Travels through Hispaniola
-Fall 2009
“Why are you
going there?”
everyone asked when I told
them I was heading to Haiti, along with a stop in the Dominican
Republic, affectionately known as the DR.
“Vacation!”
I replied.
“Who
are you going with?”
was the next question, eyebrows furrowed
with
concern.
“Nobody,”
I replied.
“Who do you know
down there?” the puzzled
inquisitor continued.
“No one yet,
but I will
soon,” I replied.
Thanks to a website
called couchsurfing.org, I have a network of
millions of friends waiting to be made, couches and beds and floors
waiting to be sampled. The site is a community of big-hearted
adventurers across the planet who offer up free accommodations and an
insider’s view of their homeland in exchange for the good
karma, later
spent when said traveler makes his or her own journey into parts
unknown. I have stayed with couchsurfers in Amsterdam, Rio, and even my
home city of Washington, DC when I returned from travels homeless and
friends’ couches were occupied.
Hispaniola
was a target for
several reasons. First and foremost, I had enough frequent flier miles
to get to the Caribbean, and Haiti was one of just a handful of
French-speaking countries I could access. Curiosity about such an
island with two such different halves: one Spanish-speaking, on a
decent path to development, pulling more tourism dollars than any other
nation in the region, lush, green and baseball-crazed – the
other
Francophone, the poorest in the Western hemisphere, untouched by
tourism (for better or worse), deforested, and nutty about soccer.
Or so it is portrayed.
The
irony of the contrast in standard of living is the fact that Haiti was
the first and only nation to be founded by revolting slaves, and
actually was called upon by the Dominican people – and a host
of other
peoples throughout the region -- to help free their people from Spanish
rule.
Click
on the stories below to read about my couch-surfing adventures from
Santo Domingo to Port au Prince. Note that all names have been changed
to protect the innocent...
Stories
Santo
Domingo, the City that's Forced to Sleep
PAWA: Aero Talvez
Port au Prince
& the Johnny Appleseed of Couchsurfing
Seeing
is Believing
More
installments to come soon...
Photos
Haiti
Santo
Domingo
