Last day

The bus ride was long – much, much too long. It was also very interesting, and there is a causal relationship between these two observations. The trip took longer than usual because it was market day in Haiti. The roads were lined with people selling all manner of things, mostly fruits and vegetables and chickens and beans – both raw and cooked. It was chaotic from the time we left the bus station, even more so than the normal throng of PaP. The vendors were seated on the ground, more or less on the road since there are no sidewalks in PaP. They were so close together that their elbows bumped as they worked, rubbing lemons over chickens or stirring bubbling pots of mystery meat. Fruits were stacked neatly into piles on top of blankets that were scarcely less filthy than the street. The suicidal current of PaP traffic surged only centimeters away. And in the midst of it all, peacekeepers kept watch from the hatch of their armoured personnel carrier – blue polyps extending out from the coral, ready to snap back inside at the first sign of threat.

The border was a mess. I’ll just stress myself out if I try to describe it. Then the DR, and suddenly everything changed. You don’t appreciate the full extent of the deforestation in Haiti until you’ve seen the Dominican countryside. Green, pastoral, beautiful. And there are towns, actual planned municipalities, with houses and lawns and sidewalks and smoothly paved roads. Even the people look different, a completely distinct ethnic group. The change is as abrupt and stark as I had imagined. There is still poverty – grinding – but the lawless desperation of Haiti is left behind. If there’s one word to describe the difference between the two sides of the island, it’s governance.

Anyway, I’m actually supposed to be working here. So no more for today, and no more for this trip. Perhaps I’ll have some parting thoughts after I return home. Or maybe not. Either way, a really interesting trip, which I’m glad I got a chance to document.