Deadliest Roads - Haiti

Deadliest Roads - Haiti

10 things you should know about Haiti

10. The anchor of Christopher Columbus's largest ship, the Santa Maria is on permanent exhibit at the Musée du Panthéon National Haitien (MUPANAH), in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-prince.

9. Haiti is the only state in history that had a successful slave uprising. It threw off the shackles of slavery in 1804. On January 1, 1804, Haiti was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, to abolish slavery.

8. A long history of oppression by dictators such as that megalomaniac Duvalier aka Baby Doc and his son bled the nation dry. Since the end of the Duvalier era, Haiti has been transitioning to a democratic system. Natural Disasters like hurricanes and the 2010 earthquake are making it hard. But Haitians persevere. They don’t give up.

7. Haitians have a voodoo thing going. They believe in zombies and a folkloric creature called lougarou, described as a blood sucking hag. Disguises itself as a hag and can change into a fireball. Sounds pretty cool to me as long as she/it leaves me alone.

6. Since the 18th century (amazing) there has been a sustained effort to write in Haitian Creole. The recognition of Creole as an official language has led to an expansion of novels, poems, and plays in Creole.

5. Haiti has always been a literary nation that has produced poetry, novels, and plays of international recognition.

4. The two official languages of Haiti are French and Haitian Creole.

3. Here’s where we come in: Tap Tap buses are colorfully painted buses or pick-up trucks that serve as share taxis. The "tap tap" name comes from the sound of passengers tapping on the metal bus body to indicate they want off. These vehicles for hire are often privately owned and extensively decorated. They follow fixed routes, do not leave until filled with passengers, and riders can usually disembark at any point. The decorations are a typically Haitian form of art. Mileage these bus motors get: no less than 1 million but the goal is to squeeze 2 million out of them. Now if that isn’t efficient, I don’t know what is.

2. The tourism market in Haiti is undeveloped and the government is trying to remedy the situation by investing heavily. Haiti has many of the features that attract tourists to other Caribbean destinations; pristine white beaches, mountainous scenery and a year-round warm climate, however the country's poor image overseas, at times exaggerated, has hampered the development.

1. Haiti is worth a visit and wants and needs tourist to come. It gets a bad rap from the media. Potential travelers should stop by. They have nice hotels and gorgeous beaches and cultures and art and music. Island of the damned be damned > their love for life is infectious. Put it on your list. Post pandemic obviously unless you own a plane and/or yacht ⛵️ then you can head out now.