Travels with Jims

Travels With Jims

In the three months I’ve been here I have only traveled off base on weekends once to view the countryside.  I have traveled quite a bit between base and Port au Prince with the rubble team, but not the other direction.  Jim and Jim were taking a short sightseeing trip to the west of the base this morning and invited me to come.  Since I am leaving soon I thought I had better take advantage of the offer.

The three of us left around 9:30 this morning, a Saturday, and headed west.  Within a mile of the base I already could see a small difference in the scenery.  The houses were spaced further apart from one another since it became more of a rural countryside.  They were also further off of the road, instead of right next to it.  Foliage seemed more tropical than the other direction as there were fewer people crowding it out.  Palm and coconut trees and sugar cane seemed to dominate.  Amounts of trash also declined but, then, seemed to pick up again as we approached villages.

The first little town we came to was crowded with people shopping at what must be the farmers market.  As we crossed the road bridge at the edge of town I noticed a few dozen horses and donkeys standing untethered in the creek bed.  Immediately across the bridge were scores of wooden booths full of sugar cane, grain and fruit, like bunches of green bananas or bushels of mangos.  Other individual vendors had small spots scattered on the ground that were stuffed with their wares; onions, green peppers, bags of corn or hobbled chickens.  The market extended for two or three hundred yards to the west as we slowly picked our way through the traffic and people.

Once outside of town the countryside again returned, the trash lessened and the scattered houses returned to more of a tranquil landscape.  I was impressed by the number of low mountains in the distance to the south but also eyed the treeless, lower mountains hiding the ocean to our north.  It reminded me of southern California in the barrenness of the hills; absolutely no trees, sparsely spaced coarse vegetation, and multiple erosion gullies.  It was stark contrast between the lush tropical vegetation along the flat areas to the south of the road and the harsh reality of deforestation to the north.

The road gently climbed until it leveled out above a beautiful, long and wide valley that we could see extending a number of miles towards the higher mountains.  Ahead of us the road rounded a curve and started to descend a long grade towards another village next to a large lake.  Once again we passed through a smaller marketplace and exited the town.  The road passed through the backwaters of the lake across a narrow land causeway.  On either side the Haitians were doing laundry, washing their vehicles, taking baths or just loitering.  The water nearby seemed rather dirty but the lake was rather large and provided a nice vista across the blue waters to the distant shore some kilometers away. 

The western road provided a different viewpoint of Haiti for me.  This drive had moments of delightful scenery, coconut and palm groves, rugged mountains, sugarcane fields and what I would consider a fairly tidy rural setting in comparison to the outright neglect of Port au Prince.  Some houses were painted and well kept and, one small town in particular, seemed to actually care about cleaning up their trash.  The road had a center line that was painted and had some repairs in progress .  It was fairly well paved and had only a few spots where it was neglected. 

On the return drive Jim took a side road down to a small restaurant visited frequently by the NGO’s.  It had a narrow beach with white coral sand and coconut palms.  We walked a little on the beach so as to inspect some lobster some fishermen had just brought in.  One spiny lobster was probably a four pounder and would have made a great dinner.  Another Haitian had his artsy wares spread out on the beach and insisted on us looking them over.  A quick glance didn’t reveal any Rembrandts.  We meandered up to the restaurant and I bought my fellow travelers a Coke.  We sat around a table underneath an outdoor tent, drank our sodas, watched the ocean and visited a little.  It was fun.

I was glad I went out again before I left the country.  It gave somewhat of a different perspective of Haiti for me.  Yes, I still saw many hands out looking for money, but I also saw a thriving economy of business in the market places.  It reminded somewhat of the little festivals back in Indiana where buyers and sellers come together, not just to practice commerce, but also to shake hands, visit and catch up on community events. 

At least in this section of the country, all seemed normal in Haiti.