A couple of questions....
Planning to go with Caribe Tours. I see there are many buses to CH....can i just arrive in Santiago and expect to get on the next bus or can i book in advance?
I believe that they make all the arrangements at the border...true?
Any good places to eat/stay in CH? Things to see?
Thanks
I was recently in OKAP 09/2015 for one week. Some notes:
1. If you are Dominican with passport, you will now need a visa, obtained in advance from the Haitian Embassy, before you are allowed to board Caribe Tours. Allow two days for visa. It is very expensive: $80.00 single entry; $160.00 multiple entry.
2. You can go to Caribe Tours online for office location and schedules. In Sto. Domingo, the office for Haiti Caribe Tours is separate and is in the front with its own sitting area. A security guard will tell you when you can enter the office. Staff will check all documents prior to selling a ticket. If anything is amiss, you'll have to return another day. When the ticket is purchased, all documents will be retained by staff for use at the border crossing. The staff was excellent in assisting with immigration at the border. Time at the border was 1 to 1.5 hours. No pressure until everyone taken care of.
3. The ride was comfortable and pleasant and included lunch.
4. OKAP. Transportation: Pay no more than 50 gdes. per person anywhere in the city for motorcycle.
5. Accommodations are expensive, starting at HTG 1500 per night and up. We searched six hotels and bargained one down to HTG 1000 per night for a week. It was excellent. Coco's Hotel near the city gate. Everyone knows it. Get a room with a balcony and watch the street activity. Air conditioning but no electricity during the day in the entire city. The manager, Bastien Odenel, was very helpful and checked on AC every day. Room very clean. Bathroom, down the hall, very clean. Several flights of stairs.
6. Excellent home cooked food in the hotel: HTG 500: goat, rice, sos pwa (like habichuela), onion, spices, avacado. Delicious. Served on tray to sitting area on balcony. Secure building and pleasant staff. No English. A little Spanish.
7. Apparently, one cyber-cafe in the city and it was hard to find. They had a generator and their systems were up. Otherwise, electricity comes on in the early evening, around 5:30.
8. Don't forget the coffee, bread and peanutbutter, about HTG 10 each, on any street, starting around 6 AM and ending around 10 at the latest. A nice place to sit with others shoulder to shoulder and chat. These venues will be found in every Haitian village or city.