Haiti

Visited: February 2016

Duration of visit: 7 days

Capital city: Port-au-Prince

Population: 10.8 million (2016)

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

• Celebrating the Carnival in Port-au-Prince and papier-mâché carnival masks of Jacmel.
• Wandering around the streets at Port-au-Prince – observing a misery of the capital city that is still much affected by consequences of an earthquake in 2011.
• Trying to understand why Haiti has been so damned to turn out into the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, after being so successful in becoming the second independent country on the continent.
• Climbing the largest fortress in the Americas – Citadelle Laferrière.

Haiti is probably one of the most unique countries in the Western Hemisphere. Besides being the poorest country in Americas, the chaos, insecurity and never-ending recovery from a devastating hurricane and even bigger natural disaster occurred in January 2010 (an earthquake), it is a real challenge to travel around.

Each year, nearly a million tourists visit Haiti by cruise ship and stay at Labadee, a private resort on the northern coast of Haiti. Nevertheless, I haven’t seen a single tourist or backpacker during one week stay in February 2016. I couldn’t notice any benefits for locals from tourism.

Why is Haiti the poorest country outside of Africa? It shouldn’t have been like this.

Christopher Columbus was the first European to explore Haiti in 1492.

The country was the biggest producer of sugar and cotton in 18^th century, and became the richest French colony that provided 20% of revenue for the colonizer. The best wood was cut to be shipped to France, where furniture was produced.

Black slaves of Haiti upraised against Napoleon army and proclaimed the first black – slave’s country in the world in 1804. Haiti became the world’s first black-led republic after it threw off French colonial control and slavery in the early 19^th century and the second independent country in America, after the USA. Later, Haiti supported Simon Bolivar in liberation of Spanish colonies in South America.

From then on, everything has gone wrong. The United States didn’t recognize Haiti for 50 years and occupied it in the early 20^th century. France army came back and asked Haiti for compensation in order to not attack them. Haiti was paying France compensation for almost 100 years, which would total 22 billion US$ in today’s money (2016).

Haiti was under the US embargo most of the time and cut off from the International World, especially because of the American and French interests.

Since most of the trees were cut, half of the territory is converted to useless land – almost desert. Zero money has been invested in education and infrastructure. More than 50% of population cannot read.

The US has been influencing local politics, imposing stupid economic changes, forcing open market economy and supporting corrupt local politicians and generals.

Following a catastrophic hurricane, an even more significant natural disaster struck in January 2010: an earthquake. It had only 7.0M magnitude, but due to the poor infrastructure and diseases, more than 250,000 people died. When a similar earthquake had happened in San Francisco less than 100 people died!!!

Are there any coincidences or Haiti was just punished for being so successful at the beginning of its development?

I settled down in a Tropical Bed & Breakfast Guesthouse in Port-au-Prince. Nothing luxurious, but ridiculous price at 43.00US$ per night. There is currently no budget scene for backpackers in Port-au-Prince, nor in other areas around the country. The owner was nice. I met some voluntaries, who invited me to a great BBQ party at night.

Port-au-Prince is not a typical capital where you could visit attractions, markets, museums, parks or other landmarks. The best approach is to just wander around the city with open eyes, being it on a public transport, walking or in a taxi. Public transport is confusing, but I managed to find the connection to the area of Iron market.

Historical buildings and the surrounding streets were strongly damaged and practically destroyed in the 2010 earthquake and additionally affected with fires that happen every few years.

The whole neighborhood looks like a war zone; many buildings are still destroyed, so much garbage on every corner.

Several informal street vendors sell stuff that would be pretty much thrown away in any other country. Museums, governmental buildings and churches have been completely destroyed or are still partially or not rebuilt at all. Old electrical appliances, clothes or kitchen utensils that were dumped in other countries, are still repaired, fixed or recovered around here.

Haiti is really poor. I had visited almost all other countries on the continent by now, but Haiti is as poor as the most impoverished parts of West Africa. Haiti is the poorest country in the western world, when measured by GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP). I can feel the poverty, mixed with natural disasters and lack of useful international help on every corner. It is obvious that the government doesn’t perform efficiently, nor honestly, but that’s not an exception from others in Latin America.

I never felt really safe in Port-au-Prince and I had problems understanding locals, since the official languages are Creole and French. Haiti and Canada are the only countries in the Americas with French as an official language. Strong and dark-skinned Haitians can be quite rude sometimes, which is an understandable consequence of the harsh life that has been a result of disasters every now and then.

Even though my hygiene requirements are usually not very high while travelling, I couldn’t simply stop at a food stall and have a snack or eat lunch. It is not easy to find decent food or a restaurant in Port-au-Prince these days.

The carnival is the most important event in Haiti. Port-au-Prince is the center of the celebration, which lasts over several weeks each year. After devastating earthquake, the budget dedicated for this event has been reduced, so the glamour is not at the same level as years ago. Smaller celebrations take part simultaneously also on other locations, especially in Jacmel, which is renown as the City of Light.

It took me three hours of comfortable ride to arrive to the first city in the Caribbean to have electricity back in 1925.

Probably the quality of power supply was superior almost one hundred years ago than it is today, when power outages are common, unpredictable and part of everyday life.

Jacmel was also heavily damaged by the earthquake in 2010: the consequences are still visible.

With some well-preserved French colonial architecture from the early nineteenth century, the city didn’t progress a good deal since then. I visited it mostly because of the reason that many of old colonial homes are now artisan shops that sell vibrant handicrafts, in particular papier-mâché masks, and carved-wood animal figures.

I stopped by at Charlotte’s art studio by coincidence. She was decorating one of her creations with colorful design in front of her house, which also serves as a workshop and art gallery at the same time. Work begins a whole year before the carnival, designing the masks that would be displayed on the stands or used by one of the dancers in the parade itself.

The paper-mâché technique is very old, originating from Asia. Improved technique combined with the carnival tradition, inherited from Europeans, reflects a real Haitian culture, rich in colors. Masks can be of any size, depicting wilder part of Haiti, with lush forests and jungles sheltering indigenous animals, as well as species that have never been seen on the island.

Many designs reflect Haiti’s deeply unique religion – Haitian Vodou. During the Carnival papier-mâché masks comes alive, as the city’s residents and fantastic costumes occupy the streets.

The carnival celebration in Port-au-Prince is similar to other carnivals in the Caribbean. It is celebrated with music, bands, parades, dance and party. I was scared to visit the main parade and celebration by myself due to insecurity warning, so I talked to the hotel owner for some advices.

She offered me his son James to accompany me, show me around and especially take care of me, since there are not many foreigners around and I would stand out immediately. There was also a fellow Korean volunteer Cho, who was willing to join us in this unique experience.

We left all our valuables in the guesthouse and approached the main avenue in downtown by car. The central stage was on Rue de Republique, nearby Bicentennial Monument, which survived the earthquake almost undamaged. Musicians performing zouk and kreyòl rap could be heard from far away. Carnival festivities contains rum-fueled parties, imaginative costumes and high-energy dance music. The beat of traditional “ra-ra” bands and rollicking carnival songs, known as meringues, pulse through the downtown.

Carnival in Haiti has always offered release, with participants mingling across class lines and acts alluding to political issues of the time.

The route is filled with trucks blaring kompa music and people of all ages dancing alongside them. Street vendors hawk rum, party masks and barbequed food.

On the parade day, costumed dancers march down the city’s main avenue: drummers who made their skin glisten with oil and crushed charcoal, dancing girls clad in matching outfits and bright head wraps, shirtless men with intricately painted faces and chests.

The scene could look scary, the atmosphere is occasionally tense. I was happy to be accompanied by a strong man, who was proud to show his tattooed muscles to avoid being harassed. It was quite chaotic, but I enjoyed the show from a safe distance.

I flew from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitien in the north, to observe the countryside from the air and avoid a long overland ride. Haiti has suffered from mass deforestation over centuries. The country was once covered in verdant forests but land clearance for colonial plantations was followed by tree felling for charcoal. This has made the country dangerously exposed to other environmental threats, such as floods and mudslides. These days, Haiti doesn’t have any natural resources that would be valuable.

Arriving to the northern capital of tourism, as many times Cap is referred to, took me by surprise. The city looked as it was hit by recent earthquake and rainy weather made the conditions even worse. It was raining for most of the time during my stay, the streets were a mess of mud, streams and garbage that ended mostly in the elevated river Mapoe and consequently in the sea.

Since there is not much to see or admire in Cap, I decided to book a room in a more upscale Cormier Plage Resort, right on the beautiful sandy beach, 10 kilometers from the city. Two days of constant rain didn’t allow me any activities, beside short swim or walk on the beach during brief breaks between downpours. The weather was so shitty, it was really a waste of money for a luxury hotel. I was the only guests, but I couldn’t really enjoy the facilities properly.

Citadelle Laferrière – 19^th century fortress, is located one hour drive south of Cap-Haitien, with amazing views on the top of a hill, from where defensive strategy against potential French incursion in the northern area of Haiti was planned. Constructed by over 20,000 ex-slaves 900 meters above the valley, the fortress was offering Haitian forces an opportunity to strategically control the vast distance all the way to the sea.

A local guy offered me to show around the secret rooms, canyons and cannonballs that were ready for the attack that never came. The fortress was finally abandoned, but it is still a national symbol, featured on bank notes, stamps, and tourist ministry posters. It is the number one tourist attraction of the country, beside private beach in Labadee.

Haiti is the country that changed the history of the American continent, but paid an extremely high price for early and advanced development, becoming only the second independent country on the continent.

Constant exploitation, threats and abuse, together with natural disasters and diseases, brought the country to the brink of collapse, into political chaos and an unwanted tourist destination.

How ironic; Haiti shares an island with the most visited destination in the Caribbean – the Dominican Republic.

What a contrast!

The controversial status of Haiti will continue; it seems that a status quo is suitable for all parties involved, while Haitians will fight for survival on a daily basis. Tourists and backpackers will continue to prefer the Eastern part of Hispaniola island – Dominican Republic.