Next morning, we were on the road by nine, heading towards Bassin Bleu.
The plan was simple: an hour’s drive followed by a strenuous, 20-minute walk up an extremely steep country road. But it was worth the effort.
Fed by the Petite Rivière de Jacmel, Bassin Bleu is a descending chain of four waterfalls. The first one, Bassin Cheval, is the shallowest. From there, each fall spills into the next- icy cold pools getting deeper and wider, and shimmering like something out of a tourist board tv commercial.
September is the rainy season, so the falls were pretty strong and the pools were filled all the way up. We spent a few hours climbing from pool to pool, hurling ourselves off huge boulders into clear, turquoise water. Bwa surprised the hell out of us by doing a perfect backflip off the highest rock. Even Josny, who I’d unfairly pegged as an uptight country cousin, got in on the action.
But around two o’clock, we saw clouds rolling in from the south, and they were speeding towards us. So, we packed it up and hurried to get out as quickly as possible. It was pouring by the time we made it to the road that led back to where we’d parked the truck. Propelled forward by driving wind and rain, we were faced with a treacherous downhill scramble on a muddy dirt road. I wiped out twice. The wind was gale force by the time we reached the truck. Rain was hitting sideways. We sat in the truck, waiting for the storm to pass.
Eventually, the wind died down, the rain slowed and the clouds started to break.
“Ann ale,” Édo said to Josny.
We made it about five minutes down the road and stopped. A huge tree, felled by the storm, was lying across the road from end to end. There was no passing it.
“Merde,” Josny said under his breath.
“Sa a pa bon,” Bwa agreed.
We all jumped out of the car.
“Think we can drag it off to the side?” I asked Hopeton.
He gave a low whistle and shook his head. “No, man.”
“Fuck it,” Édo said. “Nou bezwen manchèt yo.”
“Ou gen rezon,” Bwa agreed.
Everyone walked back to the truck and grabbed the machetes that had been tucked under our seats.
Hacking and hauling didn’t take as long as I thought it would, but it wasn’t particularly pleasant. Eventually we were on our way again- dirty, tired and soaking wet.
“Well, that was a fun team building exercise,” I said to no one in particular.
Hopeton nodded. I knew it gave him great satisfaction to see that Josny and Bwa responded to that random, potentially fucked up situation in a way he deemed appropriate.
I had a feeling we’d become a team of five.
Driving back to Cyvadier, Josny gave us a mini tour through the hilly, windy streets of Jacmel.
“Let me guess, Hopeton,” I said. I couldn’t stop myself. “This looks just like Jamaica.”
“Actually,” Édo interjected, “it really does. It looks like the back streets of downtown Port Antonio. Every time I’m there I wind up speaking Kreyol to someone because I forget I’m not in Jacmel.”
“Wait until you get to Jamaica,” Hopeton told me. “You’re going to spend the entire visit trying to figure out if you’re in Jacmel or Flatbush.”
When we pulled up to the hotel, I took a look around and saw that everyone looked pretty wiped out. I told Josny that he could head over to his family if he wanted. He told me to hit him up if I needed anything, gave a quick salute and left.
“Let’s just have dinner here tonight,” Édo suggested.
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed. “Wanna meet at eight, down by the pool?”
I went to my room and decided to check in with my Panama people.
First up, Mundo.
Frè’m. Whagwan?
En nada.
Any news?
Yeah. Gianina’s definitely pregnant.
Felicidades. Right? That was the plan!
Es demasiado para mí.
I left him a voice text saying we’d get together and talk about it as soon as I got back.
Next up, I texted Wilkie. Sent him a few pictures from our tree clearing adventure, then asked how he was doing.
He responded immediately.
All good. Money flowing. No drama on the streets.
You been keeping in touch with Hopeton?
To’ los días.
Okay, good. I’ll be back next week. Call me if you need me.
He replied with a thumbs up emoji.
I put the phone down and headed into the bathroom.
