In January 2014 I spent my final night in Haiti at Wall's Guest
house on Delmas 19. It is a beautiful
place, set up like a small hotel. I had
a private room with a beautiful bathroom.
My travel companion had a small room with a bathroom shared by other
small rooms. Wall's was initially run by
Canadians, destroyed during the 2010 quake, and rebuilt, which may explain why
it is so clean and beautiful. The rooms
have AC but no hot water. There is a
pool, and the stay comes with dinner and breakfast. The facilities are
completely walled in, so you can't see what is going on in the neighborhood
outside, and from the outside you don't know there is a guest house behind the
walls. Internet is provided. There is a tiny gift shop. This would be a great place for those who
want comfort in their traveling.
I however want to see Haiti and the activities in the
neighborhood, and price is more important than the level of comfort that Wall's
provides. For the budget traveler I
recommend Matthew 25 House (see this post).
Both places are about the same distance from the airport. Matthew 25 is much cheaper ($40/night), the
meals are better, and they have a great gift shop. Transportation to and from airport and bus
stops is included.
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| Unexciting dinner - hotdogs, pickliz, iceberg lettuce, bread. |
Wall's cost $55 per room per night. They get you in the transportation fees, $33
each way to and from the airport (a 7 minute drive if there is no
traffic)! Totaling $121 for the solitary
traveler! For me that is not worth the
AC and pretty facilities. Also, after
check in at the office, we received no instructions on the use of the
facilities. The manager is pleasant, but just settled payment and that was
it. There are no signs in the bedrooms
about meal times, whether you can use the sink water for brushing or drinking,
whether you can flush the toilet paper.
I had to ask about meals.
I was holding out hope that the dinner would make up for the
cost. Nope! It was hotdogs, French fries, pickliz,
iceberg lettuce, and bread pudding. And
bread and butter. As a vegetarian I was
disappointed, as I had just had pickliz and french fries for my lunch. My companion said the hotdog wasn't that
great, specifically that the Oscar Myer wiener mobile would be passing this
place up! Pop $1US, Prestige beer $2US,
and bottles of wine $20US are available for purchase. Breakfast Sunday morning consisted of cereal,
milk, bread, peanut butter, jelly, cheese, ham(?) slices, grapefruit, and
papaya.
We took a long walk around the neighborhood. Nothing exciting to see. We did end up finding the Seven Star Hotel
and restaurant which had the usual Haitian food. And a road with some hammocks and a lot of
typical paintings. I'll be sticking with
Matthew 25 from now, but am glad to have tried out a different guest house.
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| They gave the male guest this room which shared a bathroom with other small rooms. |
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| As a female I scored the room with the attached bathroom. |
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