Jacmel

Last week the builder for our school, Kyle, flew in from LA so Megan and I went into PAP to pick him up. We then proceeded to spend the week running around measuring land, looking at other schools, bugging Kyle while he drew plans, meeting with Haitian builders, etc. On Wednesday, the opportunity presented itself to go to Jacmel with two awesome doctors that had also been staying with us that week. Jacmel is on the other side of some mountains on the south shore of the island and has beautiful beaches. Vacation!

So on Wednesday morning the car we’ve hired pulls up and its this very nice Toyota truck. However, it soon becomes clear that we will not be fitting in there comfortably. Kyle and the driver sit in the front while Megan, Ritha, Amelia, and I pile into the backseat with Gabriel on top. Megan and I take turns leaning forward so the other person can have some breathing room for a few minutes. The ride isn’t so bad at first… but then we hit the mountains. Oh and let me fill you in on some Haitian driving rules: 1) Drive really fast. 2) Take up as much of the road as possible. 3) Play chicken with other drivers. Play to win. 4) Honk constantly. So this road is really nice in terms of being paved and the view is absolutely gorgeous, but I soon realize that I am getting a bit carsick. I try to just lean back, take in lots of fresh air, and tell myself that I’m totally fine and I’m not going to barf all over these nice people and this nice truck. Gabriel must not be as good at talking himself out of it though because he beats me to it and starts barfing. Megan catches some of it in her hand and asks if he’s finished. He nods… and then projectile vomits onto Amelia. The driver pulls over and I hop right on out of that car to avoid whiffing any vomit and starting a domino effect. We quickly clean up the situation and are back winding around curves and riding the brakes.

When we finally get to our hotel in Jacmel, I am SHOCKED, pleasantly, to see the accommodation. Its like we’re in Florida or something. Our room is air conditioned, you can flush the toilet paper, and we have an absolutely beautiful view of the pool and Caribbean. For lunch, and every meal thereafter in Jacmel, Megan and I eat cheese sandwiches. I think I had forgotten what cheese tastes like. Then I remembered, cheese is REALLY good. The drinks at this place were also amazing; they blend all the fruit up right there in front of you. So fresh!

After basking in the glow of cheese and tropical drinks, Megan and Gabriel go to the room for naptime while Kyle and me go scope out the beach. We climb a very long set of stairs down the side of the mountain, hop a very large gate, and then come upon our first beach. It looks nice but is covered in boats that smell like dead fish, so we decide to keep going. After walking through some corn fields, dodging a couple of motorcycles, and passing some small beaches that aren’t good for swimming, we come upon a beautiful beach dotted with people swimming and sunning. I immediately swim out and start floating around on the waves while Kyle talks to some of the Haitian guys. The day is stunning and perfect.

After a while, I swim in and sit on the beach. A Haitian comes up to me, I think he said his name is John Ronald, and starts talking to me in decent English. Of course question number 3 or 4 that he asks me is if I have a boyfriend. I say yes, because I made the mistake of saying no too many times, and he proceeds to ask me if I love my boyfriend etc. Then he points at Kyle who is still out swimming and asks if he is my boyfriend. I say no. Well JR insists that he is my boyfriend, and I tell him that I’m pretty sure Kyle is not my boyfriend. But then JR is like, “Ha, you lie! He told me he was your boyfriend!” So then I’m like, “Oohhh yea! You’re right, he totally IS my boyfriend. Haha…” In my head I am dying laughing because now I look like the worst girlfriend ever. Thank you sweet Kyle for trying to help me out with my frequent marriage proposal problem!

Later, we go back up to the pool where we have a delicious dinner of cheese sandwiches and lounge until well after dark. When we go to bed, I am reminded how awesome it is to sleep in air conditioning. We get up the next morning, have some beach time and cheese sandwiches before getting a car back to Gressier. I am feeling a bit of a post vacation slump.

The next morning we have a meeting with Thorsten, the awesome German guy from whom we are subletting our new house (the one we found on the run), to discuss the terms of our sublease. Megan, Kyle, and I head over there, Megan with her VIA in hand (VIA is Starbucks instant coffee that she is a huge fan of). Thorsten welcomes us in and offers us drinks from his mini beverage fridge: water, juice, tequila, something else, or VIA. I take a water and Kyle says he’ll have a VIA. Thorsten goes to the fridge and grabs a water and two Prestige beers. Oops, turns out we couldn’t understand the German accent and he was actually saying beer, not VIA. Hahahah, so it’s barely 9am and Kyle is having beer for breakfast along with Thorsten.

All the while this is going on, I notice this bump on my leg that looks like just another bug bite. One thing that has REALLY annoyed me here is that I have some new awful thing crop up on my skin every few days so I don’t think much of it. But after a few days it just keeps getting more red and puffy and painful. I figure its a spider bite and try to use the iphone to google pictures of spider bites. One of them looks like what I have, so I figure that’s a solid diagnoses. Two days ago it gets to the point where I don’t want to go anywhere and stay at home with Gabriel while everyone else goes into PAP to take Kyle to the airport and make a Delimart run. I start feeling pretty sick and so that evening we call Thorsten and ask him to call his doctor neighbor to see if he would take a look at me that evening. Thorsten comes to pick Megan and I up in his very nice truck (felt like I was in America while in that car… I think it had satellite radio) with the doctor and we go back to his house to have it looked at.

The doctor pokes it for a little while and asks me if it hurts, which yes, it does VERY much. And he’s like, “Mhmm. Yes, well, you have an abscess. You need to REST and if you walk around, you need a crutch.” And I’m thinking, “Where in the heck am I gonna get a crutch??” So he gives me meds and in a week he wants to cut it open and drain it. Should be exciting. So I’m just laying around sleeping a lot and being generally worthless and annoying to everyone because I can’t help out with stuff. Its been pretty miserable. Today it looked a little better, I think some of the swelling may have gone down. But yea, its been really humbling not being very mobile and hurting all the time. It makes me so, so, so thankful for the fact that I’m generally healthy and can walk around pain free! Add it to the list of things I take for granted, which seems to grow everyday here.