Overview:
In Part 3 of ‘Thirteen days in Haiti,’ Haiti editor Fritznel D. Octave sees old places with fresh eyes and new developments whose causes haven’t changed as he criss-crosses the country.
Editor’s note: This is the last of three installments about this travel series. See the first part here and the second part here.
CAP-HAITIEN— As my journey to Haiti reached its final stretch, the country’s contradictions felt sharper than when I first touched down just seven days earlier. The time had unfolded like a series of colliding realities. Progress and decay coexist, often within the same single mile—or less.
From the high plateaus of Bombardopolis and Baie-de-Henne in the lower Northwest to the Gonaïves plains in the Artibonite Valley, from the tip of Cap-Haïtien in the North to the heights of Camp-Perrin in the South, my journey revealed how profoundly the country had changed in the years I’ve been away.
Coastlines flooded by Hurricane Melissa sent surges onto newly paved stretches of roads. Half-abandoned police stations stood around vibrant outdoor markets and luxury homes. Small-time vendors hoisted loads onto their backs and trekked past diaspora-funded mansions rising from the hills. Each place carries its own truth, but all reflect the same fragile balance between endurance and unraveling. Once-isolated communities now see regular truck and SUV traffic. Neighborhoods that had only footpaths and donkey trails now resemble modern roads. Meanwhile, many older routes have shrunk or eroded, erased by time, storms and neglect.
In this final installment of my 13-day traveling across four departments are moments depicting Haiti’s quiet transformations as they collide with deepening national crises. It traces my path from Gonaïves back to Cap-Haïtien, then to Les Cayes and back to Cap-Haïtien again, chronicling Days 8 through 13. The portrait that emerges is of a homeland that remains battered and uncertain, yet still propelled by resilience, community effort and the refusal of ordinary Haitians to let collapse define their future.
Tensions mount on Morne Puilboreau after crash
Day 8 — Monday, Nov. 3
Leaving Gonaïves to head north to Cap-Haïtien is a very steep, hilly, physically draining road. At Morne Puilboreau, an especially treacherous stretch between Ennery and Plaisance, a truck overloaded with people and merchandise flipped onto its side.
For hours, the crash blocked traffic as people scrambled, transported the sole injured person to a hospital in Plaisance via motorcycle, then tried to get the truck upright. Meanwhile, two fuel tanker drivers rushing to bypass the downed truck narrowly missed crashing into each other at the edge of the cliffs there. Then, they nearly came to blows over who would move first.
Passengers from the fallen truck—mostly ‘Madan Sara’ vendors—moved aside their merchandise to clear the blocked section.
No police came. Locals directed traffic.
Once again, Haiti’s unwritten rule held: People solve problems that the government cannot or ignores.
Google Maps showing part of the National Road 1 that connects Gonaïves in the Artibonite to Plaisance in the North, via Ennery’s Morne Puilboreau.
No luggage, but a delightful surprise, back home
Day 9 — Tuesday, Nov. 4
The 40-minute flight south to my hometown on Monday night was smooth. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing for my luggage.
My suitcase didn’t arrive with me, so I had to return the next day to pick it up from exhausted Sunrise Airways employees—swamped with moving and checking delayed luggage for angry passengers. As I looked around the newly upgraded Antoine Simon International Airport, I noticed it looked cleaner and more orderly than Cap-Haïtien’s port. The roads are in much better condition.
Children riding bikes in the Levy Mersan neighborhood near Antoine Simon International Airport in Les Cayes on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Photo by Fritznel D. Octave/The Haitian Times
Welcome to Les Cayes: A city holding the line
Day 10 — Wednesday, Nov. 5
In this southern haven, police inspected every vehicle and passenger entering the city via the National Road 2, which connects to Port-au-Prince, as a strategy to prevent gang infiltration from the capital.
Tap-taps teeming with vendors and goods navigated more orderly streets. Compared to Cap-Haïtien, Les Cayes felt like a completely normal small city you’d find anywhere in the Caribbean. Even signs of the latest punch by Hurricane Melissa were visible mostly close to the beachside.
Plage Gelée: Beauty buried in trash
Day 11 — Thursday, Nov. 6
Once a jewel of a beach that drew tourists, honeymooners, festivalgoers and other leisure seekers, Plage Gelée is now overrun by mounds of plastic, overgrown seaweed and farm animals. Hurricane Melissa’s passage only added to the flotsam and jetsam.
“Hotels and entertainment sites stand empty due, primarily, to Haiti’s security crisis, keeping away most visitors,” Clonès Dominique, a fisherman who lives near the Les Cayes beach, lamented.
Yet, even as cows graze along the shore that couples once hoofed leisurely, coconut vendors still push around wheelbarrows of the fruit, offering the refreshment, refusing to let the beach die.
An un-ministerial visit and an unforgettable waterfall
Day 12 — Friday, Nov. 7
Signal Bertrand, head of Haiti’s Health Ministry, toured the South and Southeast. During his visit to a local hotel in Camp-Perrin, his staff behaved unprofessionally, flirting with hotel employees and making inappropriate jokes that made their targets and observers visibly uncomfortable.
Later that day, I visited Saut-Mathurine—an emerald basin fed by a towering waterfall cascade and hot springs that I had visited 27 years prior. Local divers performed feats worthy of travel documentaries. Villagers shared coconuts and their stories of countryside tranquility, worlds away from the dangers of Port-au-Prince.
Local divers such as Watson Brutus showcase their skills for visitors of Saut-Mathurine in Camp-Perrin. Here, Brutus describes their connection to the stunning waterfall during a visit on Friday, November 7, 2025. Video by Fritznel D. Octave/The Haitian Times
Resident Deky Madet contrasting the area with “unsafe” Port-au-Prince while serving visitors with coconut water at the Saut-Mathurine waterfall in Camp-Perrin on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. Video by Fritznel D. Octave/The Haitian Times
An overdue team meet-up! And ‘Tap Tap Now’
Day 13 — Saturday, Nov. 8
For the first time, I met some of The Haitian Times’ Haiti team in person!
Members of the team assembled from Cap-Haïtien, Fort-Liberté and Gonaïves for this long-overdue meet-up. Earlier in Les Cayes, I also linked up with some freelancers and collaborators in southern Haiti.
It’s surreal to be meeting people for the first time that you’ve worked with for years and are in communication with daily. The brief gathering with them over lunch made me more grateful to them for working through the conditions I experienced and to The Haitian Times for providing that opportunity to the promising, talented professionals Haiti still engenders.
Further down The Boulevard, the environment is less inviting, filled with trash piles. Nonetheless, we shared jokes, fresh seafood, homemade beverages and stories at Lakay Restaurant.
While there, I noticed something new in Haiti: a food delivery person. Similar to an Uber Eats driver, he was making the rounds on a motorcycle, wearing a green vest with Tap Tap Now, the service company’s name, written on the back. What a novelty.
A Tap Tap Now moto-taxi driver leaving Cap-Haitien’s Lakay Restaurant to make deliveries on Saturday, November 8, 2025. Photo by Fritznel D. Octave/The Haitian Times
It all happened while I couldn’t stop watching the contrasts and changes— all at once. Behind me: a coastline overflowing with garbage. In front of me: a team trying to tell Haiti’s story clearly and fearlessly with the utmost sense of insiders.
Then, what was a great day ended with a Cap-Haïtien nightmare: traffic. A trip that should have taken about 15 minutes from Lakay Restaurant to my hotel took roughly two hours. No kidding. Every street was clogged. My moto-taxi driver could not find any opening for one hour and 47 minutes, stuck in a never-before-seen traffic jam.
Leaving Haiti to the sound of music
Bonus time — Sunday, Nov. 9
Moment of farewell from a twoubadou music band near Cap-Haïtien’s Hugo Chavez International Airport on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. Video by Fritznel D. Octave/The Haitian Times
As I departed from Cap-Haïtien, a small troubadour band, known locally as a twoubadou, played while passengers boarded. It was a gentle reminder of what Haiti still offers the world: warmth, culture, rhythm, resilience.
In the end, I left with a notebook full of contradictions—two Haitis, coexisting uneasily: one breathtaking, one bent—but not broken. Yet, both are real. Both are home.
Back in the United States, smiling at Miami International Airport on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025.
Missed the first two installments? Read part one and part two.
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