Why a guide to Haiti now?
Paul Clammer, October 2012
The most common question I’ve been asked about writing a guidebook to Haiti is probably ‘Why?’
In the preconceptions of many people the
country was turned to rubble during the earthquake of January 12 2010, or they see it as a hotbed of coups and Vodou.
The answer is a little more encouraging. Any country trying to build a tourist industry might give their eye-teeth for a portfolio like Haiti’s – it has a rich cultural heritage that lives through its art, music and religion. Its history – written across its landscape – is astounding, a country born out of the world’s only successful slave revolution to become the first independent black republic. Oh, and did I mention the palm-fringed beaches
with white sand and turquoise sea?
And yet Haiti seems to resolutely remain a ‘bad news’ country. It gets poked and prodded by the international community, too frequently a laboratory for projects from international development to globalisation and everything in between. Media reports often simply reduce the entire nation to a single line – ‘the poorest country in the Western hemisphere’ – a moniker that obfuscates rather than enlightens. Yes, Haiti has economic and developmental problems, which the guide fully breaks down, but it is hardly unique in that.
Haiti deserves a much closer look as you will find when you explore the mountains and historic fortresses, squeeze into buses or just have a cold beer at a street-side bar, learning Creole and listening to locals tell their own stories.
So in answer to the question...I wrote this guide to Haiti now because I wanted to subvert people’s expectations of Haiti. It is an endlessly fascinating and beautiful place that I hope travellers will discover and enjoy with my guidebook.
Copyright 2012 Paul Clammer