Labadee, Haiti

[Martin Hash]

Haiti is often in the news as one of the poorest nations in the world, yet it shares half of the same island with the Dominican Republic which is repetitively well off? There's a famous picture of where the boundary of the two nations meet, and the difference is stark indeed. That's a result of the fact that Christopher Columbus settle the Dominican Republic, and the French-exploited slaves in Haiti, followed by a long line of corrupt and ineffectual leadership. To put it in a uncouth president’s words: Haiti is a shithole. That’s why Royal Caribbean cruise lines bought a 99-year lease on a small peninsula separated from the rest of the island by cliffs to make an American-friendly resort, called Labadee, with zip-lines, jet-skis, picturesque white sand beaches, and a children’s water park. It was perfect for our family, which included 30-somethings, grandparents & a 2-year old.



Food was provided by the ship, and the bars took our card keys. I don’t feel like were actually in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. We were protected from all that, an artificial paradise, but they couldn’t do anything about the smell; I overheard one of the other guests refer to it as “rancid barbecue sauce,” and though I’ve never smelled that before, I will forever more associate it with the smell of Haiti.

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