For the road quality in the rainy season, I'll tell in a few weeks, it's going to start to rain here soon. As for my purpose here in Haiti, I oversee/supervise road works. it's a government grant from ACDI and BID. The works started before the quake, so we have nothing to do with disaster work. It's funny because 95% of Americans I encounter here are missionary! I don't mingle with them too much, they never stay too long anyways! As for the situation here, I try really hard to show another side of Haiti, it would be too easy to take pictures of all the stuff that is wrong with Haiti, but i'll leave that to FOX news and co.
Funny the missionaries. Only met one "American" way back then. He had left the US West Coast somewhere on a very small sailboat loaded with used shoes for Haiti. His plan was to go across the Panama canal and deliver them there,and that in the winter.:eek1 By the time we picked him up he had been blown way off course in a nasty storm up to the West Coast of Vancouver Island after his engine died. When we got there he was getting dangeroulsy close from the rocks.:eek1 We always tought the shoes,not faith,kept him afloat....! Thanks for the memories !.....Some of us won't watch FOX news.
Thanks for that. Always good to see the best side of a country. Looking at the dry road, and thinking about what it will be like wet. I would think serious off road knobs would be in order!
So, I haven't posted here in a long time, here's my excuse 2 cases of malaria 1 trip back home 1 case of sever diarrhea... it's not like i've done alot of riding in the last 3 months. The reasons I don't do much riding is because when you get where ever you are going, their is nothing to do there, can't a buy a beer or some food, so it makes riding long distances not so interesting. The only place I found where you can show up and find hotels and restaurants and stores to buy some beer and stuff is Port Salut. so these are the last 3 trips I did Abricots Corail Coastal Road
Not much to say about Abricots, in this trip we were looking for a way to get to Dame-Marie by the coast, but when we got to Abricots, all we found was a deep river and a cliff on the other side. We parked the bikes and cross the river by foot and went hiking on the other side to see if we could find a way to cross with the bikes. Unfortunately doesn't look possible. In a few weeks we will see if we can find an other way... some pics my riding buddy me view of the bay of Abricots Pirates with their booty (coal) The place is called Abricots, but really it should be called Mango... they have thousand of mango trees there, and it was the season too...
so... i replaced the sound of those skeeky brakes with some Kompa enjoy <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l5WeMi65yIk?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Thanks for the post, I've been eager to see some more photos from you and your trip over there as the island interests me very much. Is the lack of hotels and places to eat/drink a result of the earthquake or merely their lack of infrastructure?
Thanks, more pics coming, I just ave to edit my next video and upload it. So for your question. Noting bad in this country is a direct result of the earthquake. Not to say that the earthquake didn't have a negative impact on the country... but to be the reason why shit is fuck up here, no! Maybe I should start a rant in jo momma or something to tell things as I see them after 8 months... won't be nice
I was in Haiti in 1994. Looks a LOT nicer than when I was there. My ride was a High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle aka HMMWV, aka Humvee, or simply Hummer. And it was definitely an ATGATT kinda place at that time. Different kinda ATGATT but I never left home without my helmet, kevlar "riding vest," boots, and automatic rifle :) Seriously, is it SAFE to ride there? People are so poor I they are desperate for anything of value. Or that's how is WAS when I was there. If it is safe - maybe the government should put a "Director of Adventure Riding" in the interior or tourism department and make some maps of good routes and then start advertising for ADV riders to visit! Did I mention it is HOT and HUMID there - unless it's raining then it HOT and WET :) J
I am as far away as possible from port au prince in the country as possible. I don't find it dangerous. I just find it annoying that the first thing people say to you is to ask for money... it gets old really fast and makes me not want to stop for pics when people are around sa
So... i'm 1 month in to a trip from Canada to Argentina and I don't feel right to start my new RR (which i probably won't finish) without finishing this one! so here are my last pictures of haiti.
Corail is a little town in the department of Grand"Anse, there are two roads to get there and none of them patrolled by the UN. it also has the biggest port i've seen for a town of about 1000... later i found out that the region is controlled by Guy Philippe http://www.justice.gov/dea/fugitives/mia/EC072DAE-68BF-4268-A267-FE61993DFDE8.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Philippe no biggy for us, we just ride bikes. dirt twistys enjoying local beer people capsize boats to fix them
this was my last "big" ride on the island befor i left. it was a two day ride with a stop over in Port Salut. It was almost all done off road along the coast and was one of my best rides. A communication error prior to leaving made in sort that i took a wrong turn and took the long way round to Port Salut unlike my two companions who took the short paved road. I'm really happy I took the other road, but i times i thought i would be spending the night on a deserted beach! Sounds good, just not in Haiti. their is a road trough there, I swear! restaurant and hotel for the night... where my friends waited for my arrival! next morning, same old shit.... more coastal roads A church in one of the few towns we crossed Back to more coast and beaches and then mountains aong the coast most of the last kms along the coast where going from sea level up to 1000m back to sea level in just a few km. the climbs where really steep, made for some interesting ridding.