What To See And Do In Haiti?

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What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby Silver550 » Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:39 am

I've got a flight booked to Port-au-Prince next month and I was wondering if the BFC had any suggestions on things to see and do in Port-au-Prince and Haiti in general.

For example, I've heard that it is possible to watch voodoo ceremonies in Haiti and would love to watch one, but I have no idea how to go about setting that up. Also, does anyone know of a good fixer in Port-au-Prince?

Suggestions or advice from the BFC community would be most appreciated...

Oh, and I'm used to getting sick and getting robbed when I travel, so I don't need tips on how to do that in Haiti since I seem to have gotten pretty good at that on my own.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby Kurt » Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:47 am

For Voodoo, go to the Hotel Olloffson and find Milfort Bruno. Ask him.

And stay at the Olloffson too.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby Silver550 » Mon Feb 07, 2011 5:27 am

Thank you, Kurt. That looks like a great place to stay.

Anything out in the countryside you would recommend seeing?
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby Kurt » Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:15 am

Silver550 wrote:Thank you, Kurt. That looks like a great place to stay.

Anything out in the countryside you would recommend seeing?


Not near PAP. It does not mean a place doesn't exist, I just do not know of one.

But in Milot near Cap Hatien you gotta see the Citadel of Henri Christoph. It is the real Dracula's Castle....Genuinely spooky, weird and cool.

If you go, fly there. The Tap Tap there will drive you mad.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby rickshaw92 » Tue Feb 08, 2011 11:32 am

Oh, and I'm used to getting sick and getting robbed when I travel


Hangin at the thorn tree?
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby Kurt » Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:15 am

The sickest I ever got from food poisoning has always been in NYC.

That said in Haiti you don't get food poisoning at the Olofson. They use filtered water for everything even doing dishes. Thing thing that will likely get you in PAP is dehydration induced madness. It will creep up on you and the most experienced travellers are the most vulnerable to it since they tend to think they can handle stuff. Add together the dust and chaos of PAP with not drinking enough water combined with some rum and the batshit will creep up on you. The thing about going mad is you are not aware that you are mad. I went mad both times I was there. One time I thought I had been poisoned and began to accuse my Haitian friends of poisoning me and the other time I just went bonkers and wandered around PAP at midnight randomly introducing myself to people on the street in bad French. I am sure the last time I had people driving around in HiLuxes and old Cressidas looking to grab me for some easy cash by the time I had decided to go back to the Hotel and get into bed.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby JamesInTheWorld » Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:07 pm

Kurt wrote:The sickest I ever got from food poisoning has always been in NYC.


The sickest I have ever been from food was in Paris - Everyone always thinks that you have to worry about the chow in the 3rd world when it is probably the expensive restaurants in the 1st world that will hold onto food way past the expiration date


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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby rickshaw92 » Thu Feb 10, 2011 10:58 am

JamesInTheWorld wrote:
Kurt wrote:The sickest I ever got from food poisoning has always been in NYC.


The sickest I have ever been from food was in Paris - Everyone always thinks that you have to worry about the chow in the 3rd world when it is probably the expensive restaurants in the 1st world that will hold onto food way past the expiration date


~JITW


The French aint to keen on bathing you know.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby Silver550 » Thu Feb 10, 2011 10:41 pm

Kurt, thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.

JITW, you have a good point about getting sick. The sickest I ever got was from a restaurant in London.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby rickshaw92 » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:46 am

The sickest I ever got was from a restaurant in London.


Weatherspoons or Brick Lane curry joint?
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby Silver550 » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:41 pm

Actually, it was Carluccio's out at Canary Wharf, but Wetherspoon's and pretty much any curry joint are notorious offenders, aren't they? I have plenty of friends that have not had stomachs strong enough to withstand the bacterial assault delivered by those institutions.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby Kurt » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:46 pm

Many years ago while I was hitching in Ireland I got picked up by an Aussie who had done the typical Aussie thing and travelled for three years. He claimed he did foolish food things throughout SE Asia and India and never got sick at all until he got to London, when he got food poisoning so bad that he had to be hospitalized with an IV to replace fluids (which is what I had happen to me a few months ago in NYC). Food poisoning like that is incredibly traumatic because you associate the food you ate prior to the illness, which with me was Japanese noodles, but that most likely was not the culprit. But it does not matter, I cannot eat Japanese noodles anymore.

What is weird about my food poisoning was that I had all the symptoms of Cholera. Massive dehydration, details I won't mention here but you can look up. This was before the Haiti cholera outbreak and in my feverish delerium I told the doctor in the ER that I have Cholera symptoms and he assured me that was impossible...and it probably was since the antibiotic I got was Levaquin and that worked really well but is not used for Cholera. It does have the unpleasant side -effect of causing your tendons to "rupture" under strain and cost about $20 a pill.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby kilroy » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:33 pm

Kurt wrote:Many years ago while I was hitching in Ireland I got picked up by an Aussie who had done the typical Aussie thing and travelled for three years. He claimed he did foolish food things throughout SE Asia and India and never got sick at all until he got to London, when he got food poisoning so bad that he had to be hospitalized with an IV to replace fluids (which is what I had happen to me a few months ago in NYC). Food poisoning like that is incredibly traumatic because you associate the food you ate prior to the illness, which with me was Japanese noodles, but that most likely was not the culprit. But it does not matter, I cannot eat Japanese noodles anymore.

What is weird about my food poisoning was that I had all the symptoms of Cholera. Massive dehydration, details I won't mention here but you can look up. This was before the Haiti cholera outbreak and in my feverish delerium I told the doctor in the ER that I have Cholera symptoms and he assured me that was impossible...and it probably was since the antibiotic I got was Levaquin and that worked really well but is not used for Cholera. It does have the unpleasant side -effect of causing your tendons to "rupture" under strain and cost about $20 a pill.


yeah, that is the worst part of food poisoning. i was only violently ill for about 24 hours, but the dish i had just prior to coming down with it has been ruined forever for me.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby rickshaw92 » Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:27 am

Silver550 wrote:Actually, it was Carluccio's out at Canary Wharf, but Wetherspoon's and pretty much any curry joint are notorious offenders, aren't they? I have plenty of friends that have not had stomachs strong enough to withstand the bacterial assault delivered by those institutions.


And the ass wipe in the Spoons toilets is like sand paper.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: What To See And Do In Haiti?

Postby vagabond » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:39 pm

Kurt wrote:Many years ago while I was hitching in Ireland I got picked up by an Aussie who had done the typical Aussie thing and travelled for three years. He claimed he did foolish food things throughout SE Asia and India and never got sick at all until he got to London, when he got food poisoning so bad that he had to be hospitalized with an IV to replace fluids (which is what I had happen to me a few months ago in NYC). Food poisoning like that is incredibly traumatic because you associate the food you ate prior to the illness, which with me was Japanese noodles, but that most likely was not the culprit. But it does not matter, I cannot eat Japanese noodles anymore.


I try and warn my coworkers when going over to India for the company that it won't be Indian street food they get sick from but more likely eating Western food in India. Eat local, make sure its freshly cooked, and most of the time you'll be alright. The only two times I had food poisoning in 6 months in SE Asia was having food that was not part of the normal diet in the country I was in (eg Indian food in rural Laos and a pita with tzatziki in rural India).
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