Fort Matin
Sorry.
I took a little trip the other day. It went like this:
View Abricot, Dame Marie, Fort Matin in a larger map
We left Jeremie early in the morning. There, we found a bit of rioting due to some reversed election results for the Deputy of Bonbon and Abricot. Some ‘vagabonds’ were burning tires, barrels, and smashing glass bottles in the street. We skidaddled, and passed a batallion of blue-helmeted Uruguayan MINUSTAH peace-keeping forces speeding towards Jeremie. Not sure how that panned out, but we avoided it nicely.
We arrived in Abricot, a beautiful little coastal fishing village with a hostel.
The hostel was full, but there was a boat heading to Dame Marie that afternoon. So we paid a guy $2 to take us in his dug-out canoe (‘bwa fouye’ or ‘dug out wood) to the Captain George boat. In kreyòl these large boats are called ‘batiman,’ which derives from the French word for building, ‘bâtiment.’
The ship was packed with people and food and mattresses and construction materials and all manner of things. It had come directly from Port-au-Prince the previous afternoon, and it smelt like feces and throw-up and sweat. There was much yelling and transporting of goods and humans to and fro.
Somehow we ended up paying for transport to and from the ship both in Abricot and Dame Marie, but we didn’t pay for passage on the Captain George. I don’t know how this makes any sense. But! The ride was quite pretty, and the sun was quite strong. So much cursing! I guess after 24 hours on a boat people get pretty grumpy.
From Dame Marie, we walked an hour south to Fort Matin. A real nice man named Edner showed us a beach where we could set up our tent.
We bought fish from some young fishin’ boys and grilled it on the beach. Edner cut some sugar cane for us to chew on for dessert, as the sun set over the ocean.
Okay thanks send me an email Happy Easter!
