Haiti Arrival – Port-au-Prince – First Impressions

I attended a wedding in Jacksonville Florida the weekend before my trip. Ive been thinking about this trip for a few weeks now, and today is the day. I leave (semi)beautiful Jax beach and head for the airport, and after a few easy hours of travel, full of anticipation, I land in Port-au-Prince. At first glance its gorgeous, ocean, mountain backdrop, as the plane goes lower, I see the huts built on top of each other amidst dirt roads and water, so surreal, considering just a few hours ago I flew over South Beach and star island in Miami…

Airport with the run down roofs

I moved through customs pretty quick and saw Mike, CEO of MLS waiting outside to grab me and pull me into a white Suburban. There I met our two security dudes and we were off to Neply.

My first experience is driving through PaP on the way to Neply. It was a crazy experience, the drive itself was wild, passing cars incoming lanes, motorcycles, people, dudes running up to the car and selling sodas, waters, etc. 

 Beat up Police vehicles

Market

Market - Clothes Shopping

Shops on the side of the road in the city

Beat up cars, houses, with the beach and coast line behind them

Trash everywhere

Clothes market

The housing was crazy looking with houses on top of houses, small shops and people everywhere. I have attached some pictures and video, but they will not do it justice. As crazy as this was, my immediate thought bounced between, "what did I sign up for?", "is Neply like this", "am I going to get murdered just because?" "will anyone in Haiti give a fuck?", and shock....

One of the stops we made was to check on a guy whose leg just got amputated and MLS picked up the medical bill. What should have been a simple medical procedure turned into an amputation, because, the hospitals close at 4pm and it took a number of days to get him the necessary help.

Needless to say, having seen this on TV, read about it is not quite the same as driving through, watching and experiencing and certainly leaves different impressions. On to Neply...

Haiti Prep

The company I work for supports a charity based in Neply, Haiti, called myLifeSpeaks. A few months ago, a team of 5 was picked to go and witness our dollars at work first hand…

As always, things get real a week or so before the trip. We were asked to bring a few things with us, things we take for granted. Batteries, peanut butter, Advil and so forth, things we can drive to the store and pick up on moment’s notice.

Packing up our stuff at the office

Since I will be visiting three at risk areas (Haiti, Cambodia and Chiang Mai), I needed to get vaccinated. I went to passport health, they printed out a thick book of risks associated with travel to these countries. The vaccine girl thought she hit the vaccine lottery when she saw Haiti and Cambodia, on the list to get was Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Malaria pills and incidental diarrhea pills, the list of shit I turned down was 3x as long. While the $600 sticker shock stung me, the thought that was landing was how fortunate we are to not have the risk of catching Hep A from  a street hot dog vendor (although the diarrhea pills might come into play).

Pills, sprays from bugs, lotions

While obvious, I know, this trip will change my life. I already feel like a fool when I complained about my fake mustache falling off when I wear my Halloween costume, or my uber drivers being annoying, my food taking long, weak drinks at the bar or any other first world annoyance.

I think I have to not only be grateful hitting the gene lottery and living in a developed world, but that I have the means to break out of this bubble and see the world for the way it really is…

Takeaways from Costa Rica trip

This trip was about the 3 or 4th longest international trip I've taken in my recent memory. Up to this point, I've never been outside of Europe or the US before, so a different culture, people and experience all around.

Here are some of my takeaways from this trip...

• Language - This was the first time I embraced the local language in my travels and it was awesome! It really helps you connect with the people, whose land you are visiting. Next time, I want to get a head start on the language learning, so that I can arrive in the country, ready to get better. I definitely plan on learning Spanish in the coming years.
• Colonization by Spain - its an interesting dynamic to visit the countries that were the colonized (besides from living in one). Up to this point, Ive only visited the colonizing countries. Its interesting to see those influences spread across the globe. Also interesting about the arrogance of humans: I show up to your land and then "teach you" how to live, religion, architecture, food, etc. It is pretty cool on how things fuze with the local influences to create an "influenced uniqueness"
• Ideas for future travel - Next trip I would do through Costa Rica, Isla del Coco, Corcovado National Park, and come down the pacific side. I would also bump South America and Spain up on the travel list due to the language. Want to learn Espanol!
• Hostels - Staying in hostels is a lost art. We didnt stay in any in Europe and most of my hostel experience has been while hiking the AT. Hanging out in hostels in Costa Rica reminded me of the unique experiences you can come across in a hostel. There is a solidarity of foreign travelers that exists in hostels. Def plan on a lot of hostel living in my future travels!
• Dollars and Colognes - country accepts both, but everything is similarly priced, its not "cheaper" there
• Time estimate given at hostels for transportation seems way off, I think they shave an hour or two off that "private transport" to make it sound more attractive, but then you are 2 hrs late
• Ticos are friendly people, as is the Spanish culture in general, felt very welcomed
• Wet season (we went in July) means its going to rain all the time. Beware. Its still warm and nice most of the places, and eventually you get used to it. I was told that Costa Rica is a bunch of micro climates (which is true)
• Food is not that great. rice and beans and most places and dishes are not that great. We got lucky w/ some seafood in Manuel Antonio, and on the Seguare river trip, but other than that, no bueno. There is a lot of fresh fruit, mangoes, bananas, papaya, which is nice!

Different Level of Emotional Intelligence

• I have found that if you are able to really immerse in the culture and language it can open up the empathy and compassion part of your being. The experience took me back to my younger days when one of my good friends mom only spoke Spanish. I really missed the opportunity to learn the language and connect with her and an entire slice of the world. My advice for the younger generations would be to embrace those opportunities to learn and connect
• Also, travelling with my dad at my age, was also a learning and empathetic experience. I feel like I've done a lot of work in this area in the last 4-5 years and have become very patient, understanding and calm.... until I get around my parents :) I guess since all our issues somehow stem from childhood, becoming patient with your parents is graduation day and the last in your serious of lifes tests. Be mindful of this and try to remind yourself that while most of the time you cant change people around you, you can be more understanding and accepting of them. Especially when they are the ones you love!

Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel antonio park, the crown jewel of the region. This is a pretty well known and visited park. Its a piece of beachfront property, the government restored with wild beaches, cliff hikes, and flora and fauna flourishing. Specifically, monkeys, the main attraction :)

Playa Escondido

When I found out the park doesn't have a Tiki bar or even a place to buy water I had mixed feelings. 

We paid $16 a piece to get in, per day (no reentry). And walked to the further beach. The absence of all humanity, makes this a really special place. You kind of feel like your plane crashed and you are on a beach somewhere. We got here early and got to enjoy a few hours of private beach. Slowly, more and more people showed up and the tide eventually ate the beach away.

First days beach

First days beach

Me and Dad at the sign

Monkeys
The monkeys was the most fascinating part about this park. Watching them in action is an experience. The two monkeys below, were being all cute about 40 ft away from the backpacks, all the tourists, rushed to them to take pictures and one of the girls left her suitcase unattended.

So, the monkeys swoop in, one unzips and start going through her shit looking for food and the other is defending and hissing as people try to get close. Eventually, the monkey takes off w/ the loaf of bread and shares with the accomplice. The level of intelligence in this animal is amazing, it is really intimidating when they come in a pack close to you and start howling and showing teeth.

Throughout the second day, I realized that these monkeys move out around noon and start the dog and pony show across the whole park.

Monkeys attacking a backpack

Loaf of bread. Success!

Playa Manuel Antonio and Playa Espadilla Sur

The next day we went to the main beach (to the right) and hiked the loop in that section of the park. Even though this is the more popular beach, there are way more options on this side of the park, you can hike out and get a money spot for a few hours. All in all, this is heaven.

Views from hikes

These weird Racoon like things that were pretty aggressive :)

Beaches

Views from hikes

Dinner and the trip back home...

Our flight was at 1am Fri night in San Jose. We casually left the beach around 2-3p, had an amazing seafood dinner and hopped on the bus back to San Jose and eventually, home... As always a bittersweet moment....

Coconut with Rum Guy

Dinner Time @ Marlins

One of the most delicious seafood dishes Ive had

Mahi

Marlins on the beach

Both of my flip flops gave out last few hours of the trip. It was only proper to bury them in one of the most awesome places ever. Flip Flops - Manuel Antonio 2010 - 2015.