A trip to Baptiste

We left Cerca Carvajal around 10 am, with Za and Nicole and their things.  We stopped first at Colladere, to return a microphone that had been borrowed.  We made our way to Hinche and made many stops: first we dropped off Za at her home and then Nicole.  Then it was time for a little shopping.  Finally, we stopped by the presbyte (the rectory: the main rectory in Hinche.  Each of the 4 parishes in Hinche also have their own rectories.)  We picked up Fr. Robert who is now the pastor of Maissade.  Fr. KK informed me that we would now have a new chauffeur.  I wondered at this, because until now he has not allowed anyone else to drive his new (this year) car.  I later learned that Fr. Robert’s legs are long and he has more legroom in the driver’s seat.  Our trip to the lower plateau was uneventful since the road is paved and smooth, with a few speed bumps in places.  At Mirebalais we turned to head toward Lascahobas, Belladere and finally Baptiste.  The road to Lascahobas is a good one, but after Lascahobas the road became very rough.  I had forgotten that most of the rural roads in Haiti used to be like this, including National Route 3, the road from Port au Prince to Cap Haitien by way of Hinche.  They are working on the road in places, but they have a very long way to go.  In some places it appeared that the road had been paved in the past but the pavement had deteriorated so that all that remained were small sections of patches of pavement.  We climbed higher and higher.  The land has much more vegetation and the crops are different.  Here, coffee is an important crop.  Apparently coffee requires cooler and more moist conditions.  At any rate, we finally arrived in Baptiste around 5 pm.  I was shown to a room with 4 mattresses on the floor although I have the room to myself thus far.  As dusk came, I could hear beautiful choir music coming from the church. I was only able to take a picture of the church as the sunset: