There are about 20 different ships from different countries anchored in the harbor now. Since every ship is considered a part of a country, you could theoretically visit 20 different countries just in the Port-Au-Prince harbor. Today, I went on a cultural excursion to the Colombian ship to help offload all the goods they brought. It is common for us to help offload ships because we have big M8 boats to do it. It is interesting to see how much food the ships hold, and how disorganized it was. In the U.S. Navy, we palletize all our goods so they can easily be craned off the ship and transported. This ship looked like they just told their country the Navy was going to go help Haiti and threw a food drive. All of the food was in plastic bags or just cans laying out as if individuals had just thrown a bunch of food on the ship, and it took off. I acquired some large cardboard boxes and plastic wrapping and we began putting all the food into the boxes. The boxes started to rip, and I was the only one small enough to climb around through the boxes and try to duct tape them so they would hold. Duct tape can solve anything. The Colombians not only brought food, but interestingly enough, several hundred coffins from baby size to adult size. That struck me as a little eerie and sad. On the ship, I met the auxiliaries officer, who was only 3 inches taller than me and the only female engineer. It was kind of like being in an alternate universe that spoke Spanish. She was very excited to meet me and gave me a tour of the ship. After the tour, she gave me Colombian coffee and invited me to lunch, which was homemade soup, vegetables, etc., and of course, Colombian coffee. I told the CO I wanted to switch navies, and he said he would be happy to have me. It was fun to have this unique cultural experience, and now I can say I have been to Columbia because I have touched Colombian soil.
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