Equipment Manager Craig Chmiel takes us through today's action.
Little did I know when I first started working in MLS, I would be spending an offseason waking up at 4:45 a.m. in order to board a flight for a six-day service trip to Haiti with Wyclef Jean. I also didn't expect to sweat bullets getting 11 oversized bags full of equipment from the baggage claim in the Toussaint L'Overture Airport in Port-au-Prince, only to hop on another plane that we would soon find out seated 20 people, used propellers not jet engines, would be flying low enough for the pilots to crack the windows to cool down the cabin yet high enough to graze the Haitian mountainside on the 18 minute trip to Jacmel. We proceeded to land on a runway that looked like the size of a Band-Aid from outside the window. It was fitting that our first other-than-human contact after we landed safely would be our team's mascot, the "Bullski"- a long horned bull in a pen about 15 feet from where our plane just deboarded.
A 25 minute journey through the crowded and often unorganized streets of Jacmel awaited us as we arrived at the site of the night's festivities, the Jacmelline Hotel. A host of energetic Yele Haiti staff greeted us and we were treated to authentic Haitian cuisine of some sort of rice/potato/seafood medley. We weren't quite sure what we were eating but we did know it was tasty and also knew that we hadn't eaten since the surprisingly delicious omelet served 8 hours earlier on American Airlines flight 837.
In spite of our stewardess' concern for our safety traveling to Haiti, we felt we were in good hands after meeting our armed security team of Noel and Yves. They will be with us the entire trip keeping an eye on us.
Since things run a little bit slower here in Haiti, we ended up meeting Wyclef Jean four hours later than we were supposed to; however, it was well worth it. He remembered meeting Jerrod, Jozy, Seth and I at our home opener (when he performed our halftime show) and was happy to see us again. Being Haitian, he is very proud of his country and is quick to point out that Haiti often has a negative connotation because of all the recent violence. However, he added that the violence is really confined to a few areas in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and the rest of the country is as peaceful- and as breathtaking- as its other Caribbean counterparts. He invited us to his personal "Yele Ball", with an all-white dress code. He said in reference to a similar party hosted by Sean Combs, "Puffy's white party has nothing on ours, cause this one is in Haiti!"
I must say, we were all looking good in our whites, but J-Rod definitely outdid us all with an all-white ensemble complete with a top hat, white tie, and white snakeskin boots!
The Ball was a great time and we were able to catch a preview of Friday night's concert with Wyclef performing a few songs with the Haitian house band. We capped off the night in fitting fashion- riding in the back of a pickup truck weaving through the streets of Jacmel at 2:00 a.m. catching a great view of every constellation in the sky. Living near Manhattan, you forget stars sometimes exist.
It was quite a long day, but certainly an exciting one. Tomorrow we are up early to visit some youth soccer players at a local park and then will be kicking it around with some children housed in a nearby orphanage. See you tomorrow and check back when Stammler recaps another day in Haiti.
-Craig
