Jan 28, 2017
Hotel: Hotel Oloffson; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; $95
Today the plan was to do a day trip to Jacmel on the southern coast. After breakfast, Jocelyn came by with the moto taxi and we set off for the minibus station. The station was chaotic but typical for minibus stations I'd seen around the world. Toyota Hi-Ace buses waiting to get enough passengers, with touts shouting out their destination. Meanwhile vendors wander around selling cold drinks, snacks, sunglasses, etc. The fare was only 200HTG for the 2+ hr ride to Jacmel. We soon had a quorum and set off about 9:30AM. And 1 person per seat so not overloaded like some places I've been.

Port-au-Prince minibus station

It was still early enough that traffic wasn't too bad yet on the way out of town. Passed a fish market as we headed west. Haiti unsurprisingly had a very African feel to it.. something like southern Benin/Togo. The road headed west before eventually turning south to cross the spine of the southern peninsula.




The minibus let us out a few kms north of Jacmel. We caught a moto taxi into town and walked around for awhile. Jacmel had some gorgeous (crumbling) old architecture. Back in the day it was a coffee and sugar trading port. It was the first town in the Caribbean to have electricity. The church and other buildings suffered damage from the 2010 earthquake.





Jacmel

The town is now known as an artist hub and some of the old mansions are now art galleries. I have to say the quality of painting and art I'd seen in Haiti so far is some of the best I've experienced anywhere. I ended up buying a painting for mrs hauteboy for $20.

We walked down to the corniche before catching the moto taxi again to go to Bassin-Bleu. This is a set of waterfalls and pools about 45 minutes west of Jacmel. There is a bridge across the river but our driver decided to drive through the river... managed not to get too wet! Once on the other side it was dirt road and hills the rest of the way. Some of them were quite steep and we had to get off the moto so the driver could make it up the hill!

At the village we had to pay a 100HTG entry fee, then were led to the pools by the 'guides'. Very lush and green and humid here as the trail led across the creek and up the hill to the first pool where locals were doing their laundry. It was a milky blue color which really stood out against the greenery. There was a short climb to the second pool. I was getting a bit hot and dehydrated, but luckily there was a local selling fresh coconut juice here. Delicious!


Bassin-Bleu

The final climb to the upper pool was OK until I got to the point where you have to use ropes to climb back down. I'm not very good with balance and the slope looked really steep (looked worse than it was). The guides kept convincing me to try and they'd help me down, eventually I relent and I'm glad I did. Had to take off my shoes here as the last bit was wading through the water, but the view once around the corner was amazing. Nestled between the cliffs was a turquoise lake fed by a 30' waterfall flowing over huge boulders.




I had brought my swim trunks so changed into them there and of course had a dip. The water was very refreshing! I was the only one there for a few minutes until some other tourists showed up.

Had a nice relaxing swim for awhile before climbing out. Getting back out was easier since you jump into the second pool and swim across.

That's when the guides want their 'tip'. I gave them a few hundred gourdes, but they wanted the equivalent of $20! Crazy when the entrance fee was only $1.50. I gave them 500 total in the end, still a lot.

We got back on the moto taxi, back across the river to the minibus depot and were on the road back to Port-au-Prince just after 3PM. Hit some pretty bad traffic on the way back into town.

It had been an exhausting day so I just ended up eating at the Oloffson again.