One of the people constantly with our team in
Haiti was Mr. P. Despite the fact that there are no police, government, or
infrastructure of any kind on La
Montagne, he is known as the “Mayor of the Mountain.” Mr. P is in his 70’s,
with a small and wiry build. Originally from the Dominican Republic, he speaks
fluent Spanish as well as Haitian Creole.
You would never know how old he was based on his
agility! Mr. P can still climb coconut trees, butcher pigs, and beat teenage
girls (*ahem, me*) in foot races up mountains with the best of them. He amazed
our whole team! And he is truly “the boss” of the mountain!
On our way down the mountain at the end of the
week, we had a little issue. You see, 2 truck drivers had been hired to take
our team of 17 down the mountain. We also hired 1 tap-tap for our luggage. Only
one truck driver and the tap-tap showed up (an hour late.) We were all packed
and ready to leave, so the half of the team that was supposed to ride in the 2nd
truck piled into the tap-tap with the luggage.
We hadn’t driven 5 minutes down the mountain
when the other truck driver shows up. He stops the vehicle so that those of us
in the tap-tap can get out and ride in his vehicle. But we had already settled
in and the missionary tried to explain we no longer needed him because he was
so late. The driver got angry, so he pulled his truck in front of our tap-tap
and wouldn’t move.
The driver of the tap-tap and the missionary
argued with the truck driver for a good 10 minutes as a crowd of Haitians began
to gather. Mr. P was hitching a ride into Jacmel with us and was sitting in the
back of the tap-tap with us. We could tell he was starting to get antsy.
Finally, he got out and went to talk with the truck driver. Two minutes later,
we were back on the road. J
He holds a lot of influence on La
Montagne, which is why he is affectionately given the title “Mayor of the
Mountain.”
No comments:
Post a Comment