Camping on the beach

I have been averaging a weekend away (or at least a day at the beach outside of PAP) since getting back from Ottawa, and it's been a really good way to get away and disengage from work. So, two weeks after Ile a Vache, I went on a camping trip to a beach called Kokoye (coconut beach). Ian didn't make this trip, but I went with 5 of my colleagues. It was Chiara-the-intern-and-only-other-expat-girl's last weekend in Haiti, so I guess you could say it was a special occasion...

Kokoye beach

This whole idea started when we got an email invite to a group trip to Kokoye planned in October that one of my colleagues mistook for the upcoming weekend. From the photos in the email, he was hooked (see photos in this blog), and we realized there was absolutely nothing preventing us from going that weekend anyways. Never ones to plan something until the last minute, we should have realized that our lack or organization could have prevented us from going, but this was not the case. We tossed the idea out there, didn't make any concrete plans, and on Saturday at noon I got a call saying "Yeah, I think we're going to go forward with this Kokoye thing. Are you still interested in going? We're going out to get some food now and we'll probably leave around 2:30." 2:30 became 4pm as some of the beach goers (myself included) went souvenir shopping, but at 4pm one our our big Nissan Pilots picked me up with 5 people + driver and a load of luggage in the back. Since we were only staying overnight I just had a small backpack with my swimsuit, towel and a change of clothes so I wasn't sure why there were two suitcases in the back, but I was told not to worry.

It took us about 45 mins to get out of the city, then we drove to Leogane where we met up with someone who was supposed to show us the way, since the trip actually involved a hour-long hike down to the beach. He wasn't actually much use - we probably waited 20 mind for him to show up and all he did was give our driver directions, but on we went after that. The only problem was that the drop off point was a little farther out of PAP than expected, and the PAP traffic and waiting for the directions guy took longer than expected. So, at 7pm when the driver dropped us off, the sun had already set. We were almost prepared for this - 3 out of 6 of us had headlamp flashlights, and others could use their cellphones. Only Chiara and I had running shoes/hiking boots however, the others had to make it down the hike in flip flops. I also soon understood why there were two suitcases in the car - one was carrying our tent, extra bedding and water, and the other had our food! Not the most effective packing but I guess there were no "travelers" backpacks around. So, off we trudged down the mountain with our headlamps, small backpacks, assorted pots/charcoal/water carried in our arms and Ben carrying this giant suitcase on his head like we often see Haitians do.

I'm not going to lie - it was a rough trek down, but we made it in one piece. Despite my running shoes I fell several times, but I seemed to be the only one (I can't believe that Ben in flip flops with a suitcase on his head didn't fall!). {Janine, I was thinking about that night on our Machu Picchu trek the whole time} Two guys broke their flip flops and had to go barefoot, but fortunately our headlamps worked, we didn't get lost and some nice villagers met us when we were about 20mins away and led the way to the beach. Chiara and I set up the tent while the boys got to cooking, and we were able to take a late-night dip in the ocean, which was (a) really refreshing but (b) really cool - there were phosphorescent plankton that just lit up the area around you! We spent the rest of the night chilling on the beach, and everyone but me fell asleep under the stars...

Beach camping site

I woke up the next day just before sunrise, and was able to see what a beautiful beach we landed on. There were big palm trees swaying over the white sand, absolutely no one around, crystal blue water that went on for like a 800m and two islands close by that were just asking to be explored. I put on my bathing suit and hopped in the water and watched the sun rise from about 500m away from shore as some local fisherman were bringing in some lobster traps. I mean how great is that? Everyone else started to get up and we spent the rest of the day swimming, exploring the little islands, tanning, playing frisbee, and just having an all-around awesome beach day. We were able to take a boat ride back, so fortunately the guys with broken flip flops were spared, and came back to the city feeling totally relaxed. We agreed to go back again for the organized trip - knowing of course we would be a bit better organized the next time!

Fisherman paddling in this boat..