Bassin Bleu is Jacmel’s scenic draw, ultimately worth the frightening mototaxi journey–though I was not too happy about taking one, despite what this picture may indicate. My smile is because I was currently not ON the death machine.
My fears were unfortunately somewhat justified; as Alex hopped off his mototaxi, his leg grazed that scalding hot muffler. The drivers attempted to pour steaming, dirty motor oil on it (I intercepted with a bottle of cool water); the tourist office staff just pulled up their pants legs and showed off their own mototaxi scars, or as they are affectionally known, “Haitian tattoos.” Alex was able to gracefully handle the rest of our Bassin Bleu experience, but when we returned to Jacmel, we were in for an equally as thrilling adventure: a visit to a clinic, where burns are handled a bit differently than we were accustomed to. Spoiler alert: it involves a scalpel.
Let’s move on to more palatable things, shall we? Like this beautiful view of the first pool!
But the reason tourists make the trek to Bassin Bleu is for the third pool.
The guides, after helping you down a slippery vertical rock (there are ropes to aid in the descent as well), even take pictures while you swim!
After that refreshing dip, it was time for the hair-raising journey back. As afraid as I was on our uphill journey before, I at least stayed on the mototaxi. When one of our mototaxis had a flat tire on the way back, I gladly took the opportunity to insist on walking down some of the steepest sections of the road.
If there’s a warning about the angle of incline, rest assured I will not traverse it on a tiny bike.
The walk, besides feeling like the safer option, also gave us the chance to savor the views…
.. and I’ll never turn down a good goat photo opportunity.
x
Cape to Milan 
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