Where do you live? That's easy: we live in Haiti. But where is Haiti? Could you point it out on a map of the world? Can you distinguish it from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic? Hopefully the following will give you a better idea of where we are and how to get here.
Let's start large with a zoomed out view. Haiti is located in the western hemisphere kind of halfway between North and South America. It is an island in the Caribbean not far from Jamaica, Cuba or Puerto Rico.
If you zoom in a little closer you find the island of Hispaniola. This island 10,714 square miles (or 27,750 square kilometers). The island was the second place that Christopher Columbus landed when he came to the New World. The Spanish claimed it as their own but the French eventually captures the western 1/3 of the island. Today the Dominican Republic and Haiti share the island.
Haiti is a beautiful country. It is surrounded by the ocean and a land of mountains. Some of the mountains along the southern peninsula rise to over 8,700 feet (that's over 2,600 meters). Travel is difficult because the rudimentary roads have to travel around instead of over or through the mountains. It does make for some beautiful scenery though.
When you fly into Port-au-Prince, the capital of the country, you are still over an hour from our house near Kaliko Beach. You have to travel up Route National #1 to the house we rent in the area of Kaliko or Carries. And from there is it an hour ferry ride to the island of Lagonav where the churches are located.
The following two images are from Google Earth. The imagery is a little old, but you can see the highway crossing the image from southeast to northwest. The large ravine is mostly dry and can be seen as the white strip going from northeast to southwest. The large sandy area is the site of Estrella Engineering who are redoing the road. Our house in a small neighborhood with lots of trees and greenery.
Just one part of the trip left - to the island of La Gonave (or Lagonav in Haitian Creole). The image shows the wharf at Carries, only 1.5 miles from our house and the wharf on the island. The tracks are from various ferry rides I have taken over the last few months. Never the same way twice!
Lagonav is also a mountainous island. The southern half is an up and down ride with the highest point at about 2,600 feet. One of our churches is located right near the highest point on a plateau. The island of Lagonav levels out as you journey north. The island has a population of approximately 110,000 people on an island 287 square miles (743 square kilometers).
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