Just as I was about to give up and change my plans, two black women got on the bus and sat down behind me - it was clear they were not speaking English but they were not speaking Spanish either. I thought I recognized some words of French but it was not the kind of French I had studied at university in Paris. Then it clicked, these women were speaking Haitian Creole - a kind of French dialect spoken in Haiti. So I mustered up my courage, turned around and asked these ladies for help in French. They answered in Haitian Creole and I struggled a little to understand them - they then switched between Haitian Creole, French and English, but they said that there really wasn't that much to see there and that most tourists hang out at South Beach and downtown Miami. I told them that I had just come from South Beach and wanted to see some Haitian culture, where was the heart of Little Haiti was for me to explore.
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| Miami South Beach where most tourists end up. |
"Notre Dame d'Haiti", one of the ladies said. "It is a big church, a lot of Haitians go there." So okay, I thought, I have a destination to begin with and I'll just work it out from there. "But this bus doesn't go there, you have to change to another bus, I'll tell you where to get off to change." Hence we got off the bus with one of these ladies in a quiet street corner but she was on her mobile, so it was not like I could indulge her in a chat about Little Haiti. We waited by the side of the road and I thought, gee we're in a very quiet neighbourhood. It doesn't look like anything is open, opposite us was a shop with some French words on it rather than the usual Spanish or English you'd normally see in Miami. There wasn't even much traffic on the roads and the lady seemed to have stood right by the traffic lights instead of at the bus stop. It was about 8 pm and dark by then. I had no idea what was going on then she flagged down a small white mini bus (see the photo here) and shouted to the driver (in Haitian Creole) to take these two foreigners to the Notre Dame church. We scrambled onto a small but crowded minibus.
You see, Miami's public buses are blue and grey but this was not a public bus at all - it seems that Little Haiti is not very well served by Miami's pubic transport, so a network of small private bus companies sprang up to fill the gap. So I had to pay US$1.50 to the driver (my day ticket on Miami's public transport network was not otherwise valid for this service) and we drove on through Little Haiti. It was dark, very quiet - so much for getting some Haitian food for dinner, there wasn't even a convenience store that was open. The mini bus however, was quite full and everyone on the bus spoke only Haitian Creole. I spoke to the driver in French and got a double take - he responded in Haitian Creole and then in English. "Why do you want to go to the Notre Dame now? The church is closed. You can't even get into the church now." I didn't have an answer, I said I was going there just because that woman on the bus told me to go.
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| I was determined to venture off the beaten track in Florida. |
The driver had apparently missed a stop for one of the passengers and an argument ensued in angry Haitian Creole. So whilst they were busy arguing, the driver totally forgot that he was meant to have dropped us off at the Notre Dame church, so he said that he had to drive to the end of his route before he could drop us off as he passed the church again on his way back. So I resigned myself to a long bus tour through Little Haiti and all I was thinking at that stage was, oh shit - it looks dark and dangerous. Nothing is opened, this is the kind of neighbourhood in America that you were warned to stay the hell away from. So much for seeing Haitian culture, I just wanna get out of here in one piece. The bus driver finally dropped us off at a junction and pointed us to a small white building. Well, perhaps I had been thinking about the Notre Dame in Paris, but the Notre Dame in Miami was certainly not even worth a photo. If not for the cross on its roof, you wouldn't even know it was a church - it was a nondescript white concrete building. So this is what I traveled all this way for? To see this building in the dark? Talk about barking up the wrong tree.
We wandered back towards the main road and walked a few minutes and finally, we spotted a passing bus. Even though it wasn't at a bus stop, I'd thought I'd try my luck and frantically waved at it. The black guy who was driving the bus said, "you folks look very lost, where are you trying to go to?" We told him we were simply trying to get back to Downtown Miami and he replied, "luckily you saw me, this neighbourhood is not safe at all for you to be wandering around like that night. There are street gangs and people get robbed you know? Bad things happen." He then went on to tell us about the infamous Zoe Pound gang which controlled that part of Little Haiti. Good grief. What have I done - in assuming that Little Haiti was like Little Havana, I had inadvertently walked right into one of America's most dangerous inner cities after dark and despite the fact that quite a few people had told me not to go there, I had insisted on going there because of this misguided desire to see Haitian culture. Well, having that long ride on that white mini bus was as much Haitian culture as I was going to get (that makes the $1.50 fare worth it I suppose) because everything else was shut at night in Little Haiti. The bus driver dropped us off at the nearest Metro rail station and we were then able to retreat back to the relative safety of Downtown Miami where we found a nice restaurant for dinner.
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| Most tourists stick to the major attractions in Florida |
The moral of the story? Well, firstly, never make any assumptions about what is a tourist attraction. Little Havana is a popular tourist attraction but tourists simply do not go to Little Haiti. Secondly, always do your research before venturing out somewhere - do not just get on the bus and then start asking for advice. The fact is there was a Haitian Heritage Museum but I had no idea where it was or what the opening times were. Thirdly, when the locals tell you not to go somewhere, it is probably a good idea to find out why and heed their advice. I suppose I can look back at this story and laugh at my little adventure in Little Haiti but things could have easily gone quite wrong. Nonetheless, all the Haitians I met that evening were all incredibly friendly to this Chinese-looking, French-speaking tourist and one day, I'd love to visit Haiti when it is safe enough to do so. So that's it for now. Many thanks for reading, merci beaucoup!
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