Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Awww, they're sharing the same twig. Sweet, no? I chose this picture as my first picture for a reason. I'm hoping it supplants the preconditioned images you might have of Port-au-Prince.

It's not that the preconditioned images don't exist, they achingly do. But Port-au-Prince does an extraordinary job of making you look at their city through a kaleidoscope. Their creativity is boundless, figuratively and physically. Window screens made from old oil drum cans to the galleries on the streets, it's all mesmerizing. The locals' exuberance and noble decorum adds another dimension. God, how I pine to walk as graceful as the women of Port-au-Prince. It's regal without an air. They too were mesmerizing.

It didn't take me long to be reminded of the fine difference between pride and arrogance. What we consider pride is really a muted form of arrogance. True pride comes from perseverance and infuses with the self. In other words, it's not ostentatious. I think this is what makes the women regal without an air and the children beam without bravado. An old friend once told me, "It doesn't matter where you live, the people around you make the place interesting". Wise indeed, so enamoured by the people of Port-au-Prince, I was in disbelief how the earthquake happened only a year ago.

Length of Stay

Two or three days

Docking Index

     

Five anchors. Admittedly, my experience in Port-au-Prince is a bit rosy because I was graciously invited to stay with a middle-class family. Would I have loved it as much if I lived like most of the population? Tough to say, hence the neutral rating. (It really is tough to say because I've lived in a village without consistent running water and electricity, you get used to it. Granted I was a kid and kids can adapt to anything with most of their basic needs met. Adults on the other hand... )