Escape from the Coast

This is from a letter that I wrote to my dearest French Friends in Las terreanas.. after I had to be evacuated in an ambulance with an upright seat.. since I had a blood clot in the leg which was moving.

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 have tried to call you a couple of times but no answer on either phone. I hope that you are well.. And that you have forgiven me for my outbursts.

It just broke my heart.. to see the fire coral from the reef in Haiti where I used to swim three hours a day.. the reef that drew me back here.. cut up and for sale in Las Terrenas.  It was right off the coast at Amani y les Bains near St Marc. Hait's beaches are so much more beautiful as the sea is flat and Carribbean Blue. 

The store in the paseo, which i love, told me the coral was from Haiti. I said that the red coral has been internationally protected for years.. it is on the endangered species list. Alan Baskin helped the government of Haiti declare the entire reef protected. Spear fishing was banned there in 1979 

The manager, who is charming,  sighed.. and said.. the people want it.

The little hotel where I stayed was completely full. They have upgraded.. the lights in the garden .. so that I can no longer see the stars at night.  Then they keep taking the seaweed away from the base of the palm trees on Punto Poppy and the trees keep falling in. I keep waiting for the internation residents to speak out but it has been happening more and more over the last five years. I think that maybe it is just like lobsters.. that you are in the water and it is getting hotter but you do not notice. Anyway.. my heart was broken.

And then the medicine that I have been taking makes me allergic to the sun.. I just walked around the corner for cigs without sunscreen on and was burning up already inside. I was in the hospital once with this already.... aarrgh.. Anyway.. it takes a long time to land from a manic episode.. which was back in June.. the first one of this series,.. when I had to run from my apartment. Clearly.. LT is a dangerous place for me.

The work with the Haitians continues. We managed to extracate four Haitians from prison in Dajabon and let them return to the Capiral. My friend Edward Paraiston, who is the former minister of the Diaspora, is going to set up a meeting with the haitian embassy here to see how we can bring down the cost of the paper work. IT is about the cost of a month;s living expenses.. which is clearly too much for the Hjaitian ex pat community here to pay.

I hope Iko will not completely forget me. I know it was the best thing for her but I do miss her terribly. It is for the best since if one cannot take care of oneself one cannot take care of a dog. Also I am having to look for a new apartment.. the landlady says she wants to sell. I have found a place in the same builiddng on the ground floor and Maria is helping me with the lease papers. They want a fiador which is absurb since I simply do not know a Dominican who could gurantee five years of rent. It is a bigger apartment and is the first one on the ground floor.. it has a little door to the outside in case I want to set up being a Tarot Card reader...

anyway.. just wanted to write

i will come back and viisit when I can find an escort. Do not think that I should come back alone

thank you from the bottem of my heart for all the care you have taken of me over the years

god will reward you.//

because there is not enough tea in china with which to drink to your health

hugs and love 

lizi