Really?

I've always wondered why cars, trucks, vans and all other other motorized vehicles seem to fall apart, not just in my possession, but in my very presence.

My first car was previously driven by my brother and sister and their friends, but of course did not reach its end until the worst possible moment when in my possession. My second vehicle was, granted, as old as my first (both built in '88), but had its own set of problems that waited until the car was called mine before they surfaced.

You name it, I've had to deal with it- flat tires, bad engines, needing to start the car from its exterior, radiator problems, broken hoses, coolant leaks, noisy belts, pump failure, faulty horns, shatter-prone bearings, no heat, no gas, no wipers, no lights, no working gauges, the works.

Well, here in Haiti, my past seems to be repeating itself in all the ways I would have liked for it not to.

Since we got our "new" pickup, I've driven it for maybe a total of 8 hours and sat in the back waiting for it to be fixed for a rough total of 28 hours. The same tire has gone flat twice, the first of which was the first time I ever sat in the friggin' thing, and the time I tried to get a woman to the hospital so she wouldn't have her baby in the dirt a bearing shattered, which caused my serpentine belt to rip to shreds, handicapping the truck in the middle of nowhere with a screaming pregnant lady in the back.

We put her on a tap tap to the hospital and 6 hours later she came riding back toward home with a little baby girl. 4 hours after THAT, we finally got the truck pulled back to my yard and fixed a few days later, only for the radiator to break the next time I drove it. Holy crap.

So as you can imagine, I am wary of taking it too often, hoping that when I do need it to go to the city, it won't break again. So I ride tap taps or a bus instead when I have to go to Port au Prince.

I went in a bus on Monday, on which there was no sitting room. So I practically stradled the gear shift and held on to what was left of the rear view mirrior for an hour. Then we hit a motorcycle. Thankfully, the Haitians on the motorcycle were smart ones and instead of gripping the moto for dear life, they did the right thing- they bailed. And that was the end of the moto. What was a 2 hour trip turned into a 3 hour one, but we were fine.

I went to the city again yesterday and everything was perfect. Sitting room on either vehicle we rode- bus or tap tap. The whole trip was smooth, until about a mile from home...when the tire exploded.

Only God knows why it happens to me. I've got no explanation.

Happy New Year!

Love you.
-C