At the Bassin-Bleu

Saturday I finally visited the famous “Bassin-Bleu”. I have heard a lot about it from colleagues that have been there both pre and post earthquake. They all said if the bassin is blue and not brown, it’s worth the 3 ½ hour drive to get there, after all this is the rainy season in Haiti. As I write this, I can hear the thunder crack in the background, actually I’ve been hearing the thunder cracking all week and most of last week too!

(take look the cool photos of the lightening bolts I took).

Like most excursions I take, I don’t really do a lot of research on it because for me it takes the element of surprise away when I get there. What I do is, I just get the bare minimum and off I go. Now, with that said here’s something I read this is an actual quote from there website: “ It is best to come via either horseback or with an off-road vehicle. During your trip you will have uneven roads and a river to fjord. The journey is a part of the experience though!” NO SHIT! It’s 12KM of NO roads, The Haitians have a very different meaning for “off road” compared to us. Without going into many details, let me give you a little aperçu of our “journey” there. Once we passed through Jacmel, we drove into this guy’s backyard to access the river we had to drive through, then we drove up the mountain on a hiking trail. The road was so rough my elbows were sore from banging on the arm rests, that’s how bad it was! I never figured where they get the horses to get there, there wasn’t a horse in sight even when I was there. At least we rode in a Land Cruiser, I couldn’t imagine riding in anything else…

Once we got to the site, the local guides took us to the Bassin-Bleu site. There are 3 bassin, the 1st bassin is shallow, no-one really swim in it, the locals use it as a watering hole for their cattle or horses, so I was told. We walked a couple of hundred meters to the second bassin, it was amazing, the water was bright turquoise, the vegetation around it was like something I have never seen before, there was this bassin of turquoise water in the middle of the jungle, just breath taking. Then the highlight of the trip began, to access the 3rd bassin I had to climb up a 50 ft cliff to access the 3rd bassin I had to climb down the side of a rock using a rope. I thought the view of the 2nd bassin was amazing, the 3rd was awesome, the bassin is located at the base of a fjord and there is a big waterfall feeding it.

The water was cool, there is a boulder in the middle of it that you can dive from. I swam across it and stood under the waterfall, swam to and from the 2nd bassin a few times. After that the guides took us at the top of the cliff and told us it was tradition to jump from the top of the cliff into the bassin. I must admit it took me a couple of minutes to muster up the courage to do it since I am deadly scared of heights, after all it’s about 50ft high! My motto is, when in Rome…so I jumped. I thought I was going to scream like a little girl all the way down but I didn’t. I am proud of myself for doing it, I even have a photo posted in the album to prove it.

It was a memorable day. Of course I have more to say, but I think I will keep it for another post

Until the next entry…