Earthquakes and Waterfalls

These past two weeks, I’ve had a lot of work to do in Jacmel. I needed to finish up some work with the sponsored kids in Terre Rouge, give a short message to the Wesleyenne Church on Sunday, and take measurements of the field that will possibly be used for the reforestation project. I decided it would be cheaper and more time efficient if I stayed in Jacmel and worked instead of returning back to PAP.

 I had no plans on Saturday and 3 friends were coming to Jacmel, so we made plans to visit Basin Bleu. Basin Bleu is a series of waterfalls that form 3 basins of water, ranging from 15-75 feet deep. I think it may actually be one of Haiti’s national parks. 

So Saturday afternoon, Kellyanne, Kylie, Wesley, Pastor Robert, Emmanuel, Hermanie, Migueline, the driver, and I made the 20 minute drive up the mountains to this little hidden treasure. We hiked into the woods with our guides, went over little rock bridges, up and down steps made of stone, walked through the tops of waterfalls, and made it to each of the 3 basins. 

Kellyanne, Kylie, Pastor Robert, Emmanuel, and our driver walking over one of the stone bridges

The first basin- 15 feet deep

 When we got to the top basin, which is 75 feet deep, the guides took us swimming. Kylie being the daredevil she is, jumped off the rocks about 30 feet tall near the waterfall. She did this 3 times, each time more epically than the last. Me, being terrified of heights, jumped off a big rock that made an island in the middle of the basin. It was probably only 5-8 feet above the water.

I jumped off this rock.... Kylie jumped off that big waterfall behind the rock

The third time I jumped, though, something happened that didn’t happen the first two times. There was so much pressure in my ears that I thought I busted my ear drums. When I came to the surface, my ears hurt so badly that I actually checked to make sure they weren’t bleeding. They were fine so we kept swimming and enjoying our time at the basins. 

Later that night, the 4 of us went to dinner to meet up with one of Kellyanne’s friends who is doing relief work in Jacmel. At dinner, I got a text message telling me about an earthquake that had happened in Jacmel earlier that day. At first I didn’t believe it, so I asked everyone else at the table if they knew anything about it. Kellyanne’s friend said that there had been an earthquake shortly after 2 p.m. that day and this earthquake was unusual because it caused the atmospheric pressure to change so much in a matter of seconds. She said the change was painful for her ears and head. Then our chauffer chimed in and said he had climbed up to the top of the rocks while we were swimming and when he got to the top, he had felt the earthquake. After he said that, it all made sense. I had been underwater during the earthquake.

Although the jolt was strong enough for most people in the city to feel, I haven’t heard any stories of people being hurt, thankfully. I did find out that 3 days before, there was a stronger earthquake that had hit Jacmel. According to the time frame, I would have been on a moto heading home from my last class. So I somehow managed not to feel 2 earthquakes in 1 week.