Jacmel is a small seaside town with some lovely old architecture. It was such a rich town during Haiti's coffee boom that merchants imported fine iron framed buildings from Europe. The buildings are all looking old today, the result of neglect and earthquakes. Jacmel is also a centre for Haitian arts, particularly papier mache masks. Coming to Jacmel, we knew that we were not going to be there for carnival. But Jacmel changed the dates of its carnival and we got lucky. Wandering around the town, we spotted teams making figures and costumes and people putting up stands - scary wooden structures, hastily nailed together. But when does Carnival start? Ten. Twelve. Two. Eleven. "It's all day". Or, the truth, "no idea, man". We walked along where we thought the Carnival would go. The street was
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