Over Labor Day Weekend of this year I traveled to Haiti to visit my lady who was working there at the time, and it also happens to be her country of origin. I had an American Airlines flight from JFK Airport in Queens, NY to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti which takes approximately three and a half hours.
First the Haitian Airport, I got off the plane and had to go down an escalator which passes by a Western Union sponsored greeting band, I gave them two quarters of pocket change I had. Then you cram onto an overcrowded bus with no air conditioner for about a 75 yard ride to the customs area. Once in there, what should be about 5 lines to check-in was a 14 line free-for-all bonanza. People were trying to cut in front of eachother, there was yelling, pushing, and of course no air conditioner in there as well. Finally, it gets straightened out and I'm on a real line which leads to an immigration officer. He stamps my passport with barely looking at my face and a way I go. After that is the luggage area which is another whole bonanza in itself, but luckily I only had carry-on. Next stage is the airport exit, you step out of the sweaty airport into 95 degree weather and have about fifty airport workers in grey uniforms swarm you like you just poked a beehive. They all grab for your bag and want to offer you services like getting a taxi or using their phone. That's about a 30 yard march you have to go through which feels more like 2 soccer fields. Luckily she was there in time to pick me up and I saw her face in the awaiting crowd. There was a UN(United Nations) officer who mumbled something to me(maybe asking if I wanted a cab I think), but I kept my head down and walked right past him.
When she saw me she asked why I looked so stressed...
The driving in Haiti is somewhat hectic, seldom are there traffic lights or stop signs, but overall drivers manage to cooperate with eachother to keep the flow going. Since the driving laws are laxed and almost every car has broken or missing side mirrors, its imperative to honk your horn constantly. In some parts of Manhattan that's a $300 fine. Basically the air is filled with the sounds of honking horns and caribbean music. The toughest obstacle to driving isn't the numerous tap-tap buses(4x4 jeeps converted into mini-buses) or abundance of taxi motorbikes, but the abundance of potholes in the streets. It's almost impossible for a car to go too fast because every few feet is a huge hole in the street. Another item with driving is that the majority of vehicles on the road are from the 1980's and 1990's, meaning most of the them have seen their best days pass a long time ago and are breaking down constantly. There's always cars and trucks on the side of the road needing water, a tire changed, or something looked at with the engine. Once in a while you'll see a vehicle from 2004 or 2006, but its not often. There were two trucks, one a Mayflower and another North American, both US moving companies, that I wish I knew the backstory of how they ended up in Haiti.
I was driving there my first day and had no problems adapting to the driving environment, the only snafu was the jeep I was driving also falls into this category of having seen its best days already, and stalled on us numerous times. One time we planned to drive to the beach with the jeep and had driven halfway there when the jeep basically died on us. Luckily we were on a busy enough street and were able to ask around for a mechanic. Someone said there was someone named Edgar down one of the allyways who fixes cars, and we walked down a dirt road which led to a bunch of houses, of which we found Edgar the Mechanic, the mechanic shop being his backyard with about 3 other choppy vehicles laying around. He had his assistant go purchase some piston-rods or something for the motor, in fact I don't know what he did, but he was only able to partially get the car running again. At the time I was more worried more about not getting to the beach than the jeep working again, which I pretty much gave up on. While he(and onlookers passing by) was trying to fix the motor, I was watching someone get a haircut with a straight-razor and on a front porch about 10 kids were huddled together to watch TV.
The jeep started up again, but nobody felt confident it could go more than 20 feet without breaking down. We told Edgar we were heading for the beach, and I guess he had no other plans for the day because he offered to drive us there himself. We had to give him money for gas and and extra $40 for his troubles, but he drove us to the beach and back to his house where we kept the jeep for the time being. Edgar's favorite musical group is Air Supply, and as a result he had the word 'Air Supply' painted onto the upper part of the front windows for all his vehicles. Naturally, while we rode in his jeep he played his Air Supply CD on the radio. I only know of one Air Supply song, how someone could be that much a fan without them having more than one hit song baffles me.
The beach is my favorite part of the country; turquoise colored warm water, clean sand, and big green mountains in the background overlooking the whole area. It would rain on and off, but it was a warm rain without lightning and everyone remained in the water. In the US, a lifeguard would blow the whistle immedately and everyone would be forced out. This beach had no lifeguard, and I have a feeling none of the beaches in Haiti have lifeguards. As a result, frequently jet skis and boats come a little too close for comfort near the swimmers, which could be risky. For food options there's resturants that serve lobsters and other foods on the beach, plus there's typically trappers walking around with crabs and lobsters they just trapped. They can cook it for you on the spot if you want. When our day ended and we went back to Edgar's to pick up our troublesome jeep, the vehicle did start and we were able to drive it back home miraculously, but not without it stalling about 10 more times on the way.
Nights in Haiti are probably the times you need to be on your highest guard. First of all, you must be in a vehicle, there's no strolling around on foot or taking a walk in the park. There's plenty of places to go to eat or dance, but again its best to go by car and move quickly in and out. One night we went to a dance hall to watch live music, another night we went to an outdoor pizza lounge(surprisingly good pizza), another night a club, and finally there was a time someone was having a rooftop party of beers and live music(more of an informal nature). The best part of Haiti at night is seeing how low from the sky the stars are, I never seen them like that before, and so many bright stars there were. Before going to bed we had to set up a mosquito net, it was my first time using one, and for some reason it had a calming affect which made me fall asleep quickly.
As for tidbits on Haiti, it is amusing to either walk or drive around and have chicken, goats, or cattle pop out of nowhere. The streets are overloaded with market vendors selling items such as fruits, vegetables, water, cellphone cases, art, pottery, etc. With that the streets are also overloaded with beggers, mainly made up of women and small children. I remember one kid came up to our jeep wearing a Wonder Woman t-shirt(probably had no idea who she is). Another time when we were leaving a club it must have been like 3am, and still a small kid was fully awake and asking us for money. I also found the supermarket interesting, especially the one guard holding a baton and another pacing around with a shotgun. In fact, the place we were staying at had an armed guard with a shotgun, and getting back to the airport for a moment, there too were guards walking with...that's right, shotguns. I guess its the offical gun of Haiti. As for other measures for security, basically all homes and compounds are behind large brick walls with fortified gates. The highlight for that was a school near Edgar's house which had a high wall with jagged broken glass bottles sticking out of the top to influence potential intruders to not try to climb over it. I never knew anyone wanting to get into school that bad.
We did walk by the refugee camps which are made up of tents and make-shift homes. Many still remain there since the aftermath of the major earthquake which struck in early 2010. There are efforts to clean up the damages that were caused by the quake, some areas have had rubble removed, but in other areas the destruction is still visible. The tent areas give off a foul smell, in fact many of the streets in Haiti are tainted with bad odors, either from the open sewers or homeless/poor people relieving themselves in public far too often. A few blocks away from the tent area we walked up a hill and came upon a nice outdoor cafe and we each ordered up some ice cream. She had passion fruit sobert which was served in a frozen passion fruit core carved out, and I had the better coconut ice cream neatly packaged into a half coconut shell.
Fires are a common occurance in the country, every few blocks there always a bunch of tires or a pile of garbage being set on fire. I'm guessing since there's not many sanitation trucks passing by, the only other option is to burn the trash. Fire's opposite, water, is a precious resource in Haiti which can't be taken for granted. Since water from the pipelines have some sort of contamination most likely, the only safe water you can drink is bottled water and water pumped from the resource centers. And when taking a shower, you must keep your mouth closed. There's a cell phone company called Digicel which I supposed is the main cell provider in Haiti, they must have alot of sponsorship dollars because you can't go anywhere without seeing the word 'Digicel' on a wall, or even on government street signs.
Though there are police jeeps and small police stations every now and then, overall you have a feeling you're on your own in terms of security. Although there weren't any dangerous incidents while I was there, I still like having the ability to dial 9-1-1 in case of emergency and not relying on shotgun-toting guards and broken glass on top of walls. It is a very poor country, and as a result there's a lacking infrastructure of stable government services such as security, sanitation, road maintenance, parental & child welfare, schools, healthcare, food, and so much more, and its all quite visible once you leave the airport.
When I got back to New York it felt like I hadn't been there in a long time, even though it was only a few days I spent in Haiti. It's certainly a different feel amongst the two countries. The simple relief of driving my car from the airport to my home without fear of it stalling was a good feeling, but it was also nice not to hear about Hollywood celebrities for a few days. When I got home I was able to take a shower without worrying if my mouth was open or not, but I wish I could go to that beach every week. For weeks after the trip I still had the noise of honking horns and caribbean music stuck in my head, that's how impactful those sounds were. Until next time...
First the Haitian Airport, I got off the plane and had to go down an escalator which passes by a Western Union sponsored greeting band, I gave them two quarters of pocket change I had. Then you cram onto an overcrowded bus with no air conditioner for about a 75 yard ride to the customs area. Once in there, what should be about 5 lines to check-in was a 14 line free-for-all bonanza. People were trying to cut in front of eachother, there was yelling, pushing, and of course no air conditioner in there as well. Finally, it gets straightened out and I'm on a real line which leads to an immigration officer. He stamps my passport with barely looking at my face and a way I go. After that is the luggage area which is another whole bonanza in itself, but luckily I only had carry-on. Next stage is the airport exit, you step out of the sweaty airport into 95 degree weather and have about fifty airport workers in grey uniforms swarm you like you just poked a beehive. They all grab for your bag and want to offer you services like getting a taxi or using their phone. That's about a 30 yard march you have to go through which feels more like 2 soccer fields. Luckily she was there in time to pick me up and I saw her face in the awaiting crowd. There was a UN(United Nations) officer who mumbled something to me(maybe asking if I wanted a cab I think), but I kept my head down and walked right past him.
When she saw me she asked why I looked so stressed...
The driving in Haiti is somewhat hectic, seldom are there traffic lights or stop signs, but overall drivers manage to cooperate with eachother to keep the flow going. Since the driving laws are laxed and almost every car has broken or missing side mirrors, its imperative to honk your horn constantly. In some parts of Manhattan that's a $300 fine. Basically the air is filled with the sounds of honking horns and caribbean music. The toughest obstacle to driving isn't the numerous tap-tap buses(4x4 jeeps converted into mini-buses) or abundance of taxi motorbikes, but the abundance of potholes in the streets. It's almost impossible for a car to go too fast because every few feet is a huge hole in the street. Another item with driving is that the majority of vehicles on the road are from the 1980's and 1990's, meaning most of the them have seen their best days pass a long time ago and are breaking down constantly. There's always cars and trucks on the side of the road needing water, a tire changed, or something looked at with the engine. Once in a while you'll see a vehicle from 2004 or 2006, but its not often. There were two trucks, one a Mayflower and another North American, both US moving companies, that I wish I knew the backstory of how they ended up in Haiti.
I was driving there my first day and had no problems adapting to the driving environment, the only snafu was the jeep I was driving also falls into this category of having seen its best days already, and stalled on us numerous times. One time we planned to drive to the beach with the jeep and had driven halfway there when the jeep basically died on us. Luckily we were on a busy enough street and were able to ask around for a mechanic. Someone said there was someone named Edgar down one of the allyways who fixes cars, and we walked down a dirt road which led to a bunch of houses, of which we found Edgar the Mechanic, the mechanic shop being his backyard with about 3 other choppy vehicles laying around. He had his assistant go purchase some piston-rods or something for the motor, in fact I don't know what he did, but he was only able to partially get the car running again. At the time I was more worried more about not getting to the beach than the jeep working again, which I pretty much gave up on. While he(and onlookers passing by) was trying to fix the motor, I was watching someone get a haircut with a straight-razor and on a front porch about 10 kids were huddled together to watch TV.
The jeep started up again, but nobody felt confident it could go more than 20 feet without breaking down. We told Edgar we were heading for the beach, and I guess he had no other plans for the day because he offered to drive us there himself. We had to give him money for gas and and extra $40 for his troubles, but he drove us to the beach and back to his house where we kept the jeep for the time being. Edgar's favorite musical group is Air Supply, and as a result he had the word 'Air Supply' painted onto the upper part of the front windows for all his vehicles. Naturally, while we rode in his jeep he played his Air Supply CD on the radio. I only know of one Air Supply song, how someone could be that much a fan without them having more than one hit song baffles me.
The beach is my favorite part of the country; turquoise colored warm water, clean sand, and big green mountains in the background overlooking the whole area. It would rain on and off, but it was a warm rain without lightning and everyone remained in the water. In the US, a lifeguard would blow the whistle immedately and everyone would be forced out. This beach had no lifeguard, and I have a feeling none of the beaches in Haiti have lifeguards. As a result, frequently jet skis and boats come a little too close for comfort near the swimmers, which could be risky. For food options there's resturants that serve lobsters and other foods on the beach, plus there's typically trappers walking around with crabs and lobsters they just trapped. They can cook it for you on the spot if you want. When our day ended and we went back to Edgar's to pick up our troublesome jeep, the vehicle did start and we were able to drive it back home miraculously, but not without it stalling about 10 more times on the way.
Nights in Haiti are probably the times you need to be on your highest guard. First of all, you must be in a vehicle, there's no strolling around on foot or taking a walk in the park. There's plenty of places to go to eat or dance, but again its best to go by car and move quickly in and out. One night we went to a dance hall to watch live music, another night we went to an outdoor pizza lounge(surprisingly good pizza), another night a club, and finally there was a time someone was having a rooftop party of beers and live music(more of an informal nature). The best part of Haiti at night is seeing how low from the sky the stars are, I never seen them like that before, and so many bright stars there were. Before going to bed we had to set up a mosquito net, it was my first time using one, and for some reason it had a calming affect which made me fall asleep quickly.
As for tidbits on Haiti, it is amusing to either walk or drive around and have chicken, goats, or cattle pop out of nowhere. The streets are overloaded with market vendors selling items such as fruits, vegetables, water, cellphone cases, art, pottery, etc. With that the streets are also overloaded with beggers, mainly made up of women and small children. I remember one kid came up to our jeep wearing a Wonder Woman t-shirt(probably had no idea who she is). Another time when we were leaving a club it must have been like 3am, and still a small kid was fully awake and asking us for money. I also found the supermarket interesting, especially the one guard holding a baton and another pacing around with a shotgun. In fact, the place we were staying at had an armed guard with a shotgun, and getting back to the airport for a moment, there too were guards walking with...that's right, shotguns. I guess its the offical gun of Haiti. As for other measures for security, basically all homes and compounds are behind large brick walls with fortified gates. The highlight for that was a school near Edgar's house which had a high wall with jagged broken glass bottles sticking out of the top to influence potential intruders to not try to climb over it. I never knew anyone wanting to get into school that bad.
We did walk by the refugee camps which are made up of tents and make-shift homes. Many still remain there since the aftermath of the major earthquake which struck in early 2010. There are efforts to clean up the damages that were caused by the quake, some areas have had rubble removed, but in other areas the destruction is still visible. The tent areas give off a foul smell, in fact many of the streets in Haiti are tainted with bad odors, either from the open sewers or homeless/poor people relieving themselves in public far too often. A few blocks away from the tent area we walked up a hill and came upon a nice outdoor cafe and we each ordered up some ice cream. She had passion fruit sobert which was served in a frozen passion fruit core carved out, and I had the better coconut ice cream neatly packaged into a half coconut shell.
Fires are a common occurance in the country, every few blocks there always a bunch of tires or a pile of garbage being set on fire. I'm guessing since there's not many sanitation trucks passing by, the only other option is to burn the trash. Fire's opposite, water, is a precious resource in Haiti which can't be taken for granted. Since water from the pipelines have some sort of contamination most likely, the only safe water you can drink is bottled water and water pumped from the resource centers. And when taking a shower, you must keep your mouth closed. There's a cell phone company called Digicel which I supposed is the main cell provider in Haiti, they must have alot of sponsorship dollars because you can't go anywhere without seeing the word 'Digicel' on a wall, or even on government street signs.
Though there are police jeeps and small police stations every now and then, overall you have a feeling you're on your own in terms of security. Although there weren't any dangerous incidents while I was there, I still like having the ability to dial 9-1-1 in case of emergency and not relying on shotgun-toting guards and broken glass on top of walls. It is a very poor country, and as a result there's a lacking infrastructure of stable government services such as security, sanitation, road maintenance, parental & child welfare, schools, healthcare, food, and so much more, and its all quite visible once you leave the airport.
When I got back to New York it felt like I hadn't been there in a long time, even though it was only a few days I spent in Haiti. It's certainly a different feel amongst the two countries. The simple relief of driving my car from the airport to my home without fear of it stalling was a good feeling, but it was also nice not to hear about Hollywood celebrities for a few days. When I got home I was able to take a shower without worrying if my mouth was open or not, but I wish I could go to that beach every week. For weeks after the trip I still had the noise of honking horns and caribbean music stuck in my head, that's how impactful those sounds were. Until next time...
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