Haiti 2012: Port-Au-Prince and Leogone

[dogsdayindurham]

One of the guest house dogs (Mary Ann) sneaking up on a guest bed. Caught her the morning we left. It was the first time I had stayed at this particular guest house in PaP. It usually filled with travelers coming and leaving PaP. Pretty nice but a little chaoticly run. An 80 year old nun had been running the place, but recently retired.

One of a couple of cats that help keep the mice at bay at the compound we work at near Cite Soleil.

I really love the food in Haiti.

Ice cold prestige at the Hotel Olafson.

Olafson namesake salad. Bon apetit!

Hotel Olafson's crest.

Art in Hotel Olafson.

More hotel Olafson pictures. Really quite when I was there last May.

Bar at the Olafson. Didn't get to see RAM play though.

I believe this Hotel is were the Graham Greene set his novel "The Comedians".

Really nice architectural features.

Outdoor patio at the Hotel Olafson.

Sugar cane fields near Cite Soliel. Where Barbancourt rum is made.

Walking up to Hotel Olafson.

More wonderful breakfast Haitian style.

Ketchup plus spaghetti noodles what Haitians think Americans love lol. Mangos are so good.

My favorite meal, chicken, picklese (pikliz) Haitian Spicy Coleslaw, Fried Plantains.

At Epidorf Restaurant (Ham, Fomage, Cheese Crepes!)

More coming.

 

[dogsdayindurham]

Out in Leogone. Visit one of the doctors that had worked with the past PhD student on the project. Really like the colorful uniforms of all the school kids. Not like the drab stuff we have stateside.

Leogone Women's Health Clinic.

Another shot of the gate to the Leogone clinic.

On the road to Leogone on the national highway. A very scenic drive and not too bumpy.

Fuel depot just off the coast on the National Highway on the way out to Leogone. Just pass Carrefour. We actually had to turn back that day since there was a "manifestation" and the had pulled buses to block the highway and started burning tires. Didn't break out the camera but, our Toyota Van did pretty well to get over the 10-12 inch curb to make the u-turn and get back safely to PaP.

On the outskirts of PaP heading to Leogone. Very dusty. Glad to have been in the Toyota van with AC.

Main road in PaP, stopping at a local furniture store to stock up on stuff for the Leogone guest house.

Office supply store in PaP.
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Hands holding structure near the PaP airport.
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View from the roof of the clinic that I was working at in PaP.

Another rooftop shot to the neighboring homes.

Sun set from the roof. Sometimes a nice breeze would come from the mountains, but usually a deluge of rain. At least it would keep the mosquitos at bay.

Mtns off in the distance. A really nice way to relax after being in the clinic all day. Playing casino or dominoes lol after dinner.

Supposedly if you leave bare rebarb like this your home is still in construction and you don't have to pay property tax. So everyone but the really wealthy end up doing this.

Attached 4 story school house part of the medical clinic / church. Well I believe it started as just a church, then school, and lastly the medical clinic.

One of the long term volunteers was from the States and had been waiting for his Naval Commission to start (going in via Officier route post college). He would do stair runs (4 flights) and jump rope each night to get ready for his PT.

Missing the palm trees.

Haitians like pastel colors. Church on the right and taken from the guest house 2nd floor.

Another shot of the compound I worked at.

My living quarters the first trip. We had fans, but all it did was push more humid air on my face lol.

Pulling in to the compound for the first time.

Laundry day, not mine but the neighbors.

Soccer field near the airport and the S Korean powerplant.

Some government office near the airport.

 

[dogsdayindurham]

More Hotel Olafson pictures

More Hotel Olafson pictures

RAM!

Guard dogs monitoring the bar at Hotel Olafson.

Music stage at the Hotel Olafson.

Like going back in time at the Hotel Olafson.

Garden at the Hotel Olafson.

Above the outdoor dining area at the Hotel Olafson.

Named Bungalow suites at the Hotel Olafson. After some of the most famous folks that have visited. I think there is the Mick Jagger room?

Water trucks in Haiti play ice cream music to sell water.

Picture of Toyota Van we used while in Haiti.

Ongoing construction at the compound.

Dusk picture. Wish during my first trip I had a better camera with me was using my Motorola Bionic. 2nd trip brought along a Canon SX40 superzoom. Will try and upload those pictures this weekend.

View from the clinic window. School kids heading home.

2nd floor view of the neighbors second floor from the clinic. Look mom no windows. We had to pack up our medical equipment each night just in cased it rain or through a tarp over it.

S Korean powerplant that supplies power to the textile factory near the airport.

Cows pasturing on the soccer fields while a team practices.

 

[dogsdayindurham]

Better shot of the hands holding up the world sculpture. This is from May. This past Jan it was all nicely landscaped.

More picts coming from my recent trip in May (the ones w/o land cruisers in them lol). Will post them up this weekend when I get a break.


Bon wit!

 

[TJK]

Excellent.

I share your enthusiasm for Haitian food.

Too bad you didn't hear RAM play. Even better is to meet Richard. He's an immensely interesting guy.

Thanks for posting.

TJK

 

[dogsdayindurham]

Little Wayne Tap Tap, from this past trip in May. Pretty awesome.

Beer selection at one of the nicer grocery stores in PaP.

Side of the church and outlines for some further expansion.

Rental AVIS 70 Series TLC at the guest house in PaP we were staying it. A team of 4-5 priests and lay folks were out doing religious ministry and health outreach. They were training folks and giving them these neat chlorine generating water treatment units powered with sealed lead acid batteries.

Cows on the road. A 70 series Doctors Without Borders in the distance.

Outskirts of Cite Soleil

Potable Water Storage containers. A lot of solar panels where folks could afford it and huge banks of deep cycle batteries. So folks use these to store water on the roofs or upper levels for household usage. When there is power, the pumps fill up the tanks so the house system is pressurized. I didn't mind the cold morning showers, help with the heat.

More Cite Soleil.

One of the many markets.

School bus tap tap. Probably my favorite kind. The Obama buses are pretty cool. They are the more modern Greyhound style surplus buses.

Some minor flooding when it rains.

House in Leogone being rebuilt.

Solar AGM Battery Bank.

Neat art.

Helping pick up another team at the airport.

Rainstorm on the rooftop.

Big rain drops.

 

[dogsdayindurham]

Roadside Haitian Art

Neat house near the guest house.

Prestige advertisement

Batteries are in high demand, a lot of shops.

Haitian Police. The Hilux / Nissan variant are the most common. But they are really abused. Some of the big wigs drive Landcruisers, and lower ranking officers have 4runners.

70 Series with the built in roof ladders.

Looks like a Landrover but it's actually a Daewoo I think.

Paint store, again love the pastel colors.

CompHaiti! I wonder if they are part of the same chain as CompUSA.

Canadian Embassy.

 

[dogsdayindurham]

More tomorrow night.

 

[onemanarmy]

Great pics...thanks for sharing

 

[00greenwj]

Humvee's don't have solid axles w/ leaf springs, are those "bummers" (ie.. replica hummer kits)?

 

[ca18_sean]

At the airport in PaP, UN used a lot of non tracked vehicles. HUMVEEs were popular.

Humvee's don't have solid axles w/ leaf springs, are those "bummers" (ie.. replica hummer kits)?

The truck he mislabeled a HMMWV was actually a Brazilian truck called an Agrale Marruá. It's not a hummer replica kit.

dogsdayindurham, great pictures! Thank you for sharing. The food looks delicious!

 

[dogsdayindurham]

The truck he mislabeled a HMMWV was actually a Brazilian truck called an Agrale Marruá. It's not a hummer replica kit.

dogsdayindurham, great pictures! Thank you for sharing. The food looks delicious!

That would make sense, since there were quite a contingent of Brazilian UN troops. It's a big opportunity for Haitians that are able to speak Portuguese to work as translators for the UN troops. My last trip in Jan. I saw some S Korean, Japanese, Chilean, and Brazilians.

 

[Douglas S.]

Some of the Japanese "Humvees" could also be Megacruisers.

 

[TJK]

The Mega Cruiser was only sold in Japan. Haiti is a "tertiary market" for Toyota but I don't think that tertiary.

TJK

 

[Douglas S.]

The Mega Cruiser was only sold in Japan. Haiti is a "tertiary market" for Toyota but I don't think that tertiary.

TJK

For some reason I though he said the Japanese military was there. Disregard.