Where He leads...: Easter weekend in Haiti

Easter weekend in Haiti

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I've gotten very behind on blogging so to speed things up, I'll keep my introduction short and you can just check out the photos and captions. For Easter weekend we packed up the car and headed for Jacmel. It was a long weekend with both Friday and Monday off from work. We made the best of it!! Here are some highlights...

Someone wanted to make sure she didn't get left behind! Lacy had had a tough week already. We've had little puppy Dez running around everywhere and Lacy has been less than thrilled with all his antics. She was ready for a vacation too!

Cute little Dez enjoyed the long car ride. MOST of the time he was sweet and cuddly. Which was a blessings because trying to appease a rambunctious puppy inside a moving vehicle is quite a task!

The Easter holiday is a big deal in Haiti. From Protestants to Catholics to Voodoo-ists(?)... festivities abound! We were happy to be escaping Leogane for the weekend as Voodoo/Rara happenings are at their peak. But this is what we found as we entered Jacmel. And of course there is only one road in. Thankfully they turned off the main road about 15 minutes after we were stopped. This was a Protestant group. We had already passed a few other smaller groups along the way. They seemed to be doing a Passion Walk of some kind. Walking together as Jesus had walked to his own death. At the front of each group someone was carrying a cross high up on a stick so everyone behind could see.

On Saturday, Lesly, Molly and I escaped for a day-trip to Bassin Bleu. It was Molly's first time and of course she loved it. I mean, who wouldn't love hiking to a secluded waterfall?! We took a long taptap ride to town from the hotel and then found three moto drivers who were ready to make a deal. We ended up paying $12.50 per person for them to take us up, wait on us, and bring us back down. I quickly realized not only was this a good day's work for them, but a fun adventure too. All three of them stripped down to their skivvies for a dip in the crystal blue water. Not a bad day's work at all!

Molly thoroughly enjoyed the moto ride and everything about our day! As did we all!

To top off our already amazing adventure, we stopped at Jacmel's "Mexican and Italian" restaurant and ate some tacos and pizza!! The tacos were especially delicious! Lesly ordered chicken fried rice. It even came in a little Chinese takeout box. And yes, a Mexican/Italian restaurant in Haiti is SUPER random! Turns out the guy lived in Tulsa for 20 years, studied aeronautics and had a Creole restaurant there which got rave reviews. He told me to call ahead next time and he'll make me up a special pot of gumbo!

We almost drove right past this! I looked over and thought there was a black plastic bag by the mama goat. Then I realized it was a newborn kid! I had them turn the bikes around and we got some photos and videos. So cool!!!

On Sunday afternoon we went to "Church on the Beach". I had asked around to see what churches were around where we were staying. I got a response from a group of missionaries. They told me about "Church on the Beach" that meets every Sunday at 4:30pm. Sounded perfect for us! And it was. :)

On the way back from church, we encountered at least half a dozen rara parades marching down the street. Again, there's the one main road so you're stuck with that route. This was the last and biggest group we passed. All the other groups were kind enough to leave a space for traffic to pass. This group wasn't as concerned. See the video below for a closer look. Oh the joys of Haiti!! :)