Topic: Bonjour from Port-au-Prince, Haiti!

[benjamin550]

It has been at least a few months since I have posted on the forum here, and about that long since, sadly, I've been on my bike. I recently took a job in Port-au-Prince, Haiti as a Development worker with a local Haitian-run news agency. I will be working with their multimedia department to strengthen it over the next two years. So far it has been quite an adventure, PAP is a crazy city to say the least, but I like all the craziness so I'm having fun.


Heres a little delima I have if anyone cares to weigh in. Yes it's motorcycle related.

I thought when I came here i could just pick up an old Honda for a couple hundred bucks and be good to go, but there is not much, at all, of a used vehicle market here for cars or bikes. Even a 30 year old used car runs 5-6K, and you definitely don't want to buy a used car in Haiti. This of course leaves me with only one option, a motorcycle. 99% of motorcycles here are chinese. There are probably a dozen different brands, but I have a suspicion they are made by the same 2 or 3 companies, and from what I can tell, they're junk. BUT, they are cheap. 800.00 USD for a small 150 and 1600.00 USD for a 250 off road version, brand new. They don't look bad, just made form cheap parts. But, if they break, parts are easy to come by, and cheap to get. The other option is, of course, a much costlier Japanese bike. I went to look at some the other day and it seems the Honda XR125L costs around 3,800.00 USD out the door, brand new. The 250 model was almost 5K. I don't really have 4K sitting around to buy a bike, but I know if I bought a Honda, it probably wouldn't leave me stranded in the middle of no where. I could really only afford the 125 though if i got a Honda, but if I went with the CHinese bike, I could get a 250. They are pretty quick from what i hear. And Ive been told if you take good care of them they should be ok, sort of.

 So, here is the delima- Settle for a cheap chinese bike that might last 2 years with a few repairs along the way, or fork out the dough for a nice, new Honda, which I could probably sell in 2 years when i leave. But it's a lot more for a temporary bike.

Here are some of the Chinese brands if anyone has heard of them:

Jailing
Kayak
Sukida
Hajin (sp?)
Apollo

Thoughts?

Kohl

[scunny]

I've worked on a couple of the chinese brand bikes, the motors seem fine, the frames and suspension are crap. since you are on a budget tho and probably not going to go off road riding much the chinese bikes should do. I don't recognise any of those brand names.

[benjamin550]

Scunny, thanks for the quick reply? How are the electronics on them? Any brand you know better than another? My only real worry is one of them leaving me stuck somewhere.

[Stev-o]

Hi Ben......I'd go with the quality Japanese bike, you'll have a reliable ride and good resale in two years. Can't you find a used Honda?

We've heard the stories how POP is still tore up and 100's of thousands are still living in tents. Have there been delays in rebuilding the city?

[mcpuffett]

Hi Ben i would go with the Honda, we have the cheap chinese bikes here in the uk and they are junk, they just fall apart hope this helps  , cheers Mick.

[azuredesign]

My son has a Chinese bike in Haiti, it runs on occasion, from what I hear. I also understand that many roads in PAP, as well as in other parts of the country are at least as rough as fireroads, and sometimes a lot worse.

Would it be a good idea to contact someone like these folks to ask about bikes in general, and as well used bikes?

http://motocaribe.com/two-wheels-in-paradise/

Good luck!

[benjamin550]

Steve-O,
You'd think you could find a used honda, but usually the people who buy them, keep them. After all, if you take good care of a honda, it should last a really long time, so why sell it? The only possibility would be to buy a Honda off of an expat that lived here for a couple of years and then left, but it would just be dumb luck to come across one of those. There isnt exactly a craigslist here.

Yes, there are certainly many, many people still in tent camps. Most of the once nice city parks and public areas are still tent camps. There are also thousands of people that live outside the city in huge tent camps set up by USAID or other organizations. The problem is what was meant to be temporary housing is turning permanent as people start to add to their "tents" with cardboard, plywood and sheet metal. You can't blame them for it either, their trying to make their homes better, but it makes them much harder to justify relocation when your talking about semi-permanent houses rather than just tents. Also, since most of the "tent cities" are a good ways outside the city, there is no real infrastructure. People don't work there because there are no jobs where they are, and to take a bus into PAP for work would likely be counterproductive as it would cost a days wages just to get back and forth. Its a no win situation. In once case there was promise of a textile factory opening up near the tent camp which, when word spread, drew people out of the city and into camp, only for the factory to be canceled. There are probably 9 million reasons why progress has been so slow here, and you can hardly blame any one factor. Bad government management of aid funds is certainly a big one though.

Overall though I have found PAP to be a FAR LESS dangerous city than I ever imagined. I walk everywhere and take "public transportation" and I have found Haitians to be quite helpful and friendly. It is sad that people are so turned off by visiting Haiti because of its rough history, and the violence shown on TV. It seems that the only time we hear about haiti it is when something bad happens, and the images shown on TV come from small, run down parts of the city such as the famous Cite Soleil.
Its too bad because there are some seriously, seriously beautiful things to see here.

Azuredesign-

What does your son do in Haiti? Does he live in PAP?

[Duke McDukiedook]

Hi Ben......I'd go with the quality Japanese bike, you'll have a reliable ride and good resale in two years. Can't you find a used Honda?

We've heard the stories how POP is still tore up and 100's of thousands are still living in tents. Have there been delays in rebuilding the city?

Of course, when you have that many NGO's doing what they please with zero coordination not much gets accomplished.