Saturday morning we left Healing Hands compound at 8:30 for Jacmel. We loaded up on a big tour bus, listened to Jeff's crazy music and enjoyed the senic view winding up and then back down the mountain. The view was stunning. We almost experienced a few close calls with the buses, cars, and moto's passing by at rapid speeds! Jacmel is a beach/tourist town on the coast where people from all over Haiti come to chill out.
We checked into the hotel ate lunch and hurried off to drop the first team at the Jacmel Clinic. Lauren was with this team and they were just 10 minutes from the hotel were about 120 patients were waiting to see them! Jeff and I continued with the 2nd team to Casse up in the mountains. We were told that it would only take about 30 minutes and a few river crossings to get there. Hmmmmm. We had NO idea! It was quite the experience as we drove through a very bumpy/muddy road to get to a very large river which we crossed about 7 times! Our driver Cyril was very nervous about the approaching storm clouds and the last stretch of crossing where a Toyota truck was high centered on a rock right where we needed to go. We ended up taking our chances and got to the clinic where 200 plus people were waiting to be seen by our team. Cyril was convinced that the storm was going to hit soon and we couldn't stay. Jeff, Jan, Cathrine and I decided that we would stay over night at the clinic and Cyril would pick us up in the morning after the storm passed. The day clinic went well- It was a bit overwhelming the amount of people/needs that were there, but we did what we could. We handed out Vitamins, Ibprofen, and worm pills like they were candy. We were the first clinic to ever be in Casse. 200 years this village has been around. It was a very rocky hillside village just beyond the riverbed. The night consisted of good Haitian food, peeing in a volcano made of cement, music, bugs, sleeping on the church floor, and a rain storm that lasted through the whole night. About 6:30 am we started the clinic again until Cyril came for us. It was hard to leave the people that hadn't been seen- but we would be there for days and days if we saw EVERYONE.
Sunday afternoon we met up with the rest of the group at the hotel and headed to the beach. It was great weather and the ocean was wonderful. We couldn't had asked for a better day!
