99%....

It has been a very long time since I have written, but don't let that fool you we have been very busy with our plans to move to Haiti.

Hours have been spent online, reading watching videos of people who have travelled to Dame Marie and other parts of the country. Actually, we have discovered very little about the town of Dame Marie. It is very remote; 250 miles from the capital of Port au Prince and a trechorous 12-14 drive over dirt roads, mountains and through rivers. What we have learned is that is it supposed to be one of the most beautiful parts of the country on the Caribbean ocean,  mostly fishing as its ecomony. It does have paved roads in town, little power, no water, no garbage collections and no mail in Haiti.

We have to keep reminding ourselves that we will be moving essentially to a third world country, that has not progressed in over a hundred years; in fact  some people say it's worse off now than 200 years ago due to horrendous government since then.  There are many reasons why Haiti is the way it is, but if you want to learn more, I suggest you search out your own resources. Here is one I found to be accurate and up to date; http://www.amazon.com/Haiti-Bradt-Travel-Guide-Clammer/dp/1841624152

We have been busy researching what type of power will be best to install, how to get water, what we should take, how to get it there, how we will get there, when we will leave (retire)... There is so much to do, Craig is busier than ever at work and has just started some very important new mirror development projects and has become a part owner and director of Inovative Optics Ltd.

We have started buying things for the new house, materials that we have been able to pick up very cheaply at auctions. I see us having to rent a storage locker fairly soon after the new year. We have decided not to rent our home here in Canada but to sell, just makes more sense. That will mean we will have no address in Canada, kind of scary, no address anywhere until we set roots in Haiti.


The ironic thing is I am writing this update while Craig and I are in Vegas, staying at the Palazzo hotel, one of the nicer hotels here and we are heading to Haiti on December 12th for almost a month. The contrast is startling... Total opulence, eating in Wolfgang Puck's restaurants, Cartier, Saks, Fifth Avenue, top Vegas shows and endless parties. In Haiti , there will be no power, water, limited food, and the threat of getting cholera to malaria at any time.

So the bug has been planted, do we move to Haiti?

Craig and I couldn't talk of anything else on our long drive through the mountains from Fraser Lake to Surrey. Is it really feasible? Is it time to retire? Can we afford it? There is so much to find out.

We arrive home safely two days later and decide to put it on the back burner for now, but not forgotten...

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"Where do you want to die?"

On our trip to Fraser Lake Christmas, 2012 the question "where do you want to die? was posed to Craig and me by his sister; Lynda. Hmm, interesting question, it evoked a great deal of contemplation and one thing that was clear we did not want to spend our last years in Canada or a country with a comparable health system. When we face illness in our later years we don’t want to be told what medications we “should” take, what therapies we “should” follow, or what machines we “should” be hooked up to… We don’t want our well-meaning family members hovering over us or counseling us. 

What we do want in our final days is peace of mind, tranquility, knowing we have made a difference in this world, and our own choice as to our medical choices. It may be western medicine but it most likely will be smoking a joint gazing out at the ocean, the breeze wafting in our hair and with a big smile on our face. 

So the next question is how we accomplish this?