Uncovering Haiti!

Rodin's, "The Thinker" pose - What will we discover tomorrow?
(with American teacher, Peter Billings)

On the outside looking in, it would appear as if there is not a lot going on in Haiti, but nothing could be further from the truth. For a developing country, commerce is in full swing. What the typical outsider might see when going to the store are rocky dirt roads or brick paver roads with the occasional potholes so big that if you drove over one you may come out the other side missing a tire, or manholes in the road waiting for their steel covers to be returned.  But what you see on the outside isn’t necessarily what you find on the inside. 

Having the option of shopping at a number of groceries stores is surprising and what is even more shocking is walking in to one.  They are big, bold and beautiful! The vegetables, fruit, meat and bread choices are no different from where I come from in south Florida and what's more, all of these stores sell beer and wine!
 

Restaurants are incredible.  Once you get past the entrance (which at most places I have visited all appear very sketchy) and you walk in, most restaurants are an oasis. Many of them have a European flair even down to the hooka’s. The beef, pork and chicken entrees leave you wanting more.  Some of my favorite places have been very small two table joints where you can visit with the owner while the ladies only ten feet away are making your meal.  

The beach hotels and resorts along the coast of Haiti are "breathtakingly Caribbean" and while being driven along the beach roads with Jimmy Buffett music playing, it is very easy to "mentally" get lost.   As a true Florida girl, it is easy for me to compare the beautiful South Florida beaches to all things consisting of sand, surf and sun, and I would honestly have to say, that the Caribbean beaches here are a close runner up to my home "turf".
 

From this writer’s perspective, if someone from the outside were looking in on what I am discovering, they would see that Haiti is being enjoyed very much.