A Visit to Jacmel

Three weeks since my last post! I apologize! Time has been swiftly passing by without my notice.

I have been to Haiti one time previous to this adventure in Haiti. In May of 2010, 5 months after the earthquake, I went on a short term mission to Jacmel, Haiti. This is where the biggest aftershock from the earthquake hit and did a lot of damage to Jacmel. The destruction almost compared to what I saw driving through Port-au-Prince on the way to Jacmel. This past weekend, we as a staff retreat decided to take a vacation to Jacmel. This made me overjoyed because I have friends in Jacmel and fell in love with it the first time I was there. From Montrouis, Jacmel is about 5 hours south through Port-au-Prince and over a mountain range into the southern coast of the country.

Last Friday, we loaded the bus at 6a.m. to start our treck to Jacmel. Upon arriving 5 hours later, sometimes driving 5 miles an hour up the mountains in our school bus FULL of people, we were ecstatic. The city looked rebuilt and renewed, and the place we stayed at was on the beach. Beautiful. This is a breathtaking picture of the sunrise on Saturday morning. I wish you could have seen it in person.

After that amazing sunrise, we headed out to Bassin Bleu. This is a tourist attraction in Jacmel and I can see why! It is a series of natural waterfalls that you can take a short hike to and be swimming in emerald blue waters...cold water :-) It was refreshing (the ocean is just too warm for me here!) Here is a picture of the staff SOOO excited to be at Bassin Bleu. Do you see the people up on the ledge at the top to the right of the waterfall? Most of our team jumped from the top up there (not me haha but I did jump off where the little waterfall is).


We finished our trip up on Sunday with walking around the little shops downtown and did a little shopping at the unique, little shops. Jacmel is refreshing from most of the cities in Haiti because they have a sewer system that takes away the water and trash from the streets. It was a wonderful weekend but after this weekend, I felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation. I was more tired after my trip than I was before I got on the bus. I loved the trip because I got to share a part of Haiti that the whole New Vision Ministries staff had never seen before. I praise God for that opportunity.