Bonjou & thanks for visiting my blog : )
View of Port-au-Prince from the plane
I will be sharing my adventures, misadventures, learnings, tastes, kreyol vocabulary, thoughts and photos here as I begin my life in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
For those who do not know, I live with Stéphane, my boyfriend, and his father, Jean-Max. We have a maid, her name is Yaya. This is something I have never experience before, but more on maid service in Haiti later.
So far, so very good, one week in. However, the most major drawback is the incredible amount of mosquito bites I have acquired. I am not exaggerating in the least when I say it looks like someone lost minesweeper on my legs. The count is somewhere around 70 I believe (too sad to count now). BUT! I have been told by many that I am particularly scrumptious to the moustik (mosquitoes) because I am fresh blood. So let us hope that as I absorb the smells of PaP and begin to sweat out a more Haitian diet I will be rid of these pesky bastards. (DEET is helpful but amazingly not as much as one hopes from something with a so many warnings on the bottle)
On to happier and more enjoyable findings. A list of some deliciousnesses I enjoy:
Avocados – perfectly ripe, almost daily
Spiced peanut butter – called Manba, barely spicy, fresh
Haitian ketchup, “La Famosa” – fresher and as Stéphane put it, maybe not the best in the world but better than Heinz
Kafe (espresso) - with just a little sugar, preferred brand REBO
Griyo - fried pork
Fritay Party - fried food party! more on this and griyo later
I am hesitant to write too much on what I have come to find so far as I am sure that my knowledge on all subjects will be constantly updated. So to start, some facts: Port-au-Prince is a city of roughly 3 million, it is the capital of Haiti, the country’s international airport where I arrived, Toussaint Louverture, is located here. The roosters wake up at roughly 5:30 every morning, there are many of them by our house. It has rained almost every day in the evening since I arrived which I am told is a little unusual for this time of year. The average daytime temperature is 80s, little muggy, partly sunny – sunny. The roads are in pretty bad shape and there are few lights. Driving is an entirely different game. The good news is because the roads are so bad no one drives all that fast, but it’s an odd conglomeration of just watch out for yourself and being mindful of the whims of the other drivers and buses.
Although it is a concrete jungle there are plenty of trees and plants that are foreign to me as city-living plants. We have a banana tree, almond tree, and bamboo in our garden. The neighbors have an avocado tree that thankfully drops some goodies in our yard occasionally ; )
UPDATE: Monday, Stéphane actually showed me more stock at our place – a cherry tree, mango tree, and lime tree (we actually picked a lime and used it in a bloody mary, yumm).
I will provide tons of photo documentation of many of the aforementioned findings in the coming weeks. But for now I leave you with a typical 5pm view from the back of Stéphane and Max’s printing company, Jonto S.A.
