One night in the border town
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2006
1
53
173
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
hotel juan calvo
Dajabon, Haiti
Friday, April 27, 2007
After the 2 hour bus ride into Dajabon i convientaly walked just 2 blocks to the 'Hotel Juan Calvo' and was given a nice small room with cable for 330 pesos which is just 10usd.. that night i had a small walk around the town which felt pretty safe and sank a few Presidente beers before calling it a night.. If i was to stay in Dajabon again i'd probably call in at 'Hotel Massacre', which is only a couple of blocks from the border and has a creepy name that stands out as a horror movie title, the real reason behind the name (i believe) it's because it's next to a river were Trujillo the former dictator of Dom Rep ordered the killing of 20,000 haitiens,
As i started towards the border i began thiking, 'kris, what are you doing? why are you thinking off walking into Haiti all alone? what are you getting yourself into?' The border post is a hive of activity.. as you wait to get your passport processed you have a view over the river which separates the 2 countries along with the bridge which is protected by UN peacekeepers. There are many haitens in the river bathing, washing clothes and kids playing. On the bank there are women killing chickens whilst young men hanging out in the shade of the large trees. I was approached by a haiten tourist guide who is there to help people move back and forth over the border, as it looked a little intimidating on the other side of the bridge i decided to enlist the help of one of these guides, mine was called Jean-Jean and is well known with the border guards and can cross all day long helping with problems, translations and passport control for a small fee. He sorted me out a ride straight to Cap Haitien, set me up with the immigration/passport control up the hill in Ouanaminthe and then i was on the road with my private pickup, as i was too pussy to jump aboard a Tap-tap (the local bus term) into town straight away.. The ride is amazing, and i was thinking of a line at the start of the haiti entry of my lonely planet, "Haiti can leave even the most hardened traveller shell-shocked" ..the road takes about 2 or 3 hours, i wasn't paying attention to the time though, the dirt road you travel along was heavily potholed, passing through a ford in a river and many small poverished villages, i haven't been to sub sahara africa yet but i'm guessing from the documentries i've watched it resemble a small rural central african village.
My chafeur as he called himself dropped me down to my Hotel, checked the room with me and made sure i was happy before making his long jouney back to his hometown of Ouanaminthe. My hotel cost only 10 dollars a night and lacks any luxuries (and some neccesities) and isn't aimed for foreign tourists but suits me because i could sleep anywhere.
