So this post (like almost all my posts) is way overdue. This was going to be my "I survived hurricane Isaac" post, but of course you all know that because it happened two weeks ago. What I want to start telling you about was actually three weeks ago, when I finally discovered where the yoga happens in Haiti.
There were twice-weekly yoga classes in Kabul that I attended pretty regularly - it is super relaxing and was a really good excuse to get out of the house. I know that there are yogis among any expat community, so I was searching and searching for a similar yoga class in PAP. I finally learned about one three weeks ago, the instructor gives a free class on Wednesdays on the roof of her apartment. It felt really really good to get back into yoga - it had been almost 8 months since my last class - and it could not have been in a more picturesque location. The classes are on the instructor's apartment rooftop with a great view over PAP and the bay. They start at 7pm so we're doing our sun salutations watching the sunset, it's absolutely amazing. I'm really excited about finding this class and have been attending weekly every since. I also realized that yoga is another way you get 'spoiled' as an expat - I haven't paid to attend a class in two years and the concept just seems foreign to me now!
So that was Wednesday. By Thursday, everyone was buzzing about Isaac, the tropical storm that was slowly making its way to Haiti. We actually had Friday off work in case it hit, which turned out to be THE most anti-climatic day. It was a bit cloudy and kind of windy, and then everything quieted down (the proverbial calm before the storm, I suppose). By dinner time we were going stir crazy in our apartment and headed over to our friends house down the road for dinner and drinks. The winds picked up around 7 or 8, and the rain around 9 or 10, but the storm wasn't even in PAP by the time we went to bed. It hit us around 2am, and I awoke to some howling wind, but was able to get back to sleep so we really slept through the entire thing.
Isaac was tropical storm strength (one strength less than a hurricane), and caused less visible damage than a freak 20-min hurricane we had had a month earlier. There wasn't too much rain, so the amount of damage caused by flooding was minimal, things were quite normal in PAP. The storm came through the south and they were hit worse off then us. Overall it was a very anti-climatic experience, firstly because the storm hit late and we slept through it and secondly because it didn't leave much of a trail. I'm not complaining, and we still have three more months of "hurricane season" so there may still be a storm or two coming, but at the moment I'm back to enjoying my sunny days on my tropical island!
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| Yoga in Port-au-Prince |
So that was Wednesday. By Thursday, everyone was buzzing about Isaac, the tropical storm that was slowly making its way to Haiti. We actually had Friday off work in case it hit, which turned out to be THE most anti-climatic day. It was a bit cloudy and kind of windy, and then everything quieted down (the proverbial calm before the storm, I suppose). By dinner time we were going stir crazy in our apartment and headed over to our friends house down the road for dinner and drinks. The winds picked up around 7 or 8, and the rain around 9 or 10, but the storm wasn't even in PAP by the time we went to bed. It hit us around 2am, and I awoke to some howling wind, but was able to get back to sleep so we really slept through the entire thing.
Isaac was tropical storm strength (one strength less than a hurricane), and caused less visible damage than a freak 20-min hurricane we had had a month earlier. There wasn't too much rain, so the amount of damage caused by flooding was minimal, things were quite normal in PAP. The storm came through the south and they were hit worse off then us. Overall it was a very anti-climatic experience, firstly because the storm hit late and we slept through it and secondly because it didn't leave much of a trail. I'm not complaining, and we still have three more months of "hurricane season" so there may still be a storm or two coming, but at the moment I'm back to enjoying my sunny days on my tropical island!
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