Another slow weekend in contrast to such a busy and crowded week. We had maybe 30 people in the guesthouse and the dorms and the dining hall was always packed with so many people here. Then people began leaving. Thursday morning, Friday morning, until by Saturday morning, there was just the Christianville family and three others. It was quiet; what a change. Meer and I got up early and were out of the house by 6 AM for an early morning hike with Lori and David (our eye doctor and her husband). We headed out before dawn, left the Christianville grounds and walked down the road. We turned off a little while later and started up a mountain trail. The air was cool. Haitians were coming down the trail on foot and on motorcycle. It seemed that most of the early morning movement was to gather water. People brought containers to the pumps which are found along the road at different places. It was a good hike, up a steep road and back down. We turned around after about 30 minutes and headed back to Christianville for breakfast.
Saturday afternoon, the men got together to go to the beach. Solomon called it “gents day at the beach”. It was another hot afternoon and the water was warm. Meer, Solomon, and I (the non-swimmers) stayed in the shallow waters while the others swam out to go snorkeling out by the reef. It was about 2:00 and there were not a lot of people at the beach. A bit latter, a mini-TapTap (like a mini-bus) pulled up on the beach and dropped off a whole bunch of people. It was like there was a bus stop right on the beach. I spent a long time conversing with a friend of Dale’s, René Duchèn, who spoke to me in English and French and Kreyol and I replied in Kreyol, English and French. I corrected his English and French and he corrected my Kreyol. He was having a great time. I think the bar opened before we got to the beach.
Sunday morning, I pulled on my hiking boots and went out for walk on my own, just me and my thoughts. I said “Bonjou” to people I met on the road. I walked a while with a gentleman who had collected some milk from his cow. He spoke a little French so we chatted some in French and some in Kreyol. It was a good hike. I wandered down the road for about an hour and then headed back to Christianville.
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| Robenson and Eric |
I finished up the day with a visit to Robenson’s farm with Eric, our goat guy from North Carolina. Robenson leased a large parcel of land near Christianville where he plans to raise goats. Eric offered to visit the site to see how Robenson had it set up for grazing the goats and to give him advice. It was beautiful. The land is up on a hillside with a striking view of the countryside out to the coast. You can even see Post-au-Prince off in the distance. As we arrived, we saw a double rainbow over the mountain that was just stunning in the late afternoon light. Haiti is such a beautiful country. What a great spot this would make for a bed and breakfast. We jokingly suggested that Robenson fix up the house and set it up for eco-tourists and offer people the opportunity to tend to his goats while on vacation here. He would get income from the tourists and free labor for his goat project. Maybe it’s not such a crazy idea. We should get somebody with expertise in the hotel and tourism industry down here to advise Robenson.
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| Eric and me |
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| Robenson and me |
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| Double rainbow at sunset |
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