Driving (GTA* Port-au-Prince)

After the Christmas vacation we decided it was time for another step towards independence and started driving ourselves. We did drive in Haiti before, but not inside the city. The roads are very steep. Usually unpaved. With many holes. They are two way, but often not wide enough for two cars. The cars are huge (including ours), usually some kind of 4x4. There are people on the side of the roads. Walking, selling, buying, working. The side of the roads is often ON the road. Children try to cross, but there are no organized places for that. People are crossing with heavy loads of merchandize on their heads, or women with large buckets of water on their way back from the well (both inside the city and outside). At night there are no lights, and the dark skin color of the population only makes it harder. In addition there are tap-taps which are small pickup trucks that act as mini buses. They usually are packed full of people that are many times expected to jump in and out without the pickup coming to a full stop. Every little disturbance becomes a huge traffic jam in the streets that are already very jammed 80% of the time. And there are many accidents both due to the conditions and the fact that road rules are somewhat vague and the way to aquire a driver’s license is to pay someone to print it for you.

So, we drive. Carefully. Already scratched the car a few times, but all during parking - probably due to a combination of the size of the car and too much worrying about the many other elements of the street. We like being able to control our schedule, and not having someone always waiting for us, but after many years behind the wheel and being a confident driver – in Haiti I’m a ‘new driver’ all over again.

* GTA- Grand Theft Auto is a popular video game. I’ve never played it, but the stories I’ve heard remind me of what’s happening when I drive here.