17376: Corbett: The fluctuating goud and public transportation

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

>From Bob Corbett

I was sitting here this morning dreaming about a trip to Haiti during 2004
and I began to wonder about public transport and the very uncertain
currency.

What does it cost now to ride the regular-route tap-taps on Grand Rue or
Delmas, for example.

Also, the little taxis with the red-ribbons which one shares with others,
what do they cost today?

How fast things change.  I can remember the etiquette of riding the
tap-taps just 20 years ago.  If one got on and had a 5 goud note or 25
goud note, you had to yell this out to the driver when you got on to be
sure he had change.  If not, he would let you off and you had to wait for
the next one coming.

When I started going to Haiti the goud was fixed at 5-1 again the dollar.
After a short while in Haiti back in 1983 a friend told me I could
actually get more than 5 gouds for my $1.00 if I changed "on the
black market."  I had used the black market in Eastern Europe for years,
so I asked where to go and was directed to Rue Pavee where guys sat with
briefcases of money and changed it.  I recall the elation I had that first
visit when I was able to get 6 gouds for the dollar.

Oh my, things change don't they!!!!

Bob Corbett