Hiking in Haiti (Part 2)

Our second day started off fairly normal...well, normal enough considering we woke up in hammocks in the middle of a pine forest in Haiti surrounded by trees and fresh air instead of the usual cloud of smog, dust, urine scent, and noise of Port-au-Prince. The sun was peeking through the trees, the air was clean and chilly and smelled of pine. We rolled out of our hammocks, rubbed our eyes and were ready to greet the new day. Then, a man began walking out of the trees towards our campsite. We were the only ones around, and my heart started to beat a little faster as he walked toward us. He greeted us and began to talk with Irene, who is fluent in Creole. I picked up a word here and there, but couldn’t put it together. Irene thanked him and he walked away. She told us what he had communicated to her. He said that if we were staying another night we needed to move our campsite further from the road. He said that we were visible from the road and that, back in December a group of people who were camping had been robbed and murdered at night. We don’t know if that is true or not, there is no way to tell, but needless to say, we were both alarmed and thankful at the same time. Grateful to have made it through the night, we settled in for a breakfast of coffee, granola, and other snacks to fuel up for our hike that day. We didn’t know how big of a hike we were in for though…

Stretching out their sore muscles and getting ready for day two.

Stopping to check the map and figure out where we were and were we needed to go. 

After packing up camp and refilling and treating our water we were off. The day before we had hiked about 14 miles, but the nights sleep had refreshed and rejuvenated our tired bodies. The scenery of the second day was even more beautiful than the day before. For hours we wandered, mostly downhill, through fields covered in mist and fog. Green, lush farmland where crops were growing and farm animals were grazing was everywhere. Just after the town of Seguin, we entered an area that didn’t quite seem like Haiti at all. Throughout the misty farmland were rocks...not just any rocks, dark rocks that seemed to jut up from the earth like teeth, and they were everywhere! How did they get here? 

Crazy rocks!

They were everywhere.

Outside Seguin.

We had gotten a late start and were slow moving for most of the morning, but we stopped around 1pm for a quick lunch before getting going again. We picked up the pace in the afternoon and got faster and faster each time we checked the map. We were far from our destination and night was closing in. I don’t know how the other felt, but I wasn’t too interested in camping out again after the warning we had received that morning and with the attention we received as we walked through villages. 

Early in the hike, still in good spirits.

These ladies put us to shame walking in sandals with heavy baskets on their heads. 

Nathaniel & Josiah feeling victorious after finding a lake!

It isn’t a rare thing for us to get hit up for money and stuff in Port-au-Prince, but in the countryside it was a completely different story. Everywhere we went we heard people as small as one to as old as 60 or 70 shouting at us “blan blan!” (Means “foreigner” or “white person”) and then saying “Ban m ti kado.” (means “give me a little gift”). It was frustrating to see decades and decades of “white Santa Claus” played out in front of us. These people wouldn’t have been asking us for stuff if white people hadn’t been giving it to them before. We’ve all seen it, the North Americans come into the third world all “high, white, and mighty” and begin to make it rain on the poor of the third world with no regard for the harm it might cause to local businesses or harm to the dignity of those they are “blessing.” But that is another topic for a different day….

We all wanted to quit at this point in the trail....

The ocean in the distance was our destination...this photo was taken about 4 pm...Still a ways to go.

Later in the day we had picked up the pace significantly and felt as if we were “racing the clock.” We reached the bottom of the mountain and began a slightly easier walk on level ground heading for Jacmel all the while looking for taptaps (Haitian version of a taxi) to take us all the way into Jacmel. We wouldn’t be able to walk the whole way and were counting on a taptap to be there. Right about then, God totally provided. We looked up to see a taptap reversing at a frightening speed down the road to pick us up. We negotiated a price, climbed in, and he began driving us to Jacmel.

I should mention here that the reason we had our spring break last week was to celebrate Karnaval break. Karnaval is supposed to be like Mardi Gras on steroids. Drunken rowdy people doing drunken rowdy things with some (or a lot) of voodoo influence on the purpose and celebrations. One popular part of Karnaval are the Rah Rah bands. Essentially a Rah Rah band is drums and other marching band instruments, people, and a whole lot of rum (and potentially drugs as well). It can get rowdy. It can get really rowdy if you are in the middle of one, in a tap tap with white skin and a whole lot of bags. On our taptap ride from the town where we were picked up to Jacmel we drove through about 6-7 of these bands. After the first one someone wisely said we should lean forward and try and show as little white skin as possible. This was good advice and we were clearly protected because nothing happened as we drove through each of these crowds. (We have heard of people driving through these crowds and their cars being shaken back and forth.)

Our sleeping quarters in Jacmel. 

We made it through the crowds, through the little villages, and into the cute town of Jacmel. We were staying at a Salvation Army church and, after a tour around the town looking for it, pulled up and unloaded our belongings. We set up camp on the roof and settled in for a loud night. The church was having a camp and this was the last night. So we had church camp + Mardi Gras + normal Haitian night sounds (roosters, dogs, car horns) all mixed together. We were able to piece together a few hours of sleep, thankful to have arrived at our destination safe and sound. Thank you God for your protection.