Friday, August 20, 2010

Saturday August 14

Saturday: High 39 Low 27.3

Sunrise over the bay in Carrefour (Port au Prince)
Sunrise from the roof top of the hospital
I awoke this morning at about 5:20. I had been thinking it would be neat to be up on the roof of the hospital some morning and watch the sun rise so this morning I thought ok, the sun isn’t up yet, maybe this is the day. So I rolled out of bed, dressed and slipped out and up onto the roof just as the sun was starting to slide into sight. I got some awesome pictures then sat up there and read in the “coolness” of the morning for a while.

Looking west over Port au Prince at sunrise English Church was at 7:30 as usual which I attended. Following the service, 8:30 ish, a car and driver was supposed to come and pick up a group that had planned a trip for the day to Jacmel. I had been told I could go along but then last night Amy came to me apologizing for some lack of communication and that she didn’t think there would be room for me after all. Then this morning she came to me after church and said that one of our nurses, Jessica, might decide to stay back and rest today and if she did there might be room for me. A few minutes later, I saw Jessica talking to Amy and overheard her say she was too tired and she was just going to try to get some sleep. So Amy came back and told me there was room and I hurried off to get ready. I needn’t have hurried though as our driver didn’t come until almost 10:00.

Roadside markets in a village on the road to Jacmel

The road to Jacmel winds over a mountain pass through villages with street venders lining the road, which is a typical sight here in Haiti. This road was paved but with sharp corners, switchbacks and steep grades up to 22%. The scenery was gorgeous. Quite a welcome sight after ten days in the city.

Some of the scenery through the mountains

Looking back towards Jacmel from near the sumit of the mountain road betweenPort au Prince and Jacmel

We were told we needed to hire a guide so we hired a fellow to get us out to “Bassin Bleu” which is a beautiful little waterfall that runs through a rocky gorge in the hills above Jacmel. The stream flowing from it forms deep pools of emerald green water. Some of our group climbed 30 feet or so up the rocks beside the falls and jumped off into the pool below. It took quite a bit for some of them to psych themselves enough to jump.
Beautiful Bassin Bleu
It’s apparently a popular tourist and local destination as we met quite a few groups on our hike back out. One such group had maple leaves on their packs so we exchanged greetings. They were from Vancouver. I don’t know what they are doing here but there are hoards of Aid Agencies here from all over the world including the UN.
After our hike out and then our four by four ride down to the valley floor including fjording a river which was up to the doors of the 4x4, we went to the beach in Jacmel. There were many little booths in a large semi circle surrounding an open area filled with clusters of tables and chairs, some with umbrellas over them. The tables were colour coded in little sections. We decided that the different coloured groups belonged to different booths. Some in our group ordered chicken, some fish, and some fried banana or plantain. When my order arrived, which was supposed to be plantain, a third of the plate was covered with a pile of some kind of cubed pan fried meat. This we were told was “free lamb“. There was also coleslaw which was quite spicy, a couple slices of tomatoes and a small wedge of head lettuce plus the fried plantain. I wondered if I would pay for it but I ate everything including a little bit of the lamb anyway as I was very hungry. Then the long 2.5 hour mountainous ride home in the jump seats of the Nissan Pathfinder, about half of it in the dark. I popped a few charcoal caps when I got home for good measure and was fine.
The river we Crossed in the Pathfinder to get from
Jacmel to Bassin Bleu

3 comments:

Linda Brekke said...

Hi Leonard,
What wonderful work you and the rest are doing! And what a profound experience.
If by some strange chance you meet a young woman named Yanick Beaulieu say a big hello from Linda. She was a foster child of ours. Her dream was to become a nurse. I hope she realized that and I hope she made it through the earthquake. She lived in Cite Soleil, a very poor area of Port au Prince, I believe.
I am enjoying your photos and blogs. God be with you and everyone else there.
Regards, Linda Brekke

Leonard Kozak said...

Hey Linda: Thanks for the encouragement and kind words. I am enjoying my time. Check out this link. I don't know if this answers your quest or not.
http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/yanick-beaulieu/7/923/6b9

Leonard Kozak said...
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