Picture of Departure of tap-tap from Pignon to Hinche (Haiti)

Tap-tap full of people leaving Pignon for Hinche

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Slow, colourful, painful, but also probably one of the best ways to see Haiti: tap-taps come in many sizes, and are invariably overcrowded with Haitians with whom you can easily get into touch.
The roads were absolutely terrible even without rain and mud; our average speed was barely above 10km/h. Amazingly, the driver sometimes stopped whenever asked by people along the road to do so, and would descend from his seat, circling his poor pick-up truck with the eye of a vulture, examining the people and the space inside, before deciding that something could still be improved and people could still seat in a more economical way to accomodate even more luggage and passengers. Shockingly, no one ever complained to him - they would as soon as we would be on the way. Over and over again, we were astounded by the creativity of the driver to fit even more people in the given space of the pick-up truck. To compensate for the misery of the ride, the passengers quickly bonded, were talking, joking, laughing, and singing to pass time and to survive. Newcomers were normally frownded upon in the beginning, but mostly absorbed quickly in the ride. Treacherous mountain roads became a backdrop to a jolly crowd. We managed to forget about the dangers we were running, all the things that could go wrong - and indeed, we had little choice. Bouncing up and down the hard wooden planks made us feel our behinds for days after long rides, but now, with the pain gone, tap-tap rides have been etched into our memories as the most genuine excursions we took in Haiti.
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