Out on the Town

Today K, J, and A1 went on a tour around Port-au-Prince. So far we have seen very little of the city, so it was a fun adventure to go outside of our fairly small loop of home, work, and school. We visited a number of Port-au-Prince's historic sites- the Iron Market, the Neg Marron statue and the Eternal Flame, and Haiti's National Museum.

We also visited a craft workshop (Papillon Enterprises) where Haitians are creating a variety of crafts (jewelry, ceramics, metal work, etc) in order to support their children and keep them out of "poverty orphanages". This is when families choose to put their children in orphanages, even though their parents are living, because the family cannot provide for their basic sustenance.

Here are some of our first photos of PaP, a scene-setter for stories to come.

An employee of Papillon Enterprises prepares clay to throw a mug or a bowl. The crafts sold here are beautiful, seem to be of good quality, and have the the unbeatable attraction of putting your $ to a good cause.

The exterior of the Iron Market, originally built to be a train station in Cairo but brought to Haiti in 1889 when that deal fell through. Somehow that happened. The Iron Market was the first building to be rebuilt after the 2010 earthquake, thanks to the largesse of Dennis O'Brien the owner of Digicel, the Irish telecom provider that dominates the market in Haiti.

Inside the market, a chaos of stalls and crowds of people.

This vendor made for a great photo, lounging casually amongst her wares, which largely included essential oils, things for shrines, and voudou supplies.

Um, voudou stuff is super creepy. There are a lot of dirty, sometimes disfigured dolls involved. And horns and hair. I saw a tourist bargaining for some kind of creepy screaming skull. No thanks.

PaP, from the top of the market. This is looking out to the port, and you can see a glimpse of water. PaP, while being a city on the sea, does not have any obvious access to the water that laps at its shores, largely because the water is literally a cesspool.

Looking into downtown, seeing just a few remnants of the earthquake's destruction. Many of the sites of our tour were former buildings of importance, now empty lots or mere foundations.

Neg Marron, Haiti's pride. This statue symbolizes a freed slave, Haiti's long (some might say ongoing) fight for independence, and so many things in Haitian history that I won't try to do justice here.

The Neg Marron statue, and the eternal flame monument to the right. Aristide had the eternal flame built to celebrate Haiti's bicentennial in 2004 (Haiti won its independence from France in 1804). Arisitide was ousted/fell from power in 2004 and the flame has never been lit.