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Published: February 22nd 2012
Haiti at First Site
As I walked off the boat it was like walking into a postcard. Gorgeous!
Only a small portion of Haiti was open to us. We tried to walk down a roadway leading out of a shopping area but we were stopped by guards. The seven or so hours we had were more than enough time to explore the beach and wooded areas that were open to us and the many "shops" along the way.
Most of the merchant areas were small huts side by side about 6 by 8 feet in size. One merchant called me into the shop and I realized that the hut was actually two shops ran by two different people. One on the left side of the hut and one on the right. The two merchants began a tug of war with my attention, both trying to persude me to buy from their "store." It was kind of overwhelming but at the same time I ended up getting what I felt was a fair deal on the things that I liked. The aggressive selling style of these merchants was not a problem for me because if I didnt like something they were showing me I would just tell them to show me something else until I found something I liked.
Greeted by a Haitian Bust
I am not sure who this dude is, but he looks pretty important!
They are also very willing to negotiate. If I was a person who didn't want to be haggled in any way I would have stuck to the shops at the front of the port. You will not get hassled there but you also will not be able to negotiate price like you will at the merchant huts. I did purchase two Haitian Dolls at one of the front shops for 10 dollars each. They were very nice and the ticketed price seemed fair. All of the other souveniers I bought were from the merchant huts.
Labadee was very beautiful. It had sort of a theme park feel to it though because it was very small and separated from the rest of Haiti. There is a roller coaster and a long zip line up in the hills. The line goes over the beach and the water in dramatic fashion. It makes the smaller zip line in Labadee look like childs play. I went swimming in the little cove, which was rocky and small but the water was clear and I could see tons of these long, silver fish swimming around me. I swam to the rock wall that had been
Fresh off the Boat
Me, complete with tourist accessories built there and i saw a bunch of giant bug looking things scamper away when I approached. I climbed up the rocks aways to look for tide pools but then I saw a sign that said Keep off The Rocks so I was like oops. I went back in the water like a good girl and then I swam back to the shore. They had beer for sale right on the beach, which was great. I was in a beach chair sipping a Corona and looking out over a place I never though I would actually see in real life. Awesomeness!
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Funnybone the Clown
Mike Ianneo
Great blog! It looks really fun!
I'm looking forward to your next adventurous travel blogs. Beautiful pictures!!! Great writing too. It was funny how you go up the stairs and meet the Haitian man. Keep up the blogging!