#2653: Furcy to Seguin to Jacmel, Slavin comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Patrick Slavin <pslavin@unicefusa.org>

keywords: Séguin Mountains Walks Vulture

"Walking Haiti's High Ground" was published in the November 1999 edition of
"Food & Home," a South African magazine. For the folks who have written to me
off-list, thanks for the nice words, but you need to contact the magazine
directly for a back issue: foodhome@caxton.co.za

I visited their Johannesburg offices recently and back issues cost 7 Rand each,
about a $1.20.  Not sure what the postage and handling is. You can also snail
them at:

                                  Food & Home
                               Editorial Library
                                 P.O. Box 1989
                                 Parklands 2121
                                  South Africa
                                        
For folks on the list wanting to do the walk, you best do it soon. I heard --
from usual suspects sources -- that a road is being built from Furcy to Séguin,
converting a sturdy trail (built by the famous, notorious Pere Sicot) to a lorry
road. Good for the economy, infinitely easier for the marchanns to ride rather
than walk back and forth to the Kenscoff market –– but a part of old Haiti will
disappear forever. 

For the vultures among us, when this Furcy to Séguin trail is widened and paved,
and when the Séguin to Pérédo/Marigot road is improved (I did not see this road,
instead taking a mountain pass trail, but I hear the road is 4by4 country), this
means you could drive from Furcy to Pérédo/Marigot Caribbean Sea beaches in 45
minutes. Vive Ministry of Public Works!

Here's details on Séguin lodging (highly recommend (price information recorded
Feb 1999)):

L'Auberge de Séguin: $45 a night, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. $15
day rate to rent horses from the auberge. We paid our guides (who are essential)
a total of $30 for the  walk to Séguin and $18 to reach Pérédo. Make sure to fix
a price with your guide in advance. We rented a small bus for the two-hour drive
from Pérédo to Jacmel for $10. To get to the Port-au-Prince International
Airport from Jacmel, we hired a private car and chauffeur for $70. For
reservations at the auberge, contact owner Enrico Marucchi, P.O. Box 71, Jacmel,
Haiti. Tel: (509) 288-3383. Marucchi also arranges guides. 

Lastly, Marcel Roy has generously posted on his superb Web site some of Steven
Irving's photographs from "Walking Haiti's High Ground" at [http://
www.studiowah.com/html/virtual_tour.html].

Patrick