St Michele drunk

24 May

After a great breakfast on the street, my favorite, I walk toward the market in search of adventure. The market is bustiling even at this early hour of 6:30. I so love being swallowed up by a culture like this. Total immersion.
I see a man selling lumieres, little oil lamps that he makes out of an old jar, a little tin fashioned around it to form a holder, a hole in the lid where he has soldered a wick holder. He was adding the wicks when I found him, tearing up a t shirt into thin strips and threading them into the holder.
Brilliant stuff.
I get a couple of beautiful mangoes and a piece of rope made out of used plastic sack.
I arrive back at the hotel at 8, just as I am arriving I am stopped by a young man. He wanted to show me something. Out of a black plastic bag he pulls a small woven basket. It is beautiful in its simplicity and form. It is made out of plastic, but I didn’t realize that it was made of recycled plastic bottles. I’ve heard of things made of these, but this is a first time to see something woven.. On the side of the basket is place where he has written his name. I recognized it as the name written on the back of my overalls costume. Lindor Walking!! What a chance meeting. I bought one and encouraged him to keep making them.
Fedony picks me up at 9;30 and we hop onto a moto to go to a school. I love traveling like this, it is cheap, economical and fun! We arrive at a small structure made of two by fours and tarp. The walls are woven palm fronds. Inside it is divided into four squares, each with a sheet of masonite for a blackboard, small bench desks are crowded with the neatly dressed children. The youngest is 5, the oldest maybe 14. There are 45 students in this space no bigger than a one car garage, with four teachers. I am introduced and off we go. One small boy becomes my comic sidekick, very funny and animated about everything I do. At the end they sing for me.
We walk back to the main road to catch another moto. Fedony asks if I want to go to the hotel or to Manoget. I choose the latter, wanting to see my friends there again. It is quite quiet when we arrive, the workers are stopping for lunch, so I join them for a plate of rice and beans. An older boy asks to play my concertina, a child asks for a ball, another wants the diabolo, soon all my things are dancing around the yard accompanied by the efforts on the concertina.; it was quite beautiful to see them all playing with my gear. Sarah had told me that she had talked to someone at the airport about my work, and was told that laughter was one of the 7 steps of survival. I googled it, actually play, but the two go hand in handl And there was a lot of play going on since I had arrived.
I got a ride back to the hotel to rest again. I am finding that a rest in the midday heat makes a lot of sense. I recharge my battery to go out again in the late afternoon.
When I go out, I meet Manno who asks if he can come with me. I always enjoy his company and he has taken some very nice pictures, so we go off together. I wanted to check out the orphanage near the hospital, so it will be good to have Manno along. As we walk along many children recognize me and call out Roget! We stopped at a shop where they were building a coffin. I clarified that it was not for me. They all laughed.
We find the Missionaires de Charite very easily. Their sign is still there and it is directly across from the hospital. Manno speaks with the guard at the gate. It seems that now is not a good time. Come back tomorrow. But next thing I know, we are being ushered in, and up the slight hill to a large building that is still standing. To our right is another that is totally flattened. We meet a nun halfway up the hill. She speaks English and I have a very nice conversation with Sister Teresa. She loves the idea and asks if I can come back tomorrow at 3. Perfect!!
We continue on our wander, not looking for a good spot for a show. There is a group of young girls sitting on a porch. Bingo! I set down my bags. A crowd quickly forms including one very drunk man who insists on singing the whole time. It felt a bit like an opera, everything I did was being sung about it seemed. He had two little girls with him, the younger, maybe 3, was petrified of me. I gave her tons of space. The show grew to 150, probably the biggest street show I’ve had this time. Several motos had stopped, maybe about 10-, the little girl was inching closer. By the end of my show, as I was packing up, she was standing right next to me and I could feel her hand on my back. Another small victory. The druck seemed to be getting a little belligerent when several men had urged him to back off. Manno wanted to leave, so off we went. The drunk followed us, with his two girls in tow. Manno seemed concerned, but I felt ok. He eventually turned back. I felt so sorry for those two litle girls.