...are you going to Haiti Verte? ...remember me to one who lives there...

Tuesday was May Day, the Feast of St. Joseph, the worker, and International Workers’ Day. No worked, no one went to school. At this time of year, the Les Cayes arts and agriculture community puts on “Haiti Verte,” a little festival held in a manicured park in Bergeau.

Bergeau is situated in the hills in the outskirts of Les Cayes. It has a slightly cooler climate than the city due to closer proximity to mountains and a river. It also has a slightly wealthier community. The happily situated park where Haiti Verte took place could exist in Miami, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Cuba… well, you get the idea. It’s tropical. It’s classy. Walking through the gate and up the verdant hills, one almost forgets the surrounding poverty.

On Monday night, Haiti Verte was alive with music, smells of cooking food, flowers and honey, sounds of children playing and people laughing. I ran into many acquaintances that had come to stroll through the park, browse the arts and crafts, eat and drink. Immediately, I thought of my childhoods in Maine when my parents took me to the Blue Hill Fair. How strange to find the equivalent social gathering in a country that seems only famous for its poverty, gang crime and corruption.

a visual taste of Vache

This is the west coast of the island of Ile-a-Vache -- the bay called Abaka.
The private beaches of the private resort. We were the only ones around to enjoy the Harry Belafonte blasting from my iPod speakers and see this beautiful sunset.

A water spout formed over Les Cayes -- on our return voyage we were doused by a good tropical rain storm. The spout died when it hit land.

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