After the service it was time for our day at the beach.
Ronnie drove us out of Blanchard without Leon. We had no interpreter. Got lost, driving around Cite Soleil. More semi-rural areas and slums, even drove through an area where Ed observed there were a lot of angry looking people. Finally came out onto a road that lead into a plain where there was a large landfill where a number of fires were burning. A truck with a number of men was parked in the landfill. Soon we came up to some concrete barriers behind which a UN APC was parked. We drove up to them and told the Jordanian captain that we wanted to drive north to the Mouline Sur Mer.
Long, long drive to Moulin Sur Mer, passed a few other resorts on the way, oceans, villages. My leg cramped and I had to ask Doug and Roy if we could stop and then communicate this is Creole to Ronnie. After that they let me ride in front a lot and we proceeded on. At last we reached the resort. It was about 2 o’ clock. We drove down a driveway through some palm trees and parked on the grass. It cost $9 per person to go in but $5 of that was for lunch. There were some vendors with paintings, carvings and other souvenirs but we didn’t stop then. Kept walking to the beach area where there are some bathrooms for changing, a few bars, a restaurant and also some outdoor tables. A number of people were around, but most looked like employees.
The beach is small with little sand but there is a wharf going out to sea and the water has that blue and translucent emerald color of the Caribbean. There are pebbles and coral underfoot as you wade in. The temperature of the water is ideal, and all we lacked were snorkeling masks to see the coral beneath as a few of us laughed and splashed and swam, getting a welcome relief from the heat and tedium of the ride.
We had lunch at one of the tables. Unfortunately there was no spicy Haitian fried goat and the portion of spicy pork was rather meager and fatty, not like a pork chop you would get in the
U.S. But the meal was satisfying all the same.
After lunch, Doug and I wandered off to explore. There are several wings with rooms; its looks like a typical garden motel, pretty well maintained despite the low level of traffic while were there. We paused to admire a monkey in a large cage on the way there. Ther is pool, which is very clean with a huge sculpture of a conch shading under a root with white columns in the Italian style but tiles in the Thai style. Fusion architecture! The pool was very clean; we took a swim there.
When it was time to leave we took some photos by a king palm, bought a few souvenirs and got back in the van heading south. One notable incident – the van stalled in the middle of a long funeral cortege of well-dressed people mostly on foot. But we rolled it to the side of the road. Ronnie lifted up the front passenger seat, reached through a hole in the dusty metal floor and manipulated something that hot wired the engine back to life. We continued on our way without further incident.
