"is it safe to travel to Haiti?"

"If you take a bus to Port-au-Prince, make sure your ride is there to pick you up right when you get off. Better yet, don't get out of the bus until you can actually see your ride, and make sure you have to walk no more than ten yards to get there. When I [finally] saw [my friend's] car through the traffic, it was as if the clouds had parted and a ray of sunshine directly from God was shining down upon me," a friend wrote to me the other day about his bus trip from Les Cayes to Port-au-Prince. Though overjoyed to hear he was unharmed, I must say I was not surprised at his tale. My word to the wise always is, "unless you are Haitian, don't get on the bus in the first place."

Despite the fact that things really are better in Haiti these days, my friend's bus trip confirms that safety still has a lot to do with circumstances. In late Spring of 2007, a boat of westerners sailed into the waters of southern Haiti - coming into Les Cayes to fuel and gear up. They found the island fascinating and, not having planned to do so and unfamiliar with the country, decided to spend a little time visiting around the coast. The next evening, while anchored off another coastal town in the southern department, they were attacked. A mob of Haitians had cut their line, and were walking and boating across the sandbars and shallow harbor with torches chanting for money. The small group of sailors, who were too far for any timely rescue, managed to escape - but only just.

The near misses are not reported. That my Creole-speaking American friend got "scared for the first time" in Haiti will not be in a U.N. report. That a boat of westerners almost did not make it is certainly not evening news. But these anecdotes are important because they reveal a continued state of volatility in Haiti. Travelers should feel more comfortable about the kidnapping situation (or relative lack there of) and a safer capital city, but they should still heed travel warnings to stay away from potential mob scenes, avoid public transportation (or tap-taps, as they are called), etc. etc.

I have decided to take up blogging again (for several reasons) and begin with this topic because lately I have received several emails from people traveling to Haiti and their primary concern is usually security. These people are finding me through expat directories and Google searches for Haiti. Thus, let this entry show that 1) I still stay up on what's going on down there, 2) I am more than happy to share my opinions, 3) I am going to start sharing them more regularly here!