40 days itinerary from Santo Domingo to Port au Prince and back
In 2014 I traveled with my boyfriend to the Dominican Republic and Haiti. As usual we left Italy without a defined itinerary in mind, we were ready to let our feelings guide us along the way.
We arrived in Santo Domingo after a long flight with a stop over in New York to save money, but that left us super tired.
Santo Domingo is a nice town with some beautiful colonial architecture. It can also be frightening in some areas, like around Parque Enriquillo, where most of the buses leave and arrive. It was scary at first for Luca, who had never been out of Europe and was not used to the chaos and crazy traffic.
Santo Domingo
From Santo Domingo we decided to go South-West, by the coast. Los Patos was recommended by the Lonely Planet as one of the best beaches of the South. So we went there, because the intention was to see as many different parts of the country as possible. We had a great time there. There were very few foreign tourists, many local tourists, so if this is what you are looking for, I recommend this part of the Republic instead of the North and East.
After Los Patos we went to Pedernales, right at the border with Haiti. From there we went to Bahia de Las Aguilas, a natural park with one of the most amazing beaches I’ve ever seen. We were near Haiti, but still couldn’t decide if we wanted to go or not. Everyone we talked to recommended not to go, because it was dangerous and expensive. Probably because we were advised not to, we went. And the true adventure started.
Bahia de las Aguilas
Adventurous backpacking in Haiti
Just after the border we had to take a boat in the night to take us to the nearest town, because going by land would have taken days.
Fist stop in Haiti was Jacmel, a lovely artists town in the Southern Coast, that still showed the many damages of the earthquake in 2010. We had the first glimpse of how Haiti would have been: dirty, chaotic, almost impossible to get money, but with sweet people (mostly).
This is how we were going to travel in Haiti
From Jacmel we took a tap-tap to Port au Prince and from there to Port Salut. It was the first of the many long journeys we had in Haiti. Traveling by local transportation is not easy at all in Haiti. Every time it took us many long hours to do just a few hundreds of kilometers. That was probably the worst part of backpacking in Haiti, because it was a huge waste of time and very tiring.
Port Salut is a pretty holiday resort, very quiet and relaxed. From there we went to Les Cayes one day, trying to go to the Ile de Vache, but the hours lost waiting for the tap-tap to fill up and finding a working ATM prevented us to go to the little island.
After Port Salut we went to Port au Prince, the capital. The first introduction wasn’t of the best, as we were approached by a guy who tried to steal from us. The town centre of Port au Prince is not bad, if you don’t mind the heat and dust, but out of the main roads and square it’s messy and not reassuring. We managed to see some voodoo art, which was one of the reasons why I wanted to visit Haiti.
After Port au Prince another loooong and scary journey to go to Cap Haitien. Cap Haitien is actually pretty and clean, very different from the capital, even though it’s also a large city. But this in the town centre. Just out of the centre there’s a canal full of rubbish, a very bad sight.
Coming out of school in Cap Haitien
From Cap Haitien we crossed the border to the Dominican Republic (so basically we entered Haiti in the South and exited in the North; there’s another border crossing in the centre, between the two capitals).
A much easier backpacking in the Dominican Republic
It was very nice to be back in the Dominican Republic. We realized how difficult it was to travel in Haiti. The Dominican Republic was much cheaper, so much easier to travel, food and coffee available everywhere, easy to get money from the bank, hotels cleaner. Now, many years later, I’m glad I had that experience in Haiti, but I don’t know if I would be able to do it again, it was really tiring. It’s probably different if you have money and can rent your own car or driver. Cap Haitien was the best place, of all.
Once in the Dominican Republic we spent a few days in Monte Cristi, to recover and to eat some good food. From there we went to Santiago and then Constanza, in the mountains.
After that it was all beaches. And every place was pleasant and welcoming.
First one was Cabarete, a surfists spot. This was the first place where we met may foreign tourists, and all the Northern coast has many foreigners, mainly from the US (and many Italians and French living their their retirement years). In Cabarete I had the best breakfast ever.
Beach in Rio San Juan
We went East to Rio San Juan, where there’s not much to do nor to see, but that I loved, probably because of its relaxed atmosphere. After that it was the Semanà Peninsula, with Las Terrenas and Las Galeras. Pretty, touristy.
From there we crossed the country to go to the Southern coast; we also thought of going to the Eastern coast, maybe pay 80 dollars for an all-included resort and spend a day or two just sunbathing and eating (there’s a lot of chicken involved when you travel in the Dominican Republic, and at one point you crave for something different), but we hadn’t a lot of time left so we decided to go directly South.
Boca de Yuma was pretty but Luca wasn’t feeling well so we didn’t really enjoy it. From there to Juan Dolio, the last stop. We stayed in this little town by the sea until our flight back to Italy, and went on a day trip to Santo Domingo where people were celebrating Easter. When we had landed in the Dominican Republic we didn’t spend much time in Santo Domingo because we thought we would be there again before departing. But once in Juan Dolio we were suggested not to go to Santo Domingo before flying back, because it was easier to get to the airport from Juan Dolio and it was nicer to stay in Juan Dolio. It was a good idea.
Would I go back to the Dominican Republic and Haiti? Yes, and I would probably do a similar itinerary. I know that Haiti was a nightmare, but I would like to see if things have improved now.
7.25 We are at the bus station in Cap Haitien, on a very hot tap-tap to Ouandinthe, at the border. It should be 3 hours to the border. Let’s hope so. The bus is full, I guess we are leaving soon. Breakfast at the Croissant d’Or. It’s nice to go back to a place you’ve been before, it feels like home. There’s a bad foot smell here. I am starting to think they are Luca’s feet! The usual chaos and a lot of rubbish, in the streets and in the canal. It’s a shame, considering how beautiful and tidy the town centre is, so different from Port au Prince!
Shortly after the departure we had to stop to inflate a tire. Luckly there are mechanics everywhere along the roads, and in a couple of minutes they fix everything. Maybe calling them “mechanics” is a bit too much. They have two pieces of iron and one air compressor (fuelled by gas), no garage nor office. They do everything at the side of the road in a few minutes, the driver doesn’t even need to turn the engine off.
9.44am Au revoir tap-tap et “Dieu tout Pouissant” (printed everywhere, from the tap-tap to the banks, the walls of the houses, in any place), bienvenidos gua-gua and “Cristo ya viene”. We are in Dajabon, on a gua-gua to Monte Cristi, our destination for today. I hope the hotel is ok because we need to rest a bit! We lost a few euro exchanging the gourde into pesos (we did it in the street with a man we met by chance, there isn’t an authorized exchange bureau), but we saved 40 dollars each coming here by tap-tap instead of Caribe Tours: 25 dollars (-5 that we spent for the public buses) for the bus, and 20 for the Haitian border (at the Caribe Tours office they asked 30 USD each for the customs taxes, 10 for the Dominican border, that we actually paid, and 20 for the Haitian border, that we weren’t asked to pay when going out). This confirms that when you travel in groups of foreigners many people take advantage of it, it’s better if you travel independently when you can. Sure, maybe their bus was faster and more comfortable, but our journey wasn’t too bad. Tha tap-tap was full but after half an hour many got off, and the gua-gua has air-con and is comfortable, everyone with its own seat. According to the Lonely Planet it should have taken us three hours to get to the border, while in one and a half we had already crossed it.
It was fun, when we arrived in Ouanaminthe, as soon as we got off of the tap-tap we were assaulted by about 20 bikers, everyone offering to take us to the border. Luca was strangely quiet, he shunted aside a couple of them and lit a cigarette, keeping quiet. We had to take a motorbike, but he couldn’t stand to be assaulted like this. Watching him made me laugh, knowing that he probably was much angrier than what he showed, and I explained the drivers that we needed some space or he was going to break out. At the end we took one bike each and with less than one dollar we were at the border. First office and stamp to get out of Haiti, hundred of meters of walk along a wide road, and the border on the other side. We were followed by a group of people that wanted to exchange our gourdes. The first that offered had the best rate, so we went back to him.
6.30pm Monte Cristi. So beautiful, so quiet! Now I realize Haiti wasn’t easy at all. We pay 650 pesos, about 12 euro, for a room that has no window to the outside, and that when we fart they can hear from the reception, but it’s clean, large and it smells good. Two coffees cost us 30RDS, in Haiti it wasn’t this cheap not even by the street. We had a dish each of rice with kid, and I’m really full, I wasn’t used to eat so much anymore. Internet is everywhere and free, not like Haiti where we had to go to luxurious hotels and pay. People are kind and smile at you, nobody is angry or violent, the buses don’t need to steal passengers each other.
In Monte Cristi the beach is a bit far and not that nice, I don’t think I will bath, but in the centre there are people and it’s pleasant. There’s a supermarket with an aisle dedicated to tampons, a working ATM machine is just outside our hotel. It feels another world. People here live well. Earlier we saw a guy driving a Yamaha R1 (Luca said).
We are the dock now, it’s lovely. Four men brought something to drink from home and are here at the end of the dock waiting for the sunset. Nice.
Midday in Cap Haitien. We are on a tap-tap (the back of a pickup) waiting that it fills up to go to Labadie. It’s a bit late because we got up slowly, we went to Caribe tours to book the trip to the Dominican Republic (they told us there is no need to book, we can just go there tomorrow morning) and breakfast. Here comes an elder lady with an elder man carrying a push-cart with a bag of sugar and one of rice. Everything goes on the pick-up, under our feet. So far Luca is the only man. I think we might be waiting for a couple of people more, before we leave (but here you never know, when they think the tap-tap is full enough).
The large bus (comfortable and direct) to Santiago costs 25 USD. Going by tap-tap is 20 USD cheaper, but it’s a much longer and tiring trip, because you should get on a tap-tap to the border, cross the border on foot, and once in the Dominican Republic get on a gua-gua to the next destination.
In Haiti I saw many pregnant women. All young. The elder like myself (37) are forgotten.
3h15 Drink break at Cornier Bar, a hotel-restaurant-bar for foreigners. These two juices are going to cost us more than tonight’s dinner, but we really needed them and it’s so nice to drink something cool on these chairs by the sea. If I want wifi it’s 3 USD more. In the parking there are UNHCR trucks. Poor NGO workers?
Our luxurious juices
We went to see a beach nearby where the cruise ships dock. It was surrounded by a metal fence to keep intruders out. And we were out of the fence with other Haitians looking at the tourists bathing in the sea and in the sun like you would look at monkeys at the zoo.
We went to bath, but while we were drying there were so many mosquitoes we had to leave. And a lot of sea urchins, I was scared.
We came back to Cap Haitien on a motorbike (the two of us and the driver on one bike) because there were no more pickups. It wasn’t very comfortable, on that rough road. We had time to do a short tour of the town: the main square with the Town Hall (Delegation du Nord), the Gingerbread houses, the seafront, the Croissant d’Or, a bakery-patisserie (quite rare here). Dinner with half a chicken each and yuca. We are hungry tonight.
Square and town hall in Cap Haitien
9 or 10 in the evening, I don’t know. Luca is tired and is unhappy of everything. I’m afraid he’s in the phase “Damn that time I met you!” and that he’s not happy he’s accepted to follow me here. I hope this will pass soon!
6.30 am. This morning they told us that breakfast is included in the room price. So breakfast, and we go. Stuffed. A nice cheese omelette.
7.35am Will we arrive when it’s dark today too? We are stuck in the traffic, it looks like Arzignano at 8am, blocked by mothers cars taking the kids to school. At 6am it was hard to wake up, but I could hear the noise from the city already wide awake. They definitely wake up early in this country, there’s no time to waste!
Stuck in the traffic while we go to the centre of Port au Prince
American school buses and other buses with a French plate: probably the Western Countries instead of throwing their old broken buses to the bin, they send them here, as a nice donation.
Two things are definitely bigger than in Italy: cars and music speakers. The few cars I’ve seen are mainly big pick-ups, Cherokee or Jeep, and even the most broken stall has huge speakers, old and broken where the sound is terrible, but the music must be really loud.
At the station we soon find a very old bus super full of people; they let us in from the back, because the front is so full you can’t pass, and it’s time to pay. The ticket reads 200. 200 what? Gourde, I think. It can’t be 20 USD I hope! No. We show 500 HTG and it’s not enough. It’s 1000 HTG. Ok, so it was 200 Haitian dollars. Ufff… It’s so confusing! They have a double currency (plus the American dollar that is used at hotels and at the border). At one point in the history of Haiti the American dollar was worth 5 HTG. It became so common to speak and count in dollars that they keep the same name and exchange rate even though the dollar now is 44 HTG. It became an Haitian dollar. It’s not a different bancknote, you use the same old bancknotes as usual, but instead of saying 1000 HTG they say 200 dolars. For example in Port Salut we had to pay 700. The waitress didn’t have the change (300 HTG), so she asked the owner if he had 60 dolars.
The guy that got us on the bus, one of the many that survive helping the buses to get passengers at the stations, came back to ask for more money, but the people around us helped send him away.
Corriera super piena
From the speakers of the bus comes a music so loud it’s breaking my eardrums. I hope we will leave soon because we have a long journey ahead of us.
Around the bus there are stalls selling cosmetics, drinks and some fried food. A lady seeing that from the bus I was looking for drinks, called the seller for me. One 7up and one water 6 dolars. I give him 100 HTG. He doesn’t have the change (here they never have the change, can’t understand why). “Wait”, he says. He leaves. He could never come back and keep the change, the bus is leaving soon and nevermind the change, plus in some restaurants we paid 100 HTG for one drink only. But he comes back, with my money.
Sellers at the Estacion O’Cap
It’s been 30 minutes and we are still here, hotter and clumped as ever. When we got in I thought the bus was full, but they actually sat a third person every two seats. The seats are movable (= detached), so when needed they can move towards the aisle and let a third person sit. Half butt on the aisle at the right, half butt on the left near the window, and a full one at the centre.
From time to time someone gets on the bus and gives a long speech to describe what he is selling. Everyone listens with attention. A girl managed to earn 20 HTG and thanked us with a song (today is the day against? I don’t know, I didn’t understand). Another one sold an inhaler. The tiger balm is not that popular.
Here comes the sacred music. From Les Cayes to PAP we spent 12 hours listening to religious music (I could hear Dieu every other word), with the boy collecting the money that stopped to sing along and mimic the words, so much he was captured by the moment.
10am. We left 15 minutes ago and the police stopped us. Why? Do you think we are over-crowded with too much weight on the top, on a bus that is falling apart and that runs too fast???
Breathing some air during a stop to inflate the wheel
12.35pm Ok, I officially have diarrhea. We stopped again for an unknown problem. Since we left PAP a guy spent about 2 hours explaining the properties of his products and he did manage to sell something. Than we stopped to pee (and in the meantime they inflated one wheel), I had the first diarrhea attacks while everyone looked at me squatting (there wasn’t one single tree to hide behind) and we left with the music. Now we are stopped again. First they need to understand what the problem is. It’s impossible to sleep on this bus. I don’t understand why they have to run so fast. And the horn is always on to advise “we are arriving, so better you give us way or we are going so fast that we will come straight into you and we will both die”. They only slow down if from the other side there’s a truck or tank coming. I’m worried my diarrhea might be coming down right now, it was very liquid. We stopped two more times to inflate the central wheel. From the fear of overturning, the effort to keep myself tight with all the jumps and the strain of keeping my muscles tight so that I won’t shit myself, this journey is a nightmare.
The only solace is the view from the window: nice dry landscape, palm trees and cactus 6 meters tall.
8.35pm Cap Haitien. I thought I was going to die today. They almost got me swear. Crazy chauffeur. On wrecked roads, on a wrecked bus with a hold less than zero and a deflated wheel, he was driving like crazy, with precipice on one side of the road. Even without a precipice, it would have been easy to overturn. Some passengers trusted the driver and were quiet, others complained from time to time, to no avail.
From the road I saw that in the river they wash themselves, wash the car, wash the clothes that they later dry on the stones on the dry part of the riverbed, on the grass in front of their house, on the house roof or on the cactus hedge.
I’m glad to be in Cap Haitien and to have easily found the hotel. Cap Haitien seems nice, clean and tidy compared to PAP. The hotel is cheap, but it’s horrible, it’s used per hour by lovers, the room is tiny, noisy and smelly, but after such a journey I feel like I am in paradise.
It almost feels like the States. There are many “blancs” (white people), the buildings are taller than one store, shops are on two floors, there are clothes stores and working ATM machines! We had breakfast at the patisserie francaise of the supermarket. A pastry and a coffee that cost us more than in Italy, but we deserved it!
The patisserie at the supermarket
Here in Petionville it’s really quiet. It’s the neighborhood where live expats and the most wealthy Haitians. It’s also the area where you can find the best hotels. Now we’re going to the town centre, I’m curious.
Petionville – retail
3.30pm Hotel Oloffson.
We are here to rest after a long walk around PAP. It’s super hot and our feet are black with dust. The Oloffson is an institution in Port-au-Prince, an old hotel in gingerbread style. It’s out of our reach, for sleeping, but we can afford a cold drink to catch our breath. Inside there’s a beautiful wall painting and an area where bands can play their music. Outside it’s painted in white, with small tables in the porch and a nice garden with a swimming pool.
We’ve done a nice tour so far. We took a tap-tap that took us to the centre. We visited the ruins of the Notre Dame cathedral, and in the middle of it there was a ceremony taking place.
Ruins of the Notre Dame cathedral in Port au Prince
Once we left the market, we walked South along the Boulevard Jean-Jacque Dessalines, one of the main roads of Port-au-Prince. Along the road we could see mechanics, tire specialists, sellers of all kinds (drinks, cosmetics, tables and chairs). It was all quiet enough, but very hot and dirty. It’s less scary to walk around in plain daylight and with no bags around. Plus I only had a small pocket camera that I took out rarely.
Driver/mechanic working along Boulevard Jean-Jacque Dessalines
We leave this oasis of quiet and breeze, where three lemonades cost us 9 euro, a bit too much for us that we have little money (but I also used the wifi), and go back to the crowds and dust.
4.45pm We are in the main park at Port-au-Prince. It’s nice now, it’s a bit cooler, there’s a nice breeze that doesn’t smell of plastic (we are not far from the sea, but during the central hours of the day you can’t feel it). Not far from us there’s a crowd gathered around a speaker, from time to time they exult and clap. On the other side there are two toilet boxes: if you only pee, it’s 5 gourde, if you need to poop, the cost is the double. I wonder who checks what you do to charge the right amount of money?
Poop or pee?
11pm Tomorrow we leave. I must say I am also tired from all these long journeys, I didn’t expect it to be so difficult to travel here, and I am a bit scared of what we have to do tomorrow. Apparently it’s 7 hours drive, to Cap Haitien.
There’s a band in the street. It seems the right time to play trumpets and drums and singing in the street. What are they celebrating this time of the night? I don’t know and I can’t get any info, I’m in my room, on the third floor.
I had a pretty emotional moment earlier today, while we were walking to Petionville. It was 6pm and from a nearby pub, where they were dancing, suddenly the radio plays “Un’estate Italiana”, with the real Bennato and Nannini (I thought it was a remake). I have always loved this song, it reminds me of the beautiful moments of the football World championship in Italy in 1990. I start singing while walking, a bit touched, slowing my pace to enjoy the song as long as possible, and opposite me comes an Haitian guy singing loud. It gave me the goosebumps.
My hair is a bit messy. Today we started our journey on a truck. One of those trucks open at the back, where they let good and people on. We had the last space on some wood benches. The others were sleeping on piles of brooms made with palm leaves that the truck was carrying. Luckily here they don’t drive as fast as in other places that I visited.
We woke up at 4.45 am. The owner last night told us they always wake up at 4-4.30. At 5 we were calling and knocking everywhere, but nobody came to open the gate for us. So we had to climb a 2 meters tall gate (not easy for me) and as soon as we got on the road the truck picked us up. It’s not extremely comfortable, but better than a motorbike. People wake up really early here. At 5 am, when it was still dark, there were people carrying brooms, carrying wood, going to work.
Outside the larger towns there are no gas stations; so along the road you can see kids with oil, gasoline and diesel jugs. If by the road you see a bottle of rum, it’s a different type of fuel they are selling. At 6.45 the sun rises.
Larger towns are also the only chance for foreigners to get money. Out of Port-au-Prince banks are few and even if there is an ATM, it doesn’t take foreign cards. Your only hope is if the bank has a POS from where you can get money advance on your card. But they only take Visa and with a chip. So out of my 3 cards only one works. I hope I won’t finish the money in that card before we leave of Haiti.
The truck left us in Les Cayes, where we are now waiting for a bus to Port-au-Prince. The bus is here already, actually. The driver was sleeping on his seat, but he opened the door for us so that we could drop our bags. Then we went to have breakfast with other drivers and desperate souls. A nice sandwich with spicy peanut butter and coffee tasting like honey. There’s a bus nearby with very loud music, at 7 am. The drivers must keep awake, but what about the passengers? I get they don’t need to sleep. At one point everyone starts to dance. The lady while pouring coffee, the 6 year old kid helping her before he goes to school, the other guy with his sandwich in his mouth. A nice funny scene.
I’ve already seen two limousines this morning. Probably there was a government meeting in some luxurious hotel of Port Salut. One of these passed by a man walking without shoes. The gap.
I hope we won’t have to wait for 4 hours. It would be nice to arrive in PAP at a decent time, and being able to see something. Fun thing, after being here Luca won’t be scared of Santo Domingo anymore.
It’s 10 am and we are still waiting. They are fighting with other buses (the falling down ones, ours is one of the few with air conditioning) to steal passengers one to the other. They take bags and sacks from running bikes to force the passenger to get off the bike and get on the bus with us. It would have been a dream to leave early. Why does everybody get on other buses? Maybe we should also change? Are they cheaper? Do they leave earlier? But I’m worried the other buses stop before Pap, so it’s better if we wait here. I reckon there are enough passengers now, can’t we leave?
9.50pm We are finally in Port-au-Prince. What a journey! At the end the bus left at midday, after 6 hours of wait. As if we weren’t late enought, along the way there was a rally and we waited two more hours. While the others were getting off the bus to find shelter from the heat and chat under the rare trees, Luca was restless, smoking a sigarette after the other. There was someone traveling in a more unfortunate way though, as you can see from the picture. Poor hens!
Furthermore, when we arrived in Port-au-Prince all passengers got off, with their hundreds of bags, and the procedure required some time. At 7pm we were still in town, and it was getting dark. But the wait gifted me with a nice view: the sun setting all yellow behind a wall of dust, people, and the mess of Port-au-Prince. Luckily the bus dropped us off at the stop for the tap-tap to Petionville, the most touristic and decent neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, where our hotel is. I’m curious to see this city. It scared me less than the first time we saw it, when we came here to take a tap-tap to Port Salut from Jacmel.
We arrived in Petionville that it was dark. We had to walk through the market, and a guy first tried to put his hands inside Luca’s pockets, then he almost caught me from behind, but Luca stopped him. We had no idea where the hotel was, there were no road signs. A deaf-mute boy took us to a luxurious hotel at the end of a long road, but it wasn’t ours. He was very kind. The guards at the hotel told us where our hotel was, and 15 minutes later we were there. How good the welcome sprite tasted! We had dinner at the hotel, we were scared of going out in the night in a place that we don’t know, and we went soon to bad, super tired. The room is tiny at costs 60 dollars per night, but at least we can sleep in a safe place.
Because we arrived so late and are so tired, we will stay here two nights, so we have the whole day tomorrow to visit the capital city of Haiti.
