Destination: Haiti

The Big Picture: Haiti, After the Earthquake

The Big Picture has another stunning photo essay from the island, now 10 months into its recovery from a massive earthquake. The pictures are sad, beautiful and—occasionally—uplifting.


World Travel Watch: Cholera Outbreak in Haiti, Tsunami in Indonesia and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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World Travel Watch: Striptease at Uluru, Ongoing Strikes in Greece and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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Haiti: Give Aid or Deal With the Roots of the Problem?

On the question few people are asking about Haiti after the earthquake

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Five Photos: Hope and Heroes in Haiti

Five Photos: Hope and Heroes in Haiti REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Signs of hope after the quake, from a girl laughing and a newborn baby to the aid of doctors and soldiers

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‘They Listen to Me When Things Are Bad’ in Haiti

‘They Listen to Me When Things Are Bad’ in Haiti Photo by Lisa Wixon

Lisa Wixon on the man behind Port-au-Prince's Hotel Oloffson, protest rocker and Vodou priest Richard A. Morse

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Hotel Oloffson: Hope and Lodging in Port-au-Prince

Hotel Oloffson: Hope and Lodging in Port-au-Prince Photo by Lisa Wixon

The Oloffson is a magnet for intellectuals, writers and the criminally inclined. Lisa Wixon reveals why it offers hope for Haiti's future.

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Photo: Devastation After 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti

Photo: Devastation After 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti REUTERS/Ho New
REUTERS/Ho New

Homes destroyed on a hillside near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after yesterday’s devastating 7.0 earthquake. USA Today offers a range of ways to donate and help.


World Travel Watch: Major Earthquake in Haiti, Road Blocks in Greece and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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Tony Wheeler: Haiti is ‘Finding its Way Back Onto the Map’

More buzz on Haiti. We noted in June that the country isn’t nearly as crime-ridden as many believe. Now, writing in the Independent, Lonely Planet’s founder recalls the pleasures of a recent visit—and explains why he thinks more tourists may soon be following in his footsteps. Yes, the place is impoverished, and the infrastructure needs work, but, he adds, “there’s also exuberant colour, some amazing sights, music to rival nearby Cuba, and it’s certainly not overrun by tourists.”

Photo by M_Eriksson via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Tags: Caribbean, Haiti

Haiti: It’s Not so Bad!

Interesting report in the Christian Science Monitor suggesting that Haiti’s reputation for violence and crime—which keeps legions of tourists away—is overblown. A spokesman for the UN police force in Haiti told the newspaper: “It’s a big myth. Port-au-Prince is no more dangerous than any big city. You can go to New York and get pickpocketed and held at gunpoint. The same goes for cities in Mexico or Brazil.” In fact, UN statistics show that the murder rate in Jamaica, for example, is much higher than it is in Haiti. Sounds like it’s high time for Haiti tourism officials to re-Brand That Nation! While we’re dispensing advice, if a visit to Haiti is in your future, consider your air travel options carefully.

Photo by Robert Miller via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

Tags: Caribbean, Haiti

Haiti for Lifestyle Magazines

Jason Wilson reconsiders a magazine story he wrote a decade ago about Haiti, in which he predicted Haitian-grown gourmet coffee offered the struggling country hope. “Ten years later, I now freely admit that this was typical lifestyle-magazine hyperbole,” he writes in The Smart Set. “My excuse? I wanted badly to write a positive story about Haiti, quite possibly the only positive story about Haiti that would appear in the American press that year, or in any year. Looking back on my visit now, I realize how misguided my plans turned out to be.”

Related on World Hum:
* Q&A with Jason Wilson: One Traveler, Three Dishes Named ‘Jason’

Tags: Caribbean, Haiti

Warning for Haiti’s Carbintair Airlines

Reports San Francisco Chronicle’s World Travel Watch column: “The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince now prohibits all U.S. government personnel from flying on Haiti’s Caribintair Airlines, and warns travelers to avoid the carrier.” Caribintair planes have made two forced emergency landings in the last month, the paper adds.


Reminder to Voodoo Practitioners: Please Keep the Human Skulls Out of Your Carry-On Bags

Airline travel sure isn’t what it used to be. As we’ve posted in the past, many carriers have reduced the niceties on long distance flights in an effort to cut costs in an increasingly competitive business. These changes may not bother all travelers, but after a U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale ruled against well-intentioned individuals packing human skulls with their other luggage last week, you have to wonder what comfort will be the next to go. Back in February, Myrlene Severe, a Haitian woman and practitioner of Voodoo, brought a head with her from Cap Haitien to the United States to ensure a safe arrival. Judge James I. Cohn saw things differently. “All of us has something unusual in our religions,” her lawyer said during her trial. In our religions, perhaps, but in our suitcases no longer.


Patrick Leigh Fermor: ‘An Englishman Abroad’

A few weeks ago, we declared (with the help of Thomas Swick) “A Time of Gifts” by Patrick Leigh Fermor one of the greatest travel books of all time. Leigh Fermor, now in his 90s, is not as well known to many American readers as other great travel writers of our time. So it was a pleasant surprise to find, in the May 22 issue of the New Yorker, a lengthy profile of Leigh Fermor by Anthony Lane. The story describes a writer who has lived one of the most compelling lives of the 20th century—so fascinating, in fact, that Lane insists it makes the rest of our lives “laughably provincial in their scope.”

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