HinchePersonal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Hinche, Haiti. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Hinche and navigate the world using Google Earth Show on map
N 19° 8.715
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The way to Hinche has been described elsewhere - suffice to say, it was a long, bumpy and arduous ride in two stages from Cap Haïtien. Knowing that one day we would have to go back the same way, we walked into town. Pretty soon, we were sold: it took little time to feel welcome and relaxed about this central Haitian town in the hills of the Cordillera central of Hispaniola. Instead of taking one of the many motortaxis plying the streets of Hinche, we preferred to walk - and walk we did during our visit!
After having seen some other parts of Haiti, we were pleasantly surprised by the neat streets, the cleanliness that had been lacking in other parts of the country, the bright houses most of which seemed to have been painted just the day before, the wide streets almost without traffic, and the inhabitants. We were introduced to many teenagers who had cleverly studied English and were offering themselves as interpreters, but who were anyway in to a conversation about life in Hinche when they found out that we were not working for any particular organisation but merely traveling. On the way to Hinche, we had seen beautiful nature: rolling green hills, cliffs, river crossings, lone farms, and lots of mango trees pregnant with loads of the heavenly tropical fruit. So, after having explored the town, we just walked out in several directions, through fields and over small hills on the dirt roads fanning out of Hinche. 
We found some great views, met joyful people who installed a chair in their garden and invited us for a photoshoot of themselves and anyone passing by at that moment. When one afternoon we were surprised by torrential rain, we were invited under the roof of a family, some of whom then had to stand in the rain. There was no way to make them sit on the chairs they offered to us. When later we came back to town, we saw kids playing under the water outlet of houses, running around naked, jumping in the water pools on the street - turning the heavy rains into a makeshift water paradise. Once again, it showed how inventive kids can be and how happy simple things can make them. We also visited the new cathedral just as the sun was setting, projecting a deep orange and pink colour in the clouds above us - with a fantastic backdrop to the contours of the cathedral.
