Yes that's right, lots of other people with the same conundrum as me. I found my spot near the only currency exchange booth that would open in time. I took my towel out of my suitcase and used it as a blanket (who knew it would be cold in Miami?). I woke up at about 4:30 (about 2 hours of sleep), and waited around for the office to open, then I got my money and I went looking for breakfast. I had a huge breakfast of eggs and veggies for only $6, which fit perfectly with my big breakfast diet I've been doing.
I got on the plane to Haiti at gate H8 (I was hoping for H80 which would have been the better pun, but I'll take what I can get). It was a nice trip, and when we arrived I saw the American military (and perhaps others) camped out, ready to distribute supplies.
I continued along to Guadeloupe, where I noticed at the start of the flight that the flight attendant spraying what I thought was a nice air freshener but was in fact insecticide, required by domestic and international laws in the region. After my brief layover in the very pretty but tiny Pointe-à-Pitre airport, I continued along to Martinique and at long last, Cayenne. The Cayenne Airport is quite pretty but a long way away from the city itself. It cost 40€ to get there by taxi, which I did not realize in advance or else I would have tried to find another way. I felt better knowing that buses didn't run on Sundays so the cheaper option wasn't really available. In any event, I had left Bloomington at 4:45 Saturday and arrived at my hotel in Cayenne at 7:30 Bloomington time.
I did not feel excited about being here. Being in Cayenne was something I always wanted to have done but never wanted to do. I'm here for data, not for growth or fulfillment, and that's not a good mindset for fieldwork. But, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you go into fieldwork with the mindset you have, not with the mindset you wish you had.
And I think that's a good place to end. I'll continue with another blog post shortly.
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