"contact"

I've tweeted a bunch lately about the "contact."  This is a guy we met through a guy who has a lot of contacts at a government level and is helping us get a bunch of legal stuff-- drivers license, the equivalent of social security numbers, social services stuff, etc. done.  The system in Haiti is so confusing that many times, ex-pats (or actually, even Haitians) will hire someone to help them negotiate all the paperwork they need to get through.

I am not sure what to think about this dude. He used to be a general in the Haitian military (back when there was one), he drives really fast, and walks even faster.  He's a big (as in muscular, not fat) dude with kind of a Hitler-esque mustache, a shaved head and an extremely raspy voice.  He has a harsh demeanor but he's a get r done kind of guy.  He walks into a building and everyone knows him.  The crowds part for him.  He's made a business of being a "contact." He's a crazy driver, driving on the wrong side of a median-divided road when there's a traffic jam, and it would seem he knows every police officer/ government official in Port Au Prince.

He really intrigues me in that he scares me at the same time as I really kind of like him.  I wonder how he met all these people.  I wonder what he's like in his personal life.  I wonder how his voice got so raspy.  I wonder if he was a good guy or a bad guy in the military.  I wonder if harsh demeanor is real or all an act.

He doesn't seem to appreciate my "bubbly" joking/conversationalist personality.  I feel like he ignores 75% of what I say.  Which would lead me to believe he really doesn't care for me.  But he did tell Eddie (our bodyguard and right-hand man) that he likes working with me and that I make him laugh.  (Which he must do at home in his private time because I have never once heard the man laugh.  Or even seen him smile.)  And in all honesty, the laughing he probably does related to me is most likely at my expense, not because I am so witty. :)  He's just that kind of guy.

I always want to try to get a picture of him on my Blackberry when I am tweeting about him, but I am not sure if he carries a gun (my guess would be no because I can't imagine anyone trying to mess with him) and I am not sure how he would feel about his picture being taken.  I don't want to risk him as a contact and piss him off.  So I just do what he tells me to do and try to keep up with his lighting speed walking pace. (Which, as I mentioned in a recent tweet, makes me feel like (and undoubtably look like) a contestant in The Biggest Loser.   :)

Intriguing.

Intriguing I tell you.