Jacmel Beach

We have the weekend off. I guess they usually work half days on Saturdays, except there was no doctor this week. So we took an hour trip on a windy twisty road up the mountain to a resort town called Jacmel. I can't exclaim enough how beautiful Haiti is. Overlooking the edge of the mountain and seeing valley after valley, towns below, and mountains beyond mountains often times with the Alantic ocean in the backdrop.

Since I've been here I've seen the UN a few times. UN officials from Sri Lanka to patrol the crossing where we drive through the river, because apparently the bridge above isn't safe anymore. Yesterday Korea was patrolling the area of the mountain inwhich there had been a mudslide. Haiti is the only country in the world inwhich the UN is present that there is no civil war, because it is a collapsed country. Like I mentioned before everything here is corrupt. One person here had to pay $100 to get the birthday present someone sent from the US. They also charged SP $2000 for a few boxes of papers of copies made at the main headquarters in Boone, North Carolina. There is no postal service here, but there is FedEx. Someone at the base had mentioned that they had bribed with food or in one particular case the officials wanted a couple pregnancy tests for their wives to get stuff through customs cheaper.

Jacmel was a one stoplight town. We haven't seen any other stoplights while being here. Apparently the stoplight doesn't apply to motorcycles. Finally we found the beach at the nice hotel. It was the first time since being here that I saw any buildings or houses that looked closer to civilization. Beautiful courtyards with fruit trees and a hammock, and an outdoor restaurant and bar. Down the staircase led to the most beautiful beach on a cove of crystal blue Alantic beach water. Breath taking! Up the staircase, at the top of the cliff sits the restaurant that overlooks the sea. We saw Americans and the French there at the beach and restaurant. We ate our lunch and then bought a few souvenirs at the vendor on the beach.

Unfortunately on the way down the mountain my stomach did not fare! About 10 minutes away from home and upchuck #2 on this trip. Sooo not pleasant for me! After all the motion sickness I was totally wiped out. We got home, ate supper, I showered, checked my email and went to bed at 8:30pm, but then like every other night I wake up in the middle of the night. I'm now awake at 1:30am and typing.

Tomorrow we are supposed to take a boating trip to an island and perhaps go to church if anyone is going to take us! Off the coast of JAX beach where we are staying is another inhabited island that we can see from the beach. It's called Ile De La Gonave in the Gulf of Gonave. It's the largest satellite island of Haiti.