Time is a funny thing in this place. It’s often hard to keep track of. It often feels like things are moving oh so slowly, but then a month has passed without me even noticing. I actually can’t fathom the fact that I’ve almost been here for 6 months now, and it seems both like I’ve been here For.Ev.Er and have just arrived. And (le sigh) I’ve been remiss in updates once again. It’s true.

An image of Les Cayes from my hotel room. As my coverage areas have expanded, this has become my second home.

So I went to Brazil and then came back again. and I don’t even know what to say. One week is far, far, FAR too short to see all the people you’ve been missing for almost 4 years. But it was wonderful (and sad to say goodbye again so soon), and full of far too many stories for a blog post. I miss Brazil in a different way than I miss any of the many other places that I think of as home. And I think its time to go back for a while. Like a long while. Fact. So there is definitely some scheming in the works to make that happen, hopefully in the near (rather than far) future.

Here are some photos from my whirlwind trip back.

First photo back in Brazil. I'm glad it was with one of the most amazing friends ever!

Pampulha Lake on a walk at sunset. The wheel lights have not yet been turned on.

Becoming Certified- one of my amazing friends' certificate proclaiming her amazingness as a teacher. I went to an improv in education class that she taught that day. It was loads of fun!

Having drinks at the balcony bar. It was freezing but fun. Summer in Haiti, winter in Brazil. Yes, I died. Well, almost.

Photos of us! PS- they have fabulous mojitos.

Serious face.

The gang!

Some of my fav people ever. And yes, that is a scarf around my neck. Did I mention it was cold?

Why yes, that IS a flaming bowl of cachaça. And yes, you dip your fingers in to 'drink' it. Punk Drink deliciousness.

Trying to catch a 'hand in flame' photo.

Close

Happily stuffed after a fabulous night out at a friend's Italian restaurant with some of the best people ever. Such. Good. Food.

Blurry air kisses at the club

Fun night out at the clubs with lots of dancing and other requisite amazingness.

Taking some time out for the bar staff to breathe fire

See? Fire!

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A family portrait

Of course no visit to BH in June would be complete without attending the festa de Junina. Complete with much delicious eatings.

Pretty lights and decorations

Happy faces

Wandering through

More smiles.

Artistic shadows by Ci.

Caldo is delicious. And again. It was cold.

YUM. This is all I have to say.

Serious face.

Cutes!

Clearly they are really walking naturally towards me and not just pretending to walk so that I can get a photo that isn't blurry but which will turn out blurry anyhow. Yes.

Churrasco on my last day. Leaving was hard. Really hard. ❤

I pretty much love them all. Its true.

Oh and I thought I should sneak in a quick interlude of D&G with the Liebling Gezicht in Santo Domingo on the way back to Haiti-land.

Since coming back, not much has changed although for awhile there I forgot how to speak French in lieu of Portuguese, and then I had a few hard days/weeks in there when the world pretty much conspired to make work suck. But yes, it’s true that there have been a lot of frustrations lately, but nothing that can’t ultimately be solved (theoretically. Sigh. Positive thinking… positive thinking…). It’s been tiring, and what with the most recent massive increase in cholera in my city, I’ve been tired and stressed. A lot of friends have also been leaving recently, and so our tiny little world in a small corner of Haiti has been growing even more miniscule.

Life goes on though, and there are definitely still many things to enjoy here. I love the random building parties, where we all just end up at someone’s flat or in the alley next to the apartments for chats, drinks, food, peteca, and music. We went to Basin Blue the other weekend as well. We hadn’t gone in a few months, and despite my inexplicable near hypothermia shaking/numb appendages experience, it was wonderful to go back there again (especially when a crazy Mexican is driving you through rivers and fields of fire. True story).

The Canadian takes the plunge at Basin Blue.

The Gang- They really did all jump from up there. I am clearly not as cool as any of them, and felt no real desire to change that (plunge to my DOOM). I was quite happy on the little rock, thank you very much.

The Mexican contemplates life.

Mentally preparing to leap

Pretending to have intellectual conversations while the teeth were chattering.

What a beautiful place to spend a Sunday

And of course, there have been some fun trips to the beach, some parties, voodoo festivals (OMG complete with goat and chicken sacrifices, people falling all over the place and talking in tongues, amazing drum music, and an Australian voodoo priest) , dinners in the middle of nowhere in the hills, and some good movie nights. Recently as well, the apartment cat has decided to take over our flat and claim us for his own. Luckily though, he has considerately allowed us to remain in our his home, and so of course he has been a fuzzy, and terribly adorable distraction in our lives as well.

This face can get away with pretty much anything. And he knows it.

The preferred Jac Jac lounging position. You are not allowed to move until he says.

Jac Jac's spot in my bedside table

Ready to cause some trouble

So really, all in all, it’s not actually been that bad, just tiring sometimes/most of the time. I’ve been also adjusting to an increase in responsibilities and working areas, and so sleep and fun haven’t been especially high on the to do list lately. Luckily, however, Saturday night was the best sleep I’ve had in about a month, and despite not sleeping really at all last night, I’m still feeling more capable of facing the world today than I have in awhile, which makes me at least slightly less likely to complain about absolutely everything. Even if I didn’t get my day at the beach yesterday that I’d been counting on.

Beach/Frisbee adventure with friends a couple weeks ago. I am ready for another one of these. Yes. Immediately.

But yes, this blog post is just another boring catch up post with no real fun anecdotes or stories (sorry), but at least I’ve tried to put in some photos to fill the gaps and will hopefully commence with the normal posting again soon. With that said, I will leave you with the image below:

A typical morning with The Canadian while getting ready to go to the office. He mostly always has heatstroke so he avoids becoming fully clothed until the last possible moment. I think it's hilarious.