By Admin1 (admin) on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 6:30 pm: Edit Post |
One of the best memories of my Peace Corps experienc in Haiti
One of the best memories of my Peace Corps experienc in Haiti
One of the best memories of my Peace Corps experience
When I lived in Haiti as a Peace Corps volunteer I left my village one day with nothing but a toothbrush. I used to joke about 'flanaying' with a toothbrush, which meant to roam around with nothing but. I was sick of my village and sick of being stared at and sick of speaking a foreign language and frankly just sick of all the bullshit. I went out to see my friend Rob Barger, another PC volunteer, who lived on a beach in southern Haiti named Cayes Jacmel. I lived up in the mountains, so it was nice to spend some time at the beach and it was especially nice to spend some time speaking English. Rob also had cold beer near his place; I worshiped cold beer during my time in Haiti.
I arrived crying at Rob's doorstep. He took me out by the ocean and calmed me down. He told me I could stay a few days and chill with him and his friends. Rob had been in Haiti 1.5 years longer than I had and he was well adapted to Haiti. After the first night he woke up and asked me if I wanted to go for a hike. I was thrilled to see the mountains around his village. We left later that morning.
I became a bit discouraged on the hike because a young Haitian boy came with us and I couldn't understand what was being said between the two. At this point I was very sensitive to being left out of conversations and I hated it. Rob and I had a very close but difficult relationship. I was totally in love with him and he didn't feel so strongly about me. We never actually talked about it, but the tension was there. I got over the unrequited love thing because I adored him and needed a friend. Anyway, I was just happy to be around someone I could talk to, but now he was speaking Haitian!
We talked (I tried my best at pitching in some Haitian) and hiked for hours. Finally I started to complain. Rob seemed like he knew where he was going, almost as if there was a destination, not just a random hike. I wanted to know how long we planned on hiking because I was hungry. I watched each coconut tree thirstily wishing I had learned how to hoist myself up there and get one of those coconuts, but I hadn't.
Rob turned to me at one point and said, "look, THAT is where we are going," and he pointed up. I looked up and saw a waterfall! Another half hour later and we were there. The waterfall was actually a broken water line that passed through the mountains and fed fresh potable mountain water to people living by the ocean. Because of the hurricane a month or so back, massive amounts of concrete had been moved around and water was just flowing down over it and the mountain.
The view was amazing, the Caribbean and most of the coast line could be seen for miles. I stripped down to my skivies and poked my pinky toe in the cold mountain water. It was perfect - cool and clean. I sat in the water and it was like sitting in a drinking fountain. Rob and I just sat there for a few minutes and all the soreness in my muscles went away.
Later we soaked in the sun for a bit then we hiked back down the mountain. Rob had shared this special place with me and I was grateful. He took the time and gently showed me something to make me forget my troubles. What a beautiful day.