was quite sore after the return trip!
$15 each to get into the beach, I paid another $7 to go snorkling. Lunch (a very large cheeseburger with fires) was about $10. We had soft drinks with ice, only the second time we've had iced beverages since I've been here.
Baptized 5 people in the ocean, including a couple of people from the HOM staff.
Then back to the compound for a dinner of rice and beans (no surprise there), beets, carrots, and....goat.
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