a less favorable section of the route

We are finally out of the jungle and oh man was it a trek. It ended up being a lot longer than we expected. We were told it would be about 30 miles and it ended up being 42 miles.

All that being the case, we successfully documented the human trafficking route and only took one wrong turn. God didn’t let us get too far off before he sent a messenger to turn us around and back in the right direction.

Then when the path was about to really get difficult, a man showed up and tried to convince us to take a different path...a different path that would be so much easier. When he understood what we were doing and why we needed to take this path he wouldn’t let us go alone. He gave his horse to another man to take home because his horse wouldn’t be able to make it and he took the lead.

We continued on together when a group of men crossed our path with horses and donkeys. We talked with them a little about where we were going when and they though we were crazy but knowing we were insistent, one of the men took his supplies off his donkey and gave it to us to carry our packs.

Our heavy packs were off our backs and onto the donkeys and we ventured into the treacherous terrain. What a blessing that was. Treacherous was right. We hiked through some of the most rugged terrain I’ve ever been through.

To illustrate a little what that means this whole island is made of petrified coral so the terrain is sharp and jagged and it’s full of holes that cause you to easily trip. It’s not friendly by any means.

We hiked through this ravine, up a mountain and then back down, all on this sharp rock. At about the half way point on the decent we came across the pair of shoes. The ones in the photo. Our newly found guide turned to us and said, “Those shoes are from woman that was taken through here. Her shoes just wore out. She had to leave them behind and had to go the rest of the way barefoot. Man, my heart broke for her and the others that are brought through on this trafficking route.

The traffickers or as they call them here “Buscones” take them through this rugged terrain so that they never think it’s at all possible to return to Haiti.

The first day ended on a bit of a somber note...more to come.