The upward battle

Today we saw a whole bunch of sites throughout Haiti. We started out our morning eating breakfast oceanside its amazing how you travel less then a 400 steps and you see the poorest of houses and life styles and the next second you are just surrounded by the ocean. Our breakfast this morning consisted of fresh fruit which was so good and french toast ( my favorite breakfast food!) After breakfast we piled into the mini van to go visit the orphanage that we will be working. The mini van has quite a smell to it. The put extra gas cans in the back when they are driving and they didn't realize that the gas can had a hole in it. So needless to say the whole van smells like gas and so do we. We got to orphanage and were greeted by the principal and his family. They are the ones that take care of all the kids. They are very nice and sweet people. We also got a chance to meet some of the kids. They are so cute and happy! If the kids from the states were given there living situation they would not be happy. These kids have barely any toys but they all seem so happy. When we arrived all the kids were cleaning the buildings or helping prepare the food. One of the little girls found a jump rope and asked Haley and I to sing the jump rope so she could jump. The girl then decided I should take a turn at jumping. Let me tell you this is the shortest jump rope ever and I am very tall. Lets just say not much jumping occurred.

We got a quick tour of the school and where we will be teaching. The classrooms are not very big and there is like no air flow. So teaching in 90 degree weather could be a little interesting for us! We were only at the orphanage for a short period of time before we squeezed into the van to go hike the mountain. We fit 12 grown adults into this minivan along with 2 kids. The kids were told they could come along if they made there beds and got creme in there hair. Only two boys had done that so they could come along with us! It was little tight in the van. Thankfully we had to only travel about a half hour to get to the drop off point to climb the mountain. Bobby (our driver) dropped us off in the middle of the street in the middle of the market. In the market there are a lot of people along with a lot of people on motorcycles. They are just zooming past us as we are trying to navigate our way around the mountain. The market is full of Haitians trying to sell food and clothing. We saw a lot of rice and chicken. The chicken is not bagged our anything it is just skinned and then sitting in a card board box. I can't believe the people don't get sick from it. Once we got out of the market we reached a flat land that consisted mostly of dirt and palm trees. The photo is from the river we crossed.

We came across a river that was pretty wide but only a little deeper than my ankles in parts. The river was one of the hardest parts to see on this journey. Since they can not afford to build a bridge people driver there moto's (motorcycles) and jeeps through the water. So when we were crossing the water we had to be cautious of the them. There are also people who just park in the middle of the river and start washing there cars. There were also lots of people bathing in the water. They would just sit in the water and rinse themselves off with water. They would also do there laundry while bathing in the water. I think the Haitians got quite a kick out of watching us cross the river. The bottom of the river was full of rocks that really hurt your feet. So we were all slowly making our way. They all just watched us cross and laughed! Once we crossed the river we started climbing up the mountain to the Bassin Bleu. This is waterfall found in the mountains that has 3 pools of water. We had been warned that this was not an easy hike before beginning our trip. The first half a mile was easy. Our whole group was joking about how they said that this was tough and we didn't even break a sweat. We all shortly regretted that comment. We literally turned a corner and it was just a steep incline zig zagging through the mountain. These paths are also not that nice. It is on gravel so you have to be careful that you don't fall.

When it started to get steep we also lost the shade of our palm trees and were directly in the sun. It was one hot walk. I don't think I have ever sweated so much. At one point one of the Haitian boys that is the same age as us looks at Haley and I and says this is the easy part and starts laughing at us. I am telling you these Haitian people are in insane shape. We were just walking up the mountain once. They say that many of the people climb the mountain multiple times a day while carrying 5 gallon pails of water. I have no idea how they do it. At one point Haley and I had decided that the hike up the mountain was harder then pre-season of volleyball. After a long journey to the top we finally made it to the waterfall. The water was such a pretty blue! It only took us a matter of seconds to get into the water. We had to swim a little ways to reach the waterfall. Once you saw the waterfall it made the whole hike up the mountain worth it. It was so pretty. The pictures do not do justice for what it looks like. My favorite part of the waterfall was laying on your back and just floating next to it. You could hear the water falling along looking at the trees and rocks surrounding and seeing the clouds at the top. It was so pretty and relaxing. The best part of this waterfall is it was not full of tourist. There were maybe twenty people there so you could really take in the view and enjoy it.

After spending some time in the water we started to head back down the mountain. Some of the things that I noticed on the way down were the houses and kids. I actually looked around on my way down because I wasn't so focused on climbing! I had multiple kids come up to me and ask for money and water. They would just grab your hand and ask. It was so hard to just keep walking and ignore them. Most of these kids were not wearing any shoes which just amazes me. The kids also did not have any toys most of them were either carrying water jugs or playing with a stick. Most of the houses we saw were made out of cinder blocks with just a tarp over top as there roof. It was really neat to walk through the mountain and experience what they go through on a daily basis. Once we got to the bottom of the mountain we loaded up the van and head back to our hotel. The picture on the left is Matt and I swimming in the water!

The first thing Haley and I did was drink a whole bunch of water and just sit. We were exhausted from the hike. After we regrouped we went and got a meal. This was our first meal since 8 am and it was now 6 pm. I didn't realize how hungry I was. I order some creole spaghetti. The only difference was that it had ham in the sauce along with onions and peppers. It was very good. Remember how yesterday I was saying they had such large portions of food and I have no idea how they eat it all? Yeah, I take that comment back. I don't think I have ever ate so much food so fast in one sitting! After our meal we headed back to our rooms to relax and unwind for the night!  We stopped for a photo on one of our breaks while hiking the mountain.

One of the thoughts I had today while climbing the mountains was I can't believe how happy these people are. I mean these people are way more happy! I mean they live in absolute poverty and yet they have so much joy in their life. They don't worry about anything nor are they in any hurry to do anything. They are just so easy going. They are also so kind to each other. I mean they are always helping each other out and so friendly towards us.
The picture to the left is Haley and I at the waterfall!

The photo on bottom: See the little town in the background? Thats where we started!

As I was watching people bathe in the water they were having such a good time. I mean these three little boys were running around giggling and rolling in the dirt having the time of their life. Let alone if I was taking a bath in the river I would be complaining because I missed my shower. It just amazes me how they have find joy in excitement in everything.

With Love,
Abby