Day 13: Explorations...

Busy weekend!! I love having other groups here so I can latch on with their fun excursions. Between a busy exploration weekend and this nice cold that I caught, I haven't been able to write til today!

I completely forgot to mention that on Thursday night I went to the Irish Embassy! That's right - there's an Irish Embassy in downtown Haiti. Not only that, but they have a pub on the 1st floor that was giving away free Guinness. Nothing like drinking a Guinness and singing along to "Wild Rover" with a bunch of crazy Irishmen and confused Haitians!

blurry embassy sign - too funny!

i felt right at home   :)

Saturday (day 11) we woke up early and I tagged along with the team from Utah/Boston to do some sightseeing! First stop was the Haitian History Museum! Learned all about how Haiti came to be, saw some cool artifacts (including the anchor of the Santa Maria!) and even had the power go out while we were in the darkest part of the exhibit! Okay, so that last part wasn't too fun but still...

cool museum entrance

woo!

From there, we headed to a different section of Port-Au-Prince where they had what's called the Artisan co-op. It's a big 2 story building full of crafts made by local Haitian artists, like hand-woven baskets, jewelry, and bowls. As soon as we got out of the car, we had people begging and trying to sell us different paintings or crafts. I ended up buying some greeting cards made from banana leaves from a man with no shoes and no teeth. They were beautiful and he was very grateful!

 

 

 

small section of the co-op

After all of that exploring and shopping we were ready for some lunch. The two women with us from Utah have been to Haiti 15+ times, and they recommended the Hotel Oloffson. It was built in the late 1800's and was considered the place to stay for actors and singers during the 1930's - 1960's. We had delicious avocado club sandwiches and wandered around the hotel a bit.

beautiful entrance to the Oloffson

cool article about the hotel from the 30's - rooms were $4 a night!

really cool room where their house band "RAM" plays every Thursday night

 

the woodwork was beautiful!

view from the open-air porch where we had lunch!

After lunch we had to pick up a couple of ASL instructors from their school in downtown Port-Au-Prince. It was the first time I'd really been able to see or take pictures of the downtown area since I got here. One thing that I found out is that many Haitian people do NOT like to have their picture taken, so most of my pictures are of the scenery. It's really devastating to look at, because you can tell that downtown must have been a beautiful and thriving place before the earthquake.

downtown near St. Vincent's school

the "unknown maroon" or "Maroon inconnu"

 That statue basically symbolizes the Haitian people's struggle for independence. Maroons were runaway slaves in Haiti that formed independent settlements together.

one of the center squares downtown

most people sit on the sidewalks and try to sell their goods

example of housing downtown - a lot of people will leave room on their houses to build up once their children start having families, so they all can remain in one area

sad remains of the palace

Sunday (day 12) we woke up early again and decided to take a little field trip to a small town called Croix-des-Bouquets, which is about an hour from where we're staying in Port-Au-Prince. There's a metal village there, where people make beautiful metal art and sell it right from their homes. It's a very impoverished area and there were a lot of children begging us to come see their shops. After seeing about 30+ shops we decided to call it a day. We went back to the palace area and were just starting to walk around and look at some of the statues, when a truck full of about 30 UN police in full riot gear pulled up. The manifestations that we had heard rumors about were starting to take place, so we decided that getting lunch was a much better idea! After lunch we spent the rest of the day swimming at the guest house. Here are some more pictures from Croix-des-Bouquets and Port-Au-Prince...
 

on the way to Croix-des-Bouquets

one of the tent cities still left from the earthquake (I think it was Wyclef Jean's?)

women carrying buckets of water

tap tap! their crazy public transportation system - basically a truck where people sit in the bed

another tap tap!

another tent city closer to downtown

remains of what used to be a beautiful episcopal cathedral

closer view of the palace remains

SO many houses...

Phew! That's all for now - back to clinic!

xoxo