Comments on: How I Safely Visited Haiti

By: Connie

Connie — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:33:39 +0000

Thank you brother but my guide live in Puerta Planta and he also has hook-up with local trasportation. I want to buy supples in DR and drive them across border so a bus will not due.

Are you familiar with Puerta Planta. It looks closer to the border than Santa Domingo

By: Adrian Bye

Adrian Bye — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:40:43 +0000

cap haitian is easier than port au prince. fly into santiago in the DR,
then catch a bus up to cap haitian. if you have questions about your trip,
post them on DR1.com so you'll get fast answers.

By: Connie

Connie — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:37:41 +0000

were is au-cap? Is that a term for Cap-Haitian. I plan to go and bring some supplies via the DR in March. I could use some insight if you would. Here is my email butterfllygirl53@yahoo.com. Please contact me
Blessings
Connie

By: real zoe

real zoe — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:36:41 +0000

Man I live in au-cap as we speak, I am from the states and I wouldn’t have it no other way, we’re so tired of people like you taking our country for granted. If haiti is so bad, how come so many foreigners buying land in haiti? because yall know the there’s no property tax. Haiti is beautiful, stop with all the bad press!!!!!!!!!!

By: Haiti - Cap Haitian - August 2008 | AdrianBye.com - Random thoughts

Haiti - Cap Haitian - August 2008 | AdrianBye.com - Random thoughts — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:58:27 +0000

[...] You can read more about the trip, including see additional photos here [...]

By: rick

rick — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:56:49 +0000

I went to Haiti in 1981 from what I can see in your pics not much has changed. At least not for the good. I took 13 roles of pics and I am sure if we took the pics you have and mix them together you would think that they were taken at the same time. The only change that I saw in your pics were the tanks. That being said the time and the experance that I had in Haiti was and always will be you of the best I have ever had. I found the people (at that time) to be very warm and freindly. We flew into Porta Prince and drove for 4 hours to get to our destanation (I am not sure where we were) but it wasn’t far from the Castle Citadel. I had the opratunity to go to the market place one day and to the Castle Citadel another. Those were the highlights of my trip. The rest of my two weeks were spent working on a school we were building on our misionary trip. All in all I had the experance of a life time. It is sad that it has gotten os bad to travel there I would have like to go back sometime.

By: Mervin

Mervin — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:50:34 +0000

I went through the border from the DR in March 2009. I was with 2 Dominicans for whom I had to pay a bribe to get them into Haiti without visas. Took 2500 pesos for both. I did not pay any exit fee to the Dominicans or any entry fee to the Haitians. Once across we got a taxi ride for $100.00 each way to Cap Haitian. Wow has the road ever been rebuilt since I was on it 15 years ago. Better than any road in the DR. Stayed at the Roi Christian hotel expensive but a genuine old world hotel. That afternoon we took off over the worst road possible for an hour to get to the bottom of the mountain leading to the Edifice. $20US each way. The horses up the mountain and entry were 15 US each . 2 hours up and one hour down. Well worth the visit. The boys guiding the horses were given $20US at the bottom for their efforts. In total darkness we made our way back to the hotel and had a wonderful dinner at the hotel all in French. Not many tourists but that is understandable, given the state of the city and the costs of food and gasoline. The fortress is well worth a visit and is equal in my opinion to the pyramids of Egypt as a tourist destination. A visit to Haiti is not for the faint hearted but on the whole is a country not to be missed. Next morning was market day at the border so we just walked back into the DR without paying any exit visas or entry visas into the DR. I bought 2 bottles of the famous Bamencourt cane rum before leaving the DR for 200 pesos each. More info if needed: mcaldwell@odyssey.on.ca

By: jef

jef — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:36:44 +0000

i havent been to the cap since 03, but correspond with several still living there. it has only gotten worse in the interim years, not better. i stayed at the mont-jolie, went to the beach, etc; however, i would not recommend to any unexperienced travelers going to the cap. it is fascinating, but it IS dirty, it IS dangerous, and god help you if you are in an accident and require medical care. a place close to my heart, but the cap, and haiti generally, was not ruined by a few travelers or the US warning. it’s problems are much deeper than that oversimplification.

By: Linda

Linda — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:23:13 +0000

Thank You for the pictures. I seriously dated a Haitian man from The Cap and He often bragged how nice it was yet didn’t want to talk much about it. However, my curosity still leads me to seek pictures and stories of this mysterious land. So, thanks again for sharing.

By: Adrian Bye

Adrian Bye — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:35:27 +0000

Rachelle, thanks for your post, and I’m sorry we’re not in agreement. I wrote about Haiti as I saw it. I did get the feeling some expats would prefer I posted a white washed version of how things are – but I won’t do that.

By your IP address, you’re posting from Florida. Given your post, may I ask why don’t you live in Haiti currently?

In fact I did visit Labadee Beach, there are photos linked above. I’ll also point out that Labadee is a closed beach for tourist use only 4 days of the week due to safety concerns. We also saw UN tanks driving through Cap Haitian and there are pictures of that as well.

Per your question about middle class people – one of my guides is studying medicine at one of the top universities here in the Dominican Republic.

I’d love to see Haiti become a stronger country via tourism, but unfortunately it will take some major changes before that can happen.

By: Rachelle

Rachelle — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:00:21 +0000

People like you distroyed our economy and negate any effort to move foward. Haiti’s main source of income was tourism. I grew up in Cap-haitian and remember when life in Cap-Haitian used to be dominated by cruise ships and tourists. Political problems and mostly BAD PRESS by people such as this one distroyed any hope of getting our tourism back. I’m pretty sure there are better views of Cap-Haitian than garbage in the streets and chicken waste. Did you go to Lakay? Mont-Jolie? Vague-a-mer? Did you go to the beach around Cormier and Labadee? Did you visit any of the wonderful Catholic Schools and the students? Did you see the sun rise on the boulevard? did you climb the mountains? Eat anything good at all? Did you meet any middle class people? Professionals? I’m sure Americans know all by now of the misery and dirt in Haiti. There is a side of Haiti however that they know nothing about because People like you are more interested in negativity.

By: Adrian Bye

Adrian Bye — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:12:56 +0000

Thanks for your post Deborah!

I wouldn’t want to suggest people go out of their way to visit Haiti.. There are tanks driving down the streets and UN patrols everywhere. Thats not a symbol of a particularly safe country.

The DR is part of the same island and is 1000X safer. With that said, anytime you go someplace unfamiliar you need to stay on your toes.

Unless they are well used to high risk travel, I would suggest people wait until haiti gets safer before they visit. And when they do, they will find many amazing things to see, just like in my photos. I had an amazing time there.

Thanks again for your post.

Adrian

By: Deborah

Deborah — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:46:03 +0000

Thank you for sharing this experience. It’s unfortunate that many people are still deterred from visiting Haiti because of the US travel warning. In reality, it’s safer than most of its neighboring countries that do not have the same warning. It is, indeed, a very beautiful country.