On Up to PÃ ©tionville:
We had business in PÃ ©tionville this same afternoon, so after a stop in the Plaza Hotel we continued on. PÃ ©tionville is the ritzy suburb above Port-au-Prince, where many diplomats, plutocrats and officials reside, some of the houses worth up to a half-million dollars or more I am told. This is "the other side of the railroad tracks" in some respects, the bourgeois side, as opposed to the teaming proletariat of Port-au-Prince, to be a bit stereotypical. A little history of the the area might be in order:
Pà ©tionville is a commune and a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the hills east and separate of the city itself on the northern hills of the Massif de la Selle. It was named after Alexandre Sabà ¨s Pà ©tion (1770-1818), the Haitian general and president later recognized as one of the country's four founding fathers. The district is primarily a residential and tourist area. Pà ©tionville is part of the city's metropolitan area, one of the most affluent areas of the city, where the majority of tourist activity takes place, and one of the wealthiest parts of the country. Many diplomats, foreign businessmen, and a large number of wealthy citizens do business and reside within Pà ©tionville. (source)
This is also where The Club de PÃ ©tionville (Petionville Club) Golf Courseis situated, whose tennis courts were more or less commandeered by the 82nd Airborne when they bivouacked in the area, but the club is even better known for housing, on its spacious greens, the J/P Haitian Relief Organization, the well-run earthquake relief camp of over 50,000 Haitians established by Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn. On her earlier trip to Haiti, Georgianne, accompanied by Andre, had a rather interesting meeting with Sean, but today we would not have time to visit the camp.
These dwellings were not hit so badly by the earthquake. Overall, PÃ ©tionville suffered less damage than Port-au-Prince.
Graffitti decorate our way.
School kids running out of the way. We are not far from Sean Penn's camp.
A narrow road with many houses still standing
The vendors seem to be selling more expensive wares here.
A tall apartment house or condominium being repaired
A small park with refugee tents in the distance.
A largely undamaged church from where I stand
Ritzier houses on this pleasant looking street. Some say PÃ ©tionville is like Beverly Hills with razor wire, an allusion to the reality of class tensions in Haiti.
- by Mac
When in Rome do as the Romans do: We stopped in here for dinner, the Cafe del'Europe, before proceeding onto our next rendezvous: an invitation to a real Vodou ceremony. Definitely stay tuned for that.
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