There were a handful of times when the vehicle was climbing up the mountain that I was pretty sure we were going to roll down the side of the mountain to our doom. It now makes sense to me why only about 4 groups of non-locals visit Peak Macaya annually. The drive up the mountainside was enough to convince me that was my first, but only, time I will be visiting Haiti's last remaining cloud forest.
However, once we reached base camp, I will admit now to Dr. Robin that the pee-your-pants drive up the ridge was worth it. It was like taking a walk into the past - getting to see what Haiti used to be and could be again if we begin to work on the deforestation issue now. Our first stop, before base camp, was Citadel (fort) platoon (spelling?). Unlike the other Citadels around Haiti that have become much more tourist-based and refurbished, this fort seems to have been essentially untouched since it was used during the Haitian Revolution in at the beginning of the 19th century. During the slave revolt, the Haitians had it so well engineered that many of the bunkers within the fort have secret passageways and escape routes. However, after being thankful for surviving the drive up the mountain, Dr. Robin and I decided to leave secret passageway exploring to those who are truly adventurous and moved on (via another bone jarring 2 hour ride) to base camp.
I could now spend the rest of this post telling you about how we only made it part way up the mountain - it's a 2 day hike to summit. We could talk about how ridiculous Dr. Robin, Mark, Olga, and I looked arriving with zero camping supplies or food - we paid our tour guide and his wife to rent two tents from them and have a prepared dinner. We could talk about how much I enjoyed getting to camp overnight, even though it meant I needed to miss participating in the one day HIV clinic in Les Anglais the following day. Or how the tour guide welcomed us into their home and made us feel like family. And even though I can't remember his or his wife's name now, it's so nice knowing how should I ever decide to explore Peak Macaya again, I will have a place to stay before beginning my hike. I could tell patient stories from our mobile clinic that Dr. Robin ran that evening once we realized that many of the people in the town had never seen a doctor in their life - after all, it's 3+ hour drive down the mountain to Cayes. Who knows how long the walk would be.
But instead, I would like to spend a paragraph contemplating and asking you why Peak Macaya has to be Haiti's last remaining cloud forest. Why a country that used to be green and lush and full of tropical rainforest now looks like a dessert. Sure, I understand that many Haitians rely on charcoal from the logging industry and charcoal factories to use for cooking because gas stoves are too expensive. And yes, I understand that if a family living in poverty has to worry about growing crops to provide for themselves, their last concern would be going green and planting a bunch of trees. But then I watched the CNN videos below and realized that deforestation and desertification doesn't have to be the final chapter in Haiti's agronomical history. That there are ways to not only stimulate enthusiasm, but also local economies by getting Haitians to plant more trees. That once locals realize that their agricultural production will increase, that they can chop down half of the trees they plant and make money, but still keep 50% there for helping the local environment, once there is increased awareness that everyone benefits, things will start to change. However, it's going to take more effort, more education, and of course more trees. During a recent conversation with a classmate, we were joking about how NGO's could start helping in more valuable ways. I suggested that instead of bringing down old clothes, next time a volunteer arrives in Haiti, they should bring a little tree to plant. And while at the time it was a joke, maybe now I am thinking that wouldn't be such a bad idea...
http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2013/07/04/going-green-haiti-planting-trees.cnn.html
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2013/07/05/going-green-haiti-trees-flooding.cnn&iref=videosearch
After we finally made it to the top of one of the less-fun ridges to drive up. We stopped and got out of the land rover to kiss the ground. What amazed me most was how red the soil was. I wonder if that's how all of Haiti was before all the deforestation and erosion happened.
The 4 photos below are all of Citadel (Fort) Platoon. Any history buffs would have loved to see all the remnants of how the Citadel must have been 200 years ago during the Haitian War for Independence.
These bunkers were the ones that supposedly had secret passageways associated with them. Maybe we will save that adventure for a return trip to Peak Macaya. Then again, probably not...
The 4 photos below are all of Citadel (Fort) Platoon. Any history buffs would have loved to see all the remnants of how the Citadel must have been 200 years ago during the Haitian War for Independence.
This photo above, for some reason, kept reminding me of a scene from Jurassic Park. I kept waiting for a little dinosaur to be feeding behind one of the large boulders.
The benefit of the scary drive - even at base camp we could see the entire plain that Cayes was situated on. We could even see all the way to the ocean :)
Per usual - USAID started spending money and then didn't follow through. This building was supposed to function as housing for agronomists and national forest protection reserves. Instead, it sits there abandoned because they never finished it. This is why I am thankful the roads one has to take to get to Peak Macaya are so bad. I know that the day an easy-to-drive-up road is built, the logging companies will start to chop away at the 2% of rainforest Haiti has left.
Below is a photo of our rainforest tour guide. He chopped through the path with his nice little machete and knew that cloud forest like the back of his hand. I was very impressed. He is standing by a natural spring. He promised us it was clean and we could rehydrate if we were thirsty. So of course Dr. Robin and I made him drink from it first. Once we confirmed that he didn't drop dead from it instantly, we too drank from it. And as far as we know neither of us suffered from any severe intestinal irritability :)
When I asked him if I could show his photo with people back home, he said of course. He told me he would love it if I told more people about Peak Macaya. He thinks the people from the town at the base camp, where he lived, could really benefit from adventure tourists visiting and stimulating the local economy - after all, Dr. Robin, Olga, Mark, and I saw a lot of malnutrition in our one evening of mobile clinic there. So as promised, I hope you all can now see how beautiful and adventurous Haiti's last remaining cloud forest is.
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