I was invited by one of the staff at FSIL (Faculté Science
Infirmier de Leogane, the nursing school)
to spend the weekend with her and her family in Port au Prince. It was a lovely
weekend full of awesome food, nice people, and beautiful thunderstorms.
Port au Prince in general is full of life, with people
everywhere and song and music streaming in the windows at all hours of the
night. The government buildings, razed in the earthquake of 2010, are being
rebuilt. People live incredibly close together and every inch of flat space is
taken up by someone’s abode. Moving my luggage inside, I got caught in a
soaking rainstorm. In a ten minute rainstorm, the streets became streams that
people used to send garbage downhill. It is easy to see why a rainstorm of any
length can cause massive destruction and sweep people away in a city with
limited drainage. People sell everything on the sidewalks and in between cars
from twine to baggies of water to fully cooked meals to shoes.
I have really enjoyed Haitian food so far (the Dean swears I
must have some Haitian in me because of the amount that I can eat!) and I will
be doing a detailed post about Haitian food in the near future. But my special
treat this weekend was to go to the suburb of Port au Prince called Petionville
where most of the Ex-Pats live. Here you can find restaurants that serve things
like pizza, burgers and fries, and mozzarella sticks. I enjoyed chicken
fingers, French fries, and Coke… tasted like home J Also around Petionville are a
number of artisans selling traditional Haitian crafts like metalwork and straw
weavings. I did not make any purchases this time around but enjoyed perusing!
Port au Prince at Sunset, looking out over the ocean
French colonization left some great treats behind... like crepes. This one had ham and this awesome sauce that tasted strangely similar to Taco Bell's quesadilla sauce
Port au Prince by Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment