Visiting Jacmel

This is one of those travel pages that turned out to be more of a misadventure than anything else, so I don’t have as many photos of Jacmel as I would have liked. I actually debated whether to publish it until I could return, but trips don’t always go according to plan, and sometimes those experiences become part of the story.

Jacmel is a coastal city in southern Haiti known for its beaches, colorful architecture, art, and especially its annual Carnival celebrations. On the drive from Port-au-Prince, I stopped at this beautiful hotel that was still under construction. I didn’t get a good photograph of the entire building, but I did get this shot of one of its private balconies. The owner was extremely friendly and proudly gave me a tour while local workers were busy tiling and painting the rooms. He was excited about the project and even offered me half-price accommodations if I ever returned.

The photo above shows the view from the hotel balcony. My driver talked quite a bit about Haiti’s environmental problems during the trip, particularly deforestation and the vulnerability of the country’s mountains to heavy rain and hurricanes. The landscape in the distance had noticeably sparse tree cover, while the hotel itself had preserved plenty of palms and other vegetation around the property.

Getting to Jacmel became an adventure of its own. While in Port-au-Prince, I had negotiated a price with a driver who was supposed to pick me up the following morning. He didn’t seem particularly happy with the deal, so I wasn’t completely surprised when he never appeared.

I walked down the street looking for another ride and eventually found a beat-up minivan with numerous little holes in the windshield that had apparently been repaired by gluing pennies over them. Somehow I immediately knew this was going to be my ride. The owner was more than happy to drive me to Jacmel, so I gave him a deposit and we set off.

Things became strange almost immediately. He used some of the money to buy alcohol and then drove into another neighborhood without explaining where we were going. We stopped in front of a building where a large group of men were gathered outside. A few motorcycles eventually arrived carrying three women, and it gradually became clear that my driver was trying to arrange some female companionship for himself. I made it very clear that whatever he was arranging had nothing to do with me and that I wasn’t paying for it.

At one point he suggested, “Surely you can at least buy them a beer.” I declined that too. For a while I was left sitting alone in the van wondering what exactly I had gotten myself into. Fortunately nobody seemed particularly concerned about me, and eventually we continued toward Jacmel with my driver’s new friends joining us.

Once we arrived, I was actually relieved that my driver wanted some time to himself. He dropped me off at this restaurant by the beach, where I met an American couple of Haitian descent. They were both surprised and happy to meet someone who had come to Haiti simply as a traveler. They were also the only other foreign tourists I met during my entire trip.

Jacmel felt much smaller and quieter than Port-au-Prince, although my ability to explore was somewhat limited because I didn’t want to wander too far from my unpredictable transportation home. I found many parts of the city attractive, including this brightly painted blue church. Jacmel is especially famous for its Carnival celebrations, so I imagine the atmosphere would be completely different when the festival fills the streets.

While walking through central Jacmel I also passed through the local market, another glimpse of everyday activity in the city during the limited time I had to explore.

I didn’t have any particular destination in mind while exploring the city center, so I eventually wandered back toward the beach. Along the way I passed a group of local kids playing soccer. Let’s just say some of them had taken a very relaxed approach to athletic uniforms. It probably would have made for one of the more unusual photographs from my trip, but I decided that particular Kodak moment was better left undocumented.

After my walk I reunited with my driver, who was still hanging out with the women he had picked up earlier. From there we began what turned into a hopeless mission to find Bassin Bleu, a series of beautiful natural pools and waterfalls in the mountains outside Jacmel.

I had absolutely no confidence that we knew where we were going. Eventually we began climbing a rough mountain road that seemed well beyond the capabilities of our battered minivan. Several times we nearly became stuck, and on some of the steeper sections I wondered whether the van might actually roll over. Meanwhile, the three women in the back were laughing and joking about things I couldn’t understand while occasionally ruffling my hair. It was becoming increasingly difficult to imagine this expedition ending successfully.

My driver eventually found some local men with motorcycles who said they could take me the rest of the way. Through my driver, they explained that we would continue farther into the mountains and that at some point I would need to cross water by boat to reach the falls. The plan was for my driver to remain behind with his friends while I continued alone with several strangers on motorcycles.

Something about the whole arrangement didn’t feel right. I couldn’t communicate directly with the motorcycle drivers, and even through translation I wasn’t convinced anyone was entirely certain where we were going. More importantly, even if I reached Bassin Bleu safely, I had no idea what condition my driver or his minivan would be in by the time I returned.

I finally told him I didn’t think continuing was a good idea. To my surprise, he immediately agreed. Travel doesn’t always work out the way you plan, and this was definitely one of those occasions.

Bassin Bleu: mission failed.

With our waterfall expedition abandoned, we spent a little more time around Jacmel before beginning the drive back to Port-au-Prince. One of the more interesting things I noticed in the surrounding communities was how closely everyday life was connected with the rivers. I saw people washing clothes, collecting water, bathing, and gathering along the riverbanks.

I had seen people bathing and washing clothes in rivers elsewhere in Haiti, but around Jacmel I encountered larger groups doing so at the same time. It was one of those moments where I was clearly an outsider observing part of ordinary local life, so I tried to keep my distance rather than intrude.

Something else I had hoped to learn more about during my trip was Vodou, an important part of Haitian history and culture. I never had an opportunity to witness a ceremony, and it wasn’t something I wanted to treat as a tourist attraction or simply approach strangers about. If I return to Haiti, I’d be interested in learning more about the religion from people willing to share that part of their culture.

My visit to Jacmel certainly didn’t go the way I had planned. I never reached Bassin Bleu, didn’t have enough time to properly explore the city, and somehow ended up on one of the strangest road trips I’ve ever taken. But that’s also why I decided to keep this page. Not every trip produces perfect photographs and a checklist of attractions. Sometimes you come home with a story instead.