by Jess K. '10
Yesterday was one of those days where we were fortunate enough to have a cloud covering, so though most of the day was hot, it wasn't stifling. Today was stifling. Today was sauna in an oven on the sun. Sweat poured down my face and into every crevice of my body. On top of that, the streets of Port-Au-Prince are extremely dusty, so by the end of the day we were so grimy that Amritaa '10 wiped her face with a cotton swab and found it to be pitch black. Mmm.
Today began with a trip to the mechanic at the Technique Club Garage, about half an hour away from our hotel. Darryl and Marvin '10 are working on a project that uses pedal power to generate electricity through an alternator, to be used to charge a cell phone battery at bodegas or local shops, so they'd planned to visit a Haitian mechanic to discuss the feasibility of the idea and put the machine together. Our mechanic was a really friendly guy who picked up on the idea right away. In fact, he even began adding his own contributions to the project, drawing out alternate designs that they could use. The limiting factor was, as usual, electricity - his power had gone out that morning and wouldn't return until the afternoon, so since he didn't have the capability to weld anything we told him we'd return back before the day was over.
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