Kenscoff

Our first week with the Casavants included a nice little trip to Kenscoff, a little mountain town about 40 minutes north of Petionville.  Petionville sits at the foot of the mountains where Kenscoff is hiding from the hustle and bustle of the greater Port-au-Prince area.

Adam getting his shoes shined outside the door, after a long day in service.

See that little ramp with a truck on it? That's a car wash.

There are three basic forms of transportation in Haiti: the tap tap, the moto taxi and car taxis.
I'm relatively sure death follows a ride on a moto taxi.

Behind me is a colorfully painted portion of Petionville.

After we drove through the center of Petionville, we began our long climb up the mountain.  It was so beautiful - so lush, so green.

Haiti is beautiful.  Ayiti or Haiti in English, is actually an indigenous word meaning
"land of high mountains" - a very fitting name.

On the climb up, through various little villages, we passed by hundreds
of children leaving school.

Views like this almost made me forget how stupidly hot it is here.
The nice thing about Kenscoff was the temperature: 80 instead of 95.

Here's the Kingdom Hall in Kenscoff.

The climate in Kenscoff was very different - we climbed several thousand vertical feet to find a place similar to home - lots of pine trees and grass, and a nice cool breeze.  I would have taken more pictures, but the higher up we got, the more stares we got - let's just say that in Petionville we stick out, but in Kenscoff we look like aliens.

After a nice, peaceful trip to Kenscoff, we came back down to the real world:

Yes, friends, behold a truck piled 11 feet high with unsecured bags of stuff.  Barreling down the road and swerving to avoid killing people. Tilted at an angle defying gravity.  Welcome back to the big city I suppose.

This week is our last in Petionville.  Next Monday we're headed to the Dominican Republic for a wedding.  Apparently it will be quite the road trip, so we're excited.  But fear not: more crazy pictures to come, including the promise of how nutty getting to the Sunday service arrangement is and how meetings are a source of sheer entertainment and proof that people are flocking to Jehovah's organization.