Haiti. The Finale.

Day 12:
Thursday was a busy day.
We went for a hike into the mountains in the morning.
It was about a 1 1/2 hour drive and then 45 minutes in. But in order to get there we had to cross a river in the truck, and some pretty rocky terrain. It was so much fun! A little worrisome at times though..like driving through a river that is at least two feet deep in a truck..scary.
But the hike was a lot of fun. The destination point was this cool mountain pool.
We spent a bit of time there swimming and exploring the creepy cave part, then hiked back and drove back to camp.
About five minutes away from home we realized there was a flat tire(not very surprising after everything the truck had done that day.) so most of the girl folk decided to walk back. That's when I discovered my shoulders.

I knew they would be burnt. I mean, I planned on that. I purposely didn't put on sunscreen cause it was the last day in Haiti and I needed as much sun as I could get.

But as I'm walking back to the guesthouse at the end of the excursion I look at my shoulders..and the entire surface of my skin was raised. I started freaking out, thinking that I was blistering already, or something along those lines.
So after panicking for a good amount of time I came to my senses and realized it was just the heat rash thing again. Just way worse. I took more benadryl and left it at that.

After lunch we went to the beach for a couple hours.
As far as beaches go it was quite splendid. But unlike last time it didn't seem as enjoyable. The only reason I can see for that is last trip we didn't have any water by us to go swimming in so the two days we went to the beach were really special. Whereas this time we had an ocean out our back door the entire time and a river to our right so making a special trip to the beach seemed a little pointless. Although the sand was spectacular.
And there was shells everywhere. I picked out quite a few to bring home with me.

By the time we arrived home my rash was back, and of course worse than ever.

So even though it was the last night I basically just took some medicine and read in bed before going to sleep early. Although not before indulging in a little left over halloween candy. I am very upset I missed the day after halloween candy sales.

Day 13:
Last day :(
I had mostly packed everything up the night before so I didn't really have anything to do in the morning so I just hung around..and made about 50 trips back up to my room to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything :) and I didn't(that I've noticed yet).
We did a couple last team photos and since there was nothing keeping us we left a little bit ahead of schedule.
I read/slept the whole bus ride back to the airport.
We said our quick goodbyes to Rod before we entered the building and..the crucial part..I forgot to take one final dose of Benadryl before I put it into my checked luggage. BIG MISTAKE.
My body was already looking pretty bad. And we were stuck waiting in the airport for over 3 hours. In which time..the rash spread to my face. Haha, it wasn't actually as bad as it sounds. It wasn't so much of as rash on my face..it just looked like I had a huge sunburn on my forehead. I was just pretty self conscience. And I made sure that I never touched my face..I was so sure if I even nudged it I would instantly get hives all over it.
Cause that's usually how it worked. It starts small, like mosquito bites but the more it's irritated the worse it gets.

But they let me on the plane with my 'disease'..so I guess I didn't look as contaminated as I felt.
I was done with planes already so I tried to sleep as much as I could.

We got into Miami and it took awhile to get everybody and the luggage together.
When we finally sorted everything out we got lost trying to find the hotel shuttle bus area. And it took forever! for our bus to come. And then it seemed like forever until we got our hotel. But maybe that was just because I was tired. And very done with dealing with some of the people in the group.

We dropped off our stuff in our room and went back out to find some food. I was feeling pretty nauseous at this point but there was no chance of me staying in the room by myself. We found KFC! Haha, it's sort of an inside thing..
I've never really been a big fan of KFC..maybe cause chicken definitely isn't in my top ten favorite foods. So I got mashed potatoes, and nachos..but they put some nasty processed cheese on it so that barely got touched.
And of course for the main course..a bite of the new double down!
The sandwich(burger?) that we had all been waiting for.
Instead of a bun it's two pieces of chicken on either side with bacon, cheese and sauce inside. SO GROSS. But we had to try it in order to say we've tried it.


We stopped at a grocery store on the way back and got some..must needed items. For me that was more Benadryl and some Pepto Bismol. For others..it was other means of making them feel better :).

We spent some time hanging out with the other people then went to bed.
I had such a comfy bed. I mean so nice. Soft, smooth,cool.
But I had the worst sleep ever.
I couldn't understand it.

Day 14:
I had some pretty amazing chocolate croissants for breakfast. But the coffee was only so-so. It was my first time having coffee in 2 weeks..so that was a little disappointing. The first flight all I did was sleep since I was to tired.

The Dallas/ Fort Worth airport was incredible. I wish we had more then 45 minutes there..but I did get to try McCafe. It's not available in Canada yet..it was quite delish.


The last plane was spent wishing the trip would just be over.
Of course we got into Vancouver and had to drive another 5 hours. Great.
But that's pretty much it, people.

I had a fabulous time.
It was so nice to go back.
To experience familiar things and then some new.

Being with a mixed age group was definitely different. But I have always felt comfortable with all age groups so it wasn't that big of deal for me.

It was a lot of fun having half of my family there. Maybe next time it will be the whole family :D.

Thanks for all the prayers and support!