Haitian accident...

I was heading out to Port-au-Prince last Wednesday,
transferring a young man with a head infection
to a different hospital for surgery. Ended up sitting
for 45 minutes in a traffic jam
on Mont Tapion- a local mountain
pass on the main road along the Northern Coast.
After making inquiries I learned that a tractor-
trailer load of cement bags had lost control on
the mountain, and crashed!

The trailer flew off and the truck came to rest on the edge of the
mountain. Thankfully no other vehicles got in the way and as
far as I can tell the driver escaped without much harm.

See the moto's, and people with buckets and bags? The truck was carrying
upwards of fifty tons of cement bags, basically all of which exploded when
the trailer rolled. You might wonder what the attraction is in a pile of dirty
cement scattered over the road. Not the Haitians- that's money on the road;
dusty, dirty, grey money. Folks flocked in on a steady stream of motos, as
well as on foot. Some will sell it, others may use it on their own houses.
Fighting and squabbling erupts as cement-seekers collide in their quest
for treasure; or when the police and U.N. soldiers show up with their
automatic weapons. For the most part, they just look the other way
as the people do the otherwise undesirable job of cleaning up the
effects of the accident for them. But woe to the offender who gets
too close to the zoned off area!!! He may be made an example,
while hundreds all around continue in the melee unscathed.
So goes "Justice" in the third world....

U.N. soldiers, helping direct traffic.

A wrecker from the U.N. attempting to open the road again...

GTH's own secretary, Jon Hofer- caught in the act of swiping
free cement??????!!!!!!!
No, fortunately this was a different day and he's
ACTUALLY just loading the truck preparatory
to heading out to a job site.
(GOTCHA Jon!!!!) :)))))