As we traveled up the mountainside, I was overtaken by the beauty of the country. The absence of trees was evident and odd to see such vast spaces completely void of any trees in comparison to the lush forests of BC. We passed through several villages on our way and each one had it's own vibe. It was difficult to take many photo as we did not stop but I saw beautiful children on the roadside that always greeted us with smiles and waves as we passed by. Clothing is an option when your small in Haiti! After we traveled 2.5 hours we arrived at the most breaktaking falls.
We were greeted by several villagers who surrounded the van and were excited to see "blancs". Once we arrived, this is what greeted us at the base of a series of steps.
Initially, I was quite afraid to walk the rocks with help from the boys that were there to help, but I climbed a cliff to get some amazing shots of the team sitting in the middle of a waterfall. The waters are supposed to have healing powers so it was a different experience for each of us. After we had a chance to enjoy the waters, we got out and walked back up the steps to the van and paid a doller to each person that assisted us to safely cross the rocks. It only took us an hour to get back to the guesthouse. We have had dinner and hope to be headed out to dance the night away and I feel so content and in the right place for the first time in a long time. I have met facinating people along the way. Ryan and Erin are here doing a project where they teach photography to Haitians and leave them disposable cameras so that they can take photos of what life is like for them. After 24 hours they go back and retrive the pictures which I have seen a few of and they are very moving and inspirational. You can see the work they are doing at: ephas.org. It stands for "Every Person Has a Story". The young boys (Raymond) in particular, were attached to his camera today and he allowed them to take pictures which was thrilling to watch and to see what amazing work so many other people are doing here in Haiti.
Driving home, we were able to experience some of the flooding that occurred overnight. Last night's rains were far worse than when Tomas passed by. The city power goes off each night around 5pm but the guesthouse has a generator so we were suprised when our power even went out for a short period during the night. I woke up around 4am to wind like I have never heard before and rains that sounded like they were going to come right through the roof. A few of us woke up to raindrops on our foreheads. I guess a form of Haitian torture, so beds were rearranged in the middle of the night to stay dry. The humidity is so high here, that nothing ever dries. Karen put her laundry in to be washed 3 days ago and her shorts are still hanging over a chair trying to dry. Today the sun came out se we all requested our laundry to be done and as we were driving, we noticed that it was laundry day for several Haitians. We had a full staff to take care of us today too. I think some of the ladies came to work to get away from their wet, and saturated homes/tents. I learned that when a house has a MPTPC on it in red it means that it is scheduled for teardown, when it is orange, the foundation is fine but the structure needs to be be destroyed and when it is green, it is safe to be inhabited.
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