Haiti Reflections: Day 5 - March 19 Addendum

You know, originally I wasn't going to post this part of the story. But after I published the story of our last clinic day, I thought that this really needed to be told. I'm not one for covering up.

After dinner and debriefing, most of us wanted to go out into Chantal and see the village. At least, see as much of the village as we could see in the dark. So we grabbed some beers, cracked them open and headed out on the town.

This is where things got a little messy.

The Chantal police station

It turns out there was another bit of something being lost in translation, namely, an accurate translation of Haitian laws and attitudes towards open containers. As a result, a few of us wound up in the slammer (whatever the Creole word for that is)...

In the clink because of a drink

Bill, pictured in the center bottom, is already retired so this won't hurt him as much, but Greg and Juliet are going to have a hard time explaining this away to their respective professional licensing boards.

OK, so I'm kidding. We went to the police station and the officer on duty was kind enough to show us around. Because it's the Chantal police station, it was not a lengthy tour. But it did include a look at the holding cell.

I'm not sure what these folks were thinking but I'm not ever going voluntarily into a third-world jail cell. I'm even more perplexed by Juliet doing this, what with two of her peers there and all. Both with cameras.

So, Juliet, I can't speak for what Sarah Mattocks is going to do with her pictures of you doing hard time, but the rights to mine can be negotiated. You've got my number...give me a call.