04-JUL-C-2
OUR ENTRY INTO THE HAITIAN
ON EXIT FROM ELIAS PINA
AN ALL-DAY WAIT AFTER A MOTORBIKE RIDE ACROSS THE
BORDER INTO THE TORPOR AND POVERTY OF B ELLADERE,
AND THEN THE FAILED
ON OUR TRAVEL ON TO THUMONDE
IN THE HAITIAN RAINY SEASON CENTRAL PLATEAU
It has been a tumultuous day—if spending most of it sitting in a torporous wait in the hot sun of the unmistakably Haitian village of Belladere in a futile wait to ge4t the vehicles to transfer us to Thumonde in readiness is a tumult. I did witness a tumult, and that was a late afternoon furious frenzy of celebration, after the whole of the Haitians in hiding burst out in a fervor and frenzy of World Cup “futbol” ecstasy as Brazil kicked a sudden death overtime field goal to defeat Argentina 3:2 It was a good demonstration of a perfect “opiate of the people” in the middle of a mass of poverty and despair to know that people had clustered around rented ear space within the range of a battery operated radio could care passionately about something there than their own daily desperation.
I crossed
the border on the back of a motorbike, ahead of the group who waited behind on
the Dominican side of the border in an A/C bus that was a dull time for them
also. I was to intercept the four SUV’s
for which we had pre-paid with
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