Haiti – Page 2 – PalmTreeMusings

Oh my goodness, I have fallen in love this weekend! I went snorkeling for the first time at Íle-á-Vache, a small island off the western end of Haiti, and I absolutely loved it. It was so amazing. Who knew there was so much to look at on the bottom of the sea? The colors of the coral and all the fish were mesmerizing. I could have stayed out there all day.

We had a fantastic time at Íle-á-Vache. It was the most perfect vacation. It was one of those experiences that totally reaffirms my love for Haiti. There are parts of it that are just unspeakably beautiful. I am so glad I am getting a chance to see these places while I teach school here. It also makes me really look forward to wherever I go to next in my teaching career.

We left on Friday and drove to the national airport, and after a short half hour flight, we were on the ground in Les Cayes, a city I had never been to. The plane we took over there was the smallest I’ve ever been on, seating only eight people and the pilot. Really small! We got a boat to take us over to Port Morgan on the island of La Vache, and were amazed at the hotel we stayed at. Tom and Sue had the room next to mine, and our friends Jeff and Denise went as well.

view from hotel on Ile-a-Vache Haiti small island — Our view from our hotel rooms

Also there that weekend was a group of International Red Cross workers, a few of whom I had met while we were out dancing at Dolce Vita recently, in Petion-ville. We arrived at lunchtime and immediately sat down to try some of the best fish I’ve ever had. After lunch we walked around a bit, swam in the ocean and talked to the guy in the dive shop. We met a couple, Steve and Linda, and their sixteen year old son, who have been boating around the world for the last twelve years. We sat and talked with them for quite a while, enjoying their stories of their adventures. After enjoying the view, and laying in our chaise lounge chairs on our front porch we ate dinner and then sat in our chairs again and drank a bottle of wine we had brought with us.

yacht in harbor haiti small island ile a vache — I would like to live on this boat

On Saturday we took a short hike to the most beautiful sandy beach I’ve ever been to. The thing that made it so beautiful was that aside from about four tiki huts, there was absolutely nothing there. On the whole beach was just the five of us, and then about four of the Red Cross workers showed up. That’s it. It was a beach just as beautiful as Turks and Caicos, but with absolutely nothing there to spoil it. We swam in the water for hours and laid on the sand. I went for a little hike and found a small cave and checked it out. Finally it was time to head in, as the sun was quite intense and we all had sunburns. We had an amazing lunch of quiche and salad, and then took naps. That night we all gathered for dinner, and we were invited to a party on a nearby island. A bunch of the Red Cross people were going, and Brian, the dive instructor, said he’d take us over on a boat. So we said what the hell, might as well go, and we all piled into this tiny canoe from Jamaica, and boated over to another island. You really know you’re in Haiti when you have fifteen people in a canoe, and a guy riding up on the bow with a flashlight in his hand for a light (at least we had a motor).

couple laying flat on deck chairs front porch — Aaaah, relax! Deah and Tom at Ille a Vache

It took us about 40 minutes to boat over to the island, and I chatted with Mark and Onah, two Red Cross guys from Belgium. Finally we made it to this island and we show up at this huge tent made of palm branches woven together and bed sheets and who knows what else. It was like this big Bedouin celebration. There was no electricity on the whole island except this one tent, powered by a generator. From inside we could hear a DJ playing kompah music, and so we paid our 25 gourdes admission price and headed in and danced for the next two hours. They were selling Prestige beer and lakay (homemade) rum and it was quite an interesting night. Apparently they have this party every year on the night before Easter.

two ladies sitting at breakfast table outside Haiti — Deah and Sue, breakfast

On Sunday Tom and Sue and I took a kayak out and rowed over to a point where we were told there was a lot of good coral. Tom and I kayaked and Sue towed along the back in our green air mattress that always goes on beach vacations with us. We snorkeled around for more than two hours and I was enchanted. Tom and Sue kayaked back and I swam, which was a good idea until about halfway across the harbor when I got really tired. But I made it across and snorkeled the whole way. I managed to pull myself out of the water, exhausted, ate some lunch, and we all went to take naps. At lunch, the amazing chef, Alan, invited us to another island party for that night. We said sure, let’s go. Alan is from Spain and he told us the whole story of how we wound up being a chef in Haiti. A very adventurous person.

Probably this boat has passed all the safety inspections

So that night Denise, Jeff, Tom and Sue and I, along with a couple of the Red Cross people, and Alan and a couple Haitians piled into the same canoe and headed over to another island. Unfortunately the weather was a little rougher, and we couldn’t sail all the way around to the far side of the island so we had to beach the canoe and walk the rest of the way. The guys lit a big palm tree branch on fire and led us over to the party. Instead of a DJ, they had some live Kompa musicians singing, playing guitar, bongoes, drums, etc. Everyone was dancing and drinking warm Prestige beer (no generator this time). I climbed a tree and sat on a branch about six feet off the ground and had an excellent view. There was singing, dancing, some “Haitian smoke”, if you know what I mean, and we had a pretty good time. Of course we were the only blancs there, as we had been the night before. But everyone loved coming over and talking to us and asking us questions. I don’t know if the party was for Easter or what, but we were glad we went to a true island party, out in the middle of nowhere. We left sometime after midnight and made it back to the hotel.

Flight delayed? No problem, we’ll just wait under this tree

It was tough getting up for our flight home to Port-au-Prince the next day, but waiting at the airport in Les Cayes for two hours under this tree gave us plenty of time to relax and recover from the night before. Ah, Haiti. Who knows what adventures you will bring us next.

Six months ago, in August 2003, I moved to Haiti to become an international teacher. I got a lot of questions from friends and family back home; question like “What is Haiti like?” “What are the Haitian people like?” “Is it safe there?”. So I decided to start this travel blog to document my experiences. Read on to find out what this amazing island is like, and to follow my adventures there!

I mean, you can’t really beat this kind of weekend

What is Haiti like? Sleeping in Haiti is like sleeping at summer camp. At night it is hot but usually with a breeze. It is noisy. There is always a dog barking, which then sets off every other dog in the neighborhood, and roosters crowing. I thought roosters only crowed at dawn, but apparently they crow all night. Sometimes our generator or our neighbor’s generator is going, which is quite loud, but at least drowns out the sound of the dogs and roosters, and the occasional goat. If you’re really lucky you might get some city power at night (the provisional government is promising us six hours a day now….) but when the city power is on it makes our fans and other appliances hum, because the wattage is different (during the day you can tell when the city power is on because the lights are dimmer. But at least you can use the hair dryer and toaster oven then). At night sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, because the power has gone off and the fans are off. You have to get up and go to the back yard and turn on the Delco, or just try to get back to sleep. Sleeping under my mosquito net always reminds me of a bride’s veil. Occasionally I try to tie it up in a knot and sleep without it, but the mosquitos always win.

No electricity, so we literally decided to sleep outside

In the morning, especially if there’s been rain at night, you can smell the morning like I remember from camp. It’s a nice, green, earthy smell. Haiti, in fact, smells best at six in the morning. But even at six, the streets are full of people walking to work, the tap-taps are running, and even the heavy trucks are heading down from the hills, full of gravel that has been mined from the mountains above us. The deforestation and strip-mining of the land here is devastating, and there’s constantly a need for more building materials. Almost no houses are made of lumber here; the wood supply ran out on Haiti decades ago (only 1% of the forests remain here) and even if there was trees, you can’t build a house with them that will last, because of the rot. The cement buildings are part of what makes Port-Au-Prince so ugly. The nicer buildings and churches are made of stone, which looks prettier. The concrete buildings are gray, plain, unpainted. Many of them are unfinished, lacking a roof or one wall.

view of Port au Prince Haiti from Boutillier — The sprawl of Port Au Prince

sacks of grains in the market in Haiti Petionville Port au Prince — The sprawl of Port Au Prince

In January, enjoying the nicer cool weather, we did some exploring around Petion-ville, including a local market. We also spent a lovely and cool weekend up at our friends’ mountain house in Kenscoff. We really lucked out by having the most wonderful and kind families from our school ‘adopt’ us international teachers by inviting us to their homes for dinners, or for weekends away. What a way to see the beauty of this country!

Mountain house sunflowers iron sculpture Haiti — Girasole, up in the mountains

stone house with blue shutters and two deck chairs — Girasole, up in the mountains

In early February, all of the international teachers traveled to Jacmel for Carnival weekend. We went on an amazing hike to a waterfall called Bassin Bleu. The next day we watched the carnival itself, a Mardi Grad celebration full of dancers, papier- mâché animals, colorful paintings, and more. It is truly something you have to see for yourself to understand in all its glory.

girl in front of waterfall at Bassin Bleu Haiti near Jacmel — Deah at Bassin Bleu

Tom and Sue on the beach near Jacmel Haiti — Deah at Bassin Bleu

yellow and black hat ladies dancing at jacmel carnival haiti — Dancing ladies at Carnival

little boy in tiger costume haiti jacmel carnival — Dancing ladies at Carnival

I’ll be updating this blog frequently over the next two years as I live and teach in Haiti. Click the “follow” button below to follow along and find out more about my adventures in Haiti- and beyond!