Petionville restaurants

Kokoye Restaurant

During a stay at the Allamanda Hotel I ate at Macdoos and Kokoye.  The Lebanese restaurant Macdoos is about 500 ft away from Allamanda on Rue Oge.  It had great food, but loud music and a lot of people on a Friday night.  Most of the customers looked Lebanese. Kokoye is more relaxed and has outdoor seating and good pizza. On Saturday nights the band Extase is on stage. They play a combination of Haitian and Cuban/Latin music - very enjoyable and not so loud you couldn't have conversation. I also visited the Best Western restaurant Le Michel for Saturday morning coffee before heading to the nearby Galeried'art Collection Flamboyant at 9 Darguin.

Le Michel at the Best Western Hotel.

Galerie d'art Collection Flamboyant at 9 Darguin

Galerie d'art Collection Flamboyant at 9 Darguin

Macdoos menu

Macdoos menu

Falafel and vegetarian fatteh at Macdoos

More paintings by Wilnot

Wilnot with 2 paintings I commissioned - not for sale!

My last night in Port Au Prince I was fortunate to see Wilnot Mercier, the artist from whom I bought paintings in this previous blog.  I bought several more from him, including the two he is holding which were commissioned and not for sale.  Let me know if you'd like to buy one of the others pictures.  They are $30 each plus whatever it costs to ship them to you.  All are 12x12 inches, and all but two are on wood frames.

Not on a frame

SOLD!

SOLD!

SOLD!

SOLD!

SOLD!

Paintings by Wilnot

I am helping a young Haitian man, Wilnot Mercier, sell his paintings to put himself through school and support his adopted son.  I met Wilnot in 2009 at an art class that an American woman held to help Haitians in the Central Plateau discover their talents.  Wilnot has come a long way from the first paintings I bought from him.

These are for sale for $35.  $30 goes directly to Wilnot, $5 to me for shipping them from Haiti.  Oil painting on canvas on wood frame.  12in. x 12in.

SOLD!

SOLD!

SOLD!

Nor for sale.  WIlnot 2009.

Nor for sale.  WIlnot 2010.

Centre Lumière Boutique in Simon

Hats, tissue holders, an apron.

I like to post about the gift and artisan shops I come across in Haiti to help promote locally made items, since it seems most of the stuff here is imported from China.  Only recently have I become aware of a cute boutique only 10 minutes from Les Cayes, in the neighborhood of Simon.  It is Center Lumière, whose business card says “Teacher training school for home economics and self-help-projects in Haiti.”  The centre is a place for women in the area to learn to make beautiful embroidered and crocheted decorative and useful items. 

Doll clothes

Center Lumière is located on the east end of Rue Simon.  Driving east on Rue Simon from the direction of the paved road to the airport, continue straight past the church with the high rock walls (do not turn right as if you are going to the hospital).  In ½ mile (?) you will come to a nicely built rock wall on the left with an orange gate (see photo).  Enter there, and the boutique is the building on the right.  I think they are open weekdays 9 – 3pm.  Their email is info@centrelumiere.de.

Christmas embroidery.

Purses, aprons, embroidered things.

Bags, aprons, children's dresses.

Crocheted sweaters

The boutique

Entrance to Centre Lumiere.

Day 3 – St. Marc and Ti Rivye

With Larmier's son in front of his art studio.

(Day 3 of this mini-tour of Haiti)  After leaving the plantation museum around noon, we continued along the coast to St. Marc.  The grocery store mentioned in the Bradt Haiti guide had gone out of business, but we found another on the town square.  We stocked up on some snacks for lunch, then continued to Ti Rivye to visit the bird artist Larimer and his art studio which sits along the highway near the west edge of town.  I have mentioned him in these posts.  If you are interested in his bird art contact me.  It was great to see him again and see where he lives. 

 

Baby goats at the fort.

Larimer and some friends took us for a tour of the local historic sights: Palace of 365 Doors and Fort Crete-a-Pierrot.  A high school social studies teacher was with us and explained the history of these places.  The palace was built in 1816 by Henri Christophe and is being restored (we had to find a man who had to find a key to let us in).  The fort was attacked by Napoleon’s army in 1802.  The Haitians were holed up there for 20 days and used voodoo to fight off the French.  We stopped at a hotel* on the west edge just to see what it was like – another one is nearby.  Contact me if you would like guided tours of this area and we can track down the social studies teacher.  

We continued through the Artibonite Valley to pick up a friend of Rhoda’s who needed a ride to Port, passing the turn to the famous Saut d'Eau waterfall and also the new Partners in Health hospital in Mirebalais, the town where the cholera outbreak started.  Finally meeting up with National Highway 3 and taking it south back to Port.  We ended our journey around 8pm at home in Tabarre.  

Palace of 365 Doors.

Fort Crete-a-Pierrot

View from the fort of the Artibonite River.

Common sight in the valley - rice drying by the side of the road.

*La Piscina Hotel disclaimer – I don’t know the owner and didn’t stay at this hotel.  I just want to let travelers know it is an option if you are in Ti Rivye.  There is another hotel, d’Ossieau nearby.

La Piscina Parc Hotel near the west side of Ti Rivye.

Entrance to the hotel (pink building) as seen from the highway.

The pool at the hotel.

Day 1 – Apparent Project and Art Fair

This continues my 3-day road trip post.  On Saturday Day 1 we went to Papillon Enterprises, the boutique of the Apparent Project which strives to prevent orphanages by teaching job skills to its employees who create jewelry and art.  Thus the employees have income and don’t need to put their kids in orphanages which are big business in Haiti (even I was encouraged to start one as a business venture).  Many ‘orphans’ are really kids whose parents were desperate enough that they gave them to strangers at an ‘orphanage’ to be cared for.  There are even people who go around collecting kids for these orphanages, where the kids essentially work as slaves and may be sold to other people, while the person running it collects all the donated money.  I know this from a friend who reunites these kids with their families.

Workers at the Apparent Project make their own beads out of Haitian clay.  It is a refreshing change from all the rolled bead projects that have become popular (which they also make).  Last year here in Les Cayes I met a woman selling jewelry she had made through this program.  It was nice to see that the store and woman who runs the business actually exist!  (I’ll have to do another post on all the foundations that I’ve been asked to support!).

We then spent the afternoon at the art fair at the Parc Historique de la Canne a Sucre (Sugar Cane Museum).  It cost 300 gds (~$7US) to get in, and the ticket came with a free pop, 50gds in digicel minutes, and 150gds to use at any booth.  

There were the typical metal art, ash(?) sculpture, and food/syrupy alcohol product booths.  But new to me were the handcrafted fashion products.  The Apparent Project had a booth there.  Others included variations of beaded purses and sandals, scarves and dresses, and crocheted dresses, sandals, and bathing suits.  The clothing was quite expensive, >$100US for some items.

Our best find was a paper mache barn owl which Rhoda bought for me!  I will use it in teaching and fill it with candy so kids have a good association with owls (which most people seem to associate with demons).

We ended our outing with a trip to the grocery store which deserves its own post, as I live in Les Cayes which seems to have slim pickings compared to the Port grocery stores.  Stay tuned for Day 2 at  the beach!

Look for the pink gate to go to the Apparent Project boutique.

Beads made and sold at the Apparent Project boutique.

Entrance to art fair was across from the US Embassy.

Too much metal art - if anyone who runs the art fair reads this, contact me for suggestions!

Fashion booths

Pressing sugar cane for fresh juice.

Apparent Project gifts.  A new bag that isn't so long it hits the moto wheels!