Where He leads...: October 2014

If you've ever been to Haiti you've certainly noticed the colorful booths on the side of the road. These stalls are called borlettes and they are where Haitians test their luck with the lottery. I've heard figures as high as 35,000+ borlettes throughout the country. You'll find them in nearly every village.

To read an in-depth report by The Fletcher School at Tufts University on the subject of finance and the Haitian lottery click here. The report shares that Haitians generally play the lottery for one of four reasons: to survive, to pass the time, to win, and to decipher. Much like what little I know about gambling in the United States, there are those who play out of desperation—hoping for a payoff, those who play for kicks and the social fun of it, and those who really play to win—and perhaps win enough to make it seem worth it. But the interesting story behind the Haitian lottery is the "strategy" for winning that many Haitians employ... dream interpretation.

The lottery ticket has sets of two-digit numbers. You pick your numbers and wait for the winning combination to be announced. These numbers correlate with lottery drawings in the U.S. Many people who bet at the borlettes believe that your dreams can help you pick winning numbers. They even sell a book called the "tchala" that turns your dreams into numbers. If you dream about a certain object, you can look it up in the book and it will tell you the correlating numbers to choose.For example, if you dream about a pineapple you should pick the numbers 73-19-11. If you dream about a pigeon your numbers should include 24 and 15. If there's a hospital in your dream you should bet on the combination 60-42-32. And so on...

I asked our cook Yvette about the borlettes. "I'm not into that sort of thing," she says. "There's too much chance involved. If I have 1,000 goudes, I don't want to take the chance I'll lose it in a game. I'd rather go spend it on something I actually need." Then she asked if I was going to go play since I was inquiring about it. I tell her no, map kenbe kòb nan pòch mwen (I'll keep my money in my pocket). She laughs and agrees that's the best idea.

[This is a second in a series of posts on FHM's blog about my favorite places in Haiti. You can read the first one about Kokoye Beach here.]

If you have ever been to Haiti you have experienced some or all of the following: extreme heat, anpil soley (lots of sunshine!), the exhaust and dust and chaos of the capitol city traffic, and the endless grey monotone of cinder block and concrete edifices. But just 20 miles from the Port au Prince airport is a sleepy town called St. Michael of Furcy and a gorgeous mountain ringed getaway called the Rustik. Here the grey gives way to endless greens and the bleating car horns and screeching tires are replaced by rooster crows and the soft peals of a church bell. The villagers cook on open wood fires instead of charcoal and the hint of evergreen trees (yes evergreens in Haiti!) and wild mountain mint is everywhere. Those same evergreens and the lush surrounding mountains cast lazy shadows across the entire town and the temperature is a cool 75 days and sometimes in the 50s at night. When the August temps pass the century mark in Port au Prince, St. Michael at Furcy feels, looks and smells a little bit magical.

The Rustik "hotel" is aptly named, the structure is comprised completely of recycled materials. Shipping pallets are the deck railings, industrial wire spool are tables and wall and ceilings while empty wine and liquor bottle windows give each sparse room a stain-glassed glow. Car tires become hanging planters and power transformers wood stoves. The building is nestled on a hillside and large pine trees grow right up through the deck. The view is of a pristine mountain range that glows in the mornings and evenings with every nuance of pink and orange any artist has ever imagined.

Daytime at the Rustik means endless hiking on trails to mountain brooks with miniature waterfalls and icy pools. The air is so clean, so cool, so fresh that you drink it down in great gulps. There is food from the dirt road vendors, akra (fried toro root), marinad (spicy fried bread), smoked chicken, and fire roasted goat. The Rustik has a pretty basic Haitian menu, including banan peze (fried plantains) with extra spicy pikliz, a great akra and mornings, a delicious complimentary omelet for breakfast. Just a half a mile up the road is the area's other restaurant, but besides being pricey, The Lodge offers a first world cuisine coupled with a building and view that transports you to the Rockies and any Colorado ski town. Here you can order a salad with aged Gouda and tree-ripened apples, dine on one of several heavy creamed Crepes, or even get a hand-cut steak flown in from the States. The portions are big which slightly offsets the price, but figure on 15-20 bucks a person and maybe twice that for the steak eaters in your group.

Dinner at The Lodge

The rooms at the Rustik are very bare. The walls are pallet boards and wire spools and whatever other salvaged wood needed to almost fill the gaps. Privacy, and at times warmth, are not luxuries the Rustik affords, and often water is iffy, if not always freezing (although staff is quick to try and pump water to the holding tanks or bring you a bucket if the generator won't start). But at $10-30 a night per person for a room, breakfast included, the bargain is in the experience and the respite from the harsher elements of Haiti. For $100 the more adventurous among you can share the tree house room. It is maybe 50 feet off the ground with no walls and only burlap coffee sacks hanging as semi-private drapes.

If you have a Haiti bucket list, Rustik, or at least a day trip to St. Michael of Furcy is a must. The endless mountainside gardens, the smell of woodsmoke on cool damp air, and the rich, warm hearts of the mountain people will stay with you forever.

**For the family travelers the Rustik is also a bar and there is very loud reggae, hip hop and kompa playing uncensored late into the night.

[This is a post I wrote for FHM's blog.] I plan to do a series of posts throughout the next couple of months on some of my favorite places in Haiti. This first one always comes to mind...

Kokoye Beach ("kokoye" means coconut in Creole) is about a 1.5 hour drive from the guesthouse. To get there you go west toward Petit Goave. After driving through Petit Goave, you go another ten minutes or so and turn right onto a gravel road. Then it's around 20 minutes on that road to where you park your vehicle and commence the 45 minute(ish) hike down to the water. The trail is steep and rocky and slippery, so wear good shoes!

You'll get a sneak peek of the crystal blue water less than 15 minutes into your trek down the mountain. The beautiful view definitely motivates you to keep going!

And of course the view once you reach the beach is worth the hike down the slippery slope!

You are charged a nominal fee of $5 to spend one day at the beach. You can also camp on the beach overnight. I haven't done that yet. And if the hike seems too daunting (it takes a bit longer for most people to hike back up!) you can have a boat ferry you from Petit Goave to Kokoye for a pretty penny—though perhaps not a bad deal if you have a large group.

Like any beach in Haiti, there are people ready to cook you a fresh meal. The typical choices of lobster, fish, and lambi (conch) are offered with fried plantains and piklis accompanying. It's best to call ahead if you have a big group so the vendors can be stocked with plenty of cold drinks... especially bottled water. A meal generally runs $10-15.

Of course you'll be welcomed by the locals, especially the kids. They are typically happy for you to take their photo if you let them see it after you take it. And they'd be especially excited if you printed it out to give to them on your next trip!

Don't forget to take your mask and snorkel! There's a ton of coral to explore and colorful fish to admire. There's even a cave that you can swim into if you're not too claustrophobic!

I don't think it takes much convincing to explain why Kokoye Beach is one of my favorite places in Haiti! It's actually the most gorgeous beach I've ever been to in all my travels! It's an adventure of a lifetime... well worth the effort! Add an extra day to your trip next time you're in Haiti and make a point to visit this tropical paradise!

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