Bonswa from Haiti: Ibo-Lele

They wanted to show me one of the luxury hotels in Haiti. After a drive through winding roads up the mountains, we arrived at Hotel Ibo-Lele.

I don’t know if it was the only luxury hotel in Haiti, or one of the nicer ones to stay in. For those expatriates living in Haiti, staying here also served as a weekend retreat. I was a little indifferent to it that day, not sure why. Certainly the views were nice, which I think is its main selling point. Oh, and that it was up in the mountains and cooler up there with no dirt and dust to deal with.

I think it was because I couldn’t reconcile the two extremes – from driving through and seeing the rubble, dirt, dust, poverty out on the roads, and then to enter a gated compound that is worlds apart from the one outside the gates. It was that way at The Lodge in Kenscoff as well, and I suppose with all the other gated compounds. But it bothered me at some level, for these two worlds to exist in the same corner, and nobody seems to care to do anything about it, or that it should change, and so it remains that way. Perhaps I will get used to it as well, if I stayed there longer and saw it everyday, and accept it as being the way it is. But enough of this … on to the tour of the Ibo-Lele …

Out on the balcony, one can see the city of Port-au-Prince below.

On a lower level, the views from the swimming pool also looks out over the city.

There were huge wall murals everywhere …

… and of course, huge paintings on the walls …

The restaurant had a big vase with an orchid display inside. Unfortunately, it was closed, and looked like was not in use, with tables and chairs covered up.