Today I woke up at 6:15 am, had a cold shower, and coffee.  After my prayers, Eddy asked if I wanted to go for a walk in the neighborhood.  We went to the ‘bodmè’, where the project on tourism is trying to construct a boardwalk.

The roadway is being built with spots for vegetation. The shore was dirty and filled with trash.  I felt, however, that the ocean should also be cleaned and cured at the same time to get the people in the habit of keeping it unpolluted. The town needs to work with the citizens to have the streets kept clean. The market place extends itself to the street of private houses creating unsanitary conditions.  The home owners are hostages to the situation unable to get their car in or out of their homes from 6 am to 6 pm, sometimes 7 pm and the vendors leave their display cart on the private residents’ door steps.  I went to the structures being erected as a new ‘marche’ for the town.  Hope the people will be educated on how to keep it spotless.

I climbed the stairs leading to the plaza easily.  This is part of the town’s original set up.  I was told that another stairway connecting areas of town was sealed by a foreigner that had bought land nearby disregarding the history and tradition of town because he had connection with the mayor of the city.   Money and power in action!

Historic landmark

After lunch, we decided to go to the beach.  On our way, we passed Cine Institute.  I asked my host to bring me there.  When we arrived the guard asked my name and I told  him that I wanted to visit the facility because I was told by David Belle to stop by when I was in Jacmel.  The guard told me that he was not authorized to let anyone in.  I mentioned that when I attended three events in NY sponsored by and for Belle he had said that we would be welcomed. He gave us the number of Paula to call and it went right to voice mail.  I took a picture of the gate with the guard but there was nothing else in sight.  We left to proceed to ‘Raymond les Bains’ beach.   The water in the distance was so beautiful but the beach area had empty coconut shells, leaves, …  The sand close to the water edge was gray.  It had rained heavily during the night and the water was not that clear.  I did not feel like going in for a swim.  I walked along the shore letting my feet only get wet.

Therese and I shared a coconut because it had a lot of water.  While we were sitting at the beach, we got a call from Paula saying that she would be available to show us around Cine Institute. On our way back we stopped.  We received visitor’s passes and were allowed to park inside past an organic garden.  I made several pictures mostly of the cliff and ocean area for deep underwater diving.  We had a great conversation with Paula Hyppolite.  She shared some leaves from the ‘élan élan’ plant with us which seems to be disappearing in the country.

We stopped by Kekette and Guito’s house, cousins of Eddy before getting back home.  They have a field of plantain and other fruit trees right in their backyard.