Transport Chic - bus between Les Cayes and Port

The bus in Les Cayes, with our luggage on top.

Last week we took the Transport Chic bus back to Port au Prince from Les Cayes.  The bus was great!  And air conditioned.  It stopped in Miragoane for a bathroom and food break at a restaurant/convenience store.  It dropped a couple people off at the towns closer to Port, so you could probably hop off anywhere along the way.  And the ticket was only $10.  You buy it at the bus station the day before.

They strapped luggage to the top of the bus (you get to take one piece of luggage-on-top for free, and no one asked for a tip to put it up there or take it down).  The stop in Les Cayes is along the main road into downtown, Ave. des Quatre Chemins.  We had a 9am ticket for a bus that didn't leave until 10am.  But you want to be there in time to get on first so you don't end up with the little middle aisle seat that folds down.  And sitting up front might make you nervous - you'll see all the things that the bus is trying to pass, and all the traffic coming toward you.  We were oblivious to this in the back row, except for Don who could see right down the aisle.

The stop in Port is across from the stadium, at a very busy intersection.  The Transport Chic office building is painted purple.  We arrived at the terminal at 2:30pm, so it was a 4.5 hr ride, with about 20 minutes at the stop in Miragoane around noon.  We passed through Leogane around 12:30pm.

Here is someone else's post about it: http://sweethaiti.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/transport-chic-air-conditioned-mini-buses-to-les-cayes/ 

Inside the bus.

The blans had the back row to themselves.

The office in Port au Prince.

Looking at the stadium across the street from the Port au Prince office.

Great workshop at AUC

We had a great 2-day workshop for the sophomores at AUC.  The first day was in the classroom, where Dr. Donald Huggins and I discussed the biological, chemical, and physical components of watersheds and water quality.  Students asked a lot of thoughtful questions.  The second day we all went to a river crossing in Simon where we applied all the classroom concepts by filling out a stream evaluation form and measuring the in situ chemistry of the stream.  Dr. Huggins even found a dragonfly nymph to demonstrate how they catch prey.  Thanks to the University of Kansas for helping with funding and to AUC for hosting us!