21. Haiti

Sugarcane and Magic

Most things in Haiti are imbibed with a little magic, and it’s this sparkle that sets it apart from the rest of the Caribbean.— Emma Thomson, Haiti: A kind of magic, National Geographic, May 18, 2016

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I traveled to Haiti three times with dod: in 1976 for six weeks, as well as  in 1978 and 1980, both for three months each. Like many of my memories, they are mushed together, but I’ll separate them out as best I can. On the first two trips I was still living with my mother and therefore under the spell that dod was really the devoted father whom he had presented himself to be. But, by the last trip, the spell was completely broken since I was living with dod full time in NYC. However, even when our relationship deteriorated significantly, during our travels to Haiti, everything was different. We got along, for the most part, we had fun, and I was generally happy there. For this reason, Haiti always remained special to us both, regardless of our past, or present, history.

As mentioned in an earlier chapter, Dod had been traveling to Haiti since 1955 when he was awarded his Fulbright Scholarship. On that first visit, dod did not see another white person during the entire trip. He was such a novelty there that he ended up becoming sort of a celebrity. He was even invited to ride on a float in the “Carnaval,” which was Haiti’s version of Mardi Gras. Because of his visibly unique status, during the parade, dod was “officially” protected by several tonton macoutes armed with machine guns. In Haiti, tonton macoutes were the equivalent of the special forces in the United States.