Special Reports - Discover the Other Haiti, a Haitian Eden

LABADIE JOURNAL

Discover the other Haiti, a Haitian Eden- February 16, 2007

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

These tourists will most likely not experience the poverty of Haiti; They will only see a stunning stretch of white sand between turquoise water and lush rolling hills.

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Ema Riley, center, and Beckly Tucker, left, from Ohio, bartered for a hat with a Haitian employee, Julex Charitable, at the resort.

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Royal Caribbean used to play down the fact that this stop is in Haiti, referring to its location as Hispaniola, the Island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It changed is description after Haitian officials complained.

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Hemisphere. But the Labadie resort is a slice of Caribbean bliss surrounded by security fencing with all-you-can-eat buffets.

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Outside of the resort is the Citadelle, well-preserved mountain fortress dating to 1817 that still has cannons in place and piles of cannonballs.

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

The Citadelle.

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

A tourist from the "voyager of the Seas" tried to get a bargain at the market in the resort.

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Haiti was once a place of thriving resorts. Then the AIDS scare in the 1980s and the political instability that came with the ouster of the dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986 frightened off most potential visitors.

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Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

The key for Haiti, promoters of tourism there say, is for visitors to avoid the capital and head to more tranquil corners of the country.

The New York Times