RE: “Have a close friend whose husband is in the foreign service and he got assigned to Haiti for a bit. My friend lasted exactly two weeks with the kids. She said it was so evil there, she could feel it in the air and in every cell in her body. She came back home and they met again after his tour of duty was done. She’s been everywhere and no place freaked her out like Haiti.”
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I hear that! Cannot imagine having to live there for even one day.
Was on a big cruise ship a few years ago - they lease a peninsula of Haiti called Labadee and local ‘workers’ are imported into the area via tiny boats when the ships dock there.
It’s pretty, with nice beaches, but there are armed guards around the perimeter, and vendors at the craft/art ‘shops’ within that tiny border are very pushy and intimidating. It can be frightening, no doubt about it.
The crew from the ships comes ashore with all the supplies for a big lunch for the passengers who choose to go ashore for beaches, banana boat and other beach activities for the day.
I did it once, but that was enough — I would avoid any itinerary that included Haiti now — it is the poorest of the poor, believe me.
I did it once, but that was enough — I would avoid any itinerary that included Haiti now — it is the poorest of the poor, believe me.
Which happens to match the spiritually darkest of the dark.
My wife and I did Labadee with Royal Carribean. Nice enough, I suppose, but it was pointed out that Labadee was essentially privately owned, and definitely NOT the real Haiti.
Some folks who did the shopping thing said the same thing about the merchants—pushy and intimidating.