Haiti
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This is what you're confronted with when you first enter Haiti. There are virtually no tourists or tourist infrastructure and as an obvious white guy I had a big target on my back.
The pool from our hotel, we went for a very long swim to relax after riding horses all day
A Haitian creole dinner. It shares similarities with Dominican food, but is spicier.
A tank driving down the street. We saw UN military patrols constantly, usually in SUV's
Lots of haitian art for sale - they are a very artistic people
Many people live along the way to get to the castle - and for many people it was laundry day
A view of La Citadel
An original cannon, pointed to defend against the French to ensure Haiti maintained its independence
Massive stocks of cannonballs ready for use
La citadel is a castle built between 1805-1820 to defend against the french. It is still fully stocked with cannons and canonballs
This is a very typical street in Cap Haitian
On Sunday morning we went to a private cruise ship tourism beach; Labadie. It is closed 4 days of the week for US cruise ships; we went on one of the days haitians are allowed in. Tourists are not allowed to leave the area and haitians are not allowed in
Inside Labadie beach is clean and organized, just like Disneyland. Everything is in english. Its a dramatic contrast from the poverty outside and took some getting used to.
The beach is very nice. We met some Chilean UN peacekeepers; very friendly guys. I suspect they're not used to many foreigners at the moment.
Haiti is not safe right now so I organized 2 guides. These are big guys with the right connections, local knowledge and speak creole. Our intrepid Haiti exploration team. L-R : Demel, me, Demel's cousin and Carlos. Demel and his cousin are residents of Cap Hatian, Carlos is a policeman living in a Dominican border town.
A bus for travelling home. The boy in the picture is holding a cordless telephone which functions as a phonebooth - you pay him to make calls around the country.
Uh oh! When we got back to the DR - Haiti border, it was closed early!! What to do? Spend the night in the small, not very safe border town?
Like good immigrants, we crossed the river to get back into the DR since the border was closed! Carlos my guide is being carried here, I was carried across just before him. The haitian guy is strong - Carlos weighs 250lb!
You can read more about the trip, including see additional photos here: http://www.adrianbye.com/2008/08/27/how-i-safely-visited-haiti/