As I said, I was Selmen turist en Haiti

Then I took the Bis to Cap Haitien.

The bus trip was a good one. I would guess that there were about 80 people inside the bus. It was a fairly new School bus, but with 7 people across each aisle [designed for 4 children] it gets a bit tight. The road out of Port au Prince is the worst part of any trip. The pavement was once concrete, but is now broken into discrete chunks, widely separated by huge potholes. Where the roadway is not taken over by merchants, it is widened to about 100 feet by vehicles swerving to avoid the potholes.

Once out of the city the road is decent two lane blacktop, along to coast through Sant Marc to Gonaive. After Gonaive come the mountain range separating the Plain du Nord from the center of the country. Up in the mountains there are little settlements, with people farming the most incredible slopes.

This trip was on May 1, 1997. Labor Day! One fairly large settlement that we passed thru was having a march, a demonstration. The crowd filled the highway, chanting and blowing and banging on long horns. I later learned that these are traditional rah rah horns, part of voudou tradition.

In one of the small settlements the bus attracted 3 or 4 children who latched themselves onto the side of the bus, sticking their hands inside begging. This was not for my benefit as I was the only foreigner on board, being the only tourist in Haiti.

The fare for a 6 hour bus ride was 15 Haitian dollars, about $5 US. All of the ground transport fares were very low, I don't understand how it pays for itself.

Cap Haitien, and a Fugee boat hulk

Cap Haitien was a great relief after Port au Prince.

I spent a week in Okap, at the Park Hotel out by the airport, and at Hotel Universel downtown. The Park had a bunch of Haitian Americans doing business there, and lots of the young people learning english. So, it was a good place to study my 'survival creole' book.

The marchand's sweep the streets and sidewalks and a city truck actually comes to pick it up. Gardeners are busy maintaining the town square. The water front is being rebuilt, with a new breakwater and new road. Unfortunately the city budget is probably all aid money, I realize just now as I am writing this.

There is a fairly famous luxury hotel in Cap Haitien called Roi Christophe. I ate breakfast there a few times and had drinks at the bar. Not many people are staying there, but it is a pleasant place to go hang out. I heard that the rate there is about $35 US a day, not a bad price but beyond my chosen range. I spoke with an american there one morning, while I was having breakfast with Rosalou.

The salesman had a midwestern accent, and turned out to be trying to sell chickens. It turns out that almost(?) all of the chickens served in restaurants are imported from the Dominican Republic. In Cap Haitien, even the ice is imported. The commercial infrastructure in Haiti has pretty well disintegrated following the Duvalier years and the US embargo after the coup by renegade CIA agents. A chicken farm seems like a sensible investment.

Another hotel downtown is the Jardin des Oceans. It is owned by a French couple who have been in Cap Haitien for 3 years or so. Unfortunately, they speak no english and [strangely] have learned no Kreyol in that time. It is a beautiful old building and the cooking is quite good, tho expensive. Dinner for two there was about $30 US. Most of the guests there are from France, but I didn't see them walking anywhere.

name: tcap0.html
created: 27 Jun 1997,
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