So it is the last actual day in Haiti because tomorrow is strictly reserved for traveling. Yippee. I am fairly conflicted as to whether or not I want to leave. I won't lie, I miss my bed, I miss my shower, I miss a lot of things about home, but then I think of what I have to leave behind and the people that I can still help. I do plan to return one day soon, but can these people afford to wait? Do they deserve to wait?
We didn't have camp today because we needed to spend the day cleaning and packing up our supplies. We did fortunately meet up with Antoine and Bajo again, however, so we spent most of the day with them. Antoine took us to his house, and it wasn't in much better shape than Donald's. He lived with many other people and it was a small tent behind a shop. He consistently tried to give us things, when we just could not take any more from him. He had already given us so much in possessions and things to think about going forward. We did as much for him in return as we could. We bought him food, bracelets and necklaces (all in secret of course, we didn't want to appear as though we were showing favoritism). We needed to head back to the bus early however, because the group wanted to go to a waterfall on the other side of the city.
This is when the begging started. The 'all-out, guns blazing, throw everything you've got' begging. The children knew we were leaving for good, and we knew that we couldn't give them anything. Even Antoine succumbed to the frenzy, but not at the same extreme. I do not blame him in the least, and if I had anything to give him, I would have in a heartbeat. People said they were just using us all week, so that we would give them something at the end. I will let these people believe what they want to believe, but I think our friendships were genuine. They could have gone to a lot less drastic measures if they just wanted a 5 dollar tip at the end of the week. Antoine and Donald went above and beyond for us, and we will repay them soon enough for their hospitality.
We couldn't take our regular bus to the waterfall, so we had to take a 'tap-tap'. Why is it called a tap-tap you may ask? I have no clue. However, I would venture a guess that it is because that is the sound your head makes as it repeatedly bangs against the walls of the bus. This was possibly the most uncomfortable hour of my life, and then we came to the river...
Now any other time in America, the driver would say, "We can't go across. There's water in the way", which I think is perfectly sensible. However, we weren't in America. Donald (who was driving behind us on his motorcycle with Antoine) decides to get off his bike, take his pants off (he had underwear) and wade into the river to find the best path for the bus to follow. If Six Flags needs an idea for a new ride, I think we've found one. The driver slammed his foot on the gas pedal and ran completely through the river to the other side.
I can't say that I've ever come across a moment in Haiti where I've guessed correctly what was going to happen next.
So we arrived at the waterfall, took a 10 minute hike through more forest and scattered farm animals (more cows and goats?). Now this was where the trip turned a tad sour for me. We all decided to go cliff diving at one of the waterfalls. I thought this was a perfectly good idea, until I climbed on top of the cliff. Then it was not so great... Like I said, I'm not really a heights person, so the idea of jumping off a 30 foot cliff wasn't exactly my idea of fun. My hesitation ended up costing me, as I "gracefully" fell off the rock and belly-flopped into the water below. At least I got some more scratches as souvenirs and I didn't even have to negotiate for them...
We went back to the hotel and had our last dinner as a group, we reflected on our journey, and how we all affected each other, and how we affected the Haitians and how they affected us, and how we wished that there was more that we could do. I couldn't help but think that there is more that we can do. Maybe not at that exact moment, maybe not in that week, maybe not even this year, but there is more that we can do to help. All it takes is a little piece of the Haitian drive and cooperation, and the people can benefit more than anyone could imagine.
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