10.25.2009 Artisan Einstein Albert and His Bowls Part II

Here are the two bowls which Dom had already purchased prior to me arriving in Haiti. They are the Diana bowls.

 

 

Einstein told us that several years ago he was at an Artisan Fair at the Javitz Center in New York City. A woman at his booth love his work, but asked him if he could make her a custom piece. She sketched out the shape she wanted, left a number to contact her and left Einstein to his work.

He was immediately approached by the other artists who asked him if he knew who she was. He said no, they told him that it was Lady Diana. He immediately called home and had the order rushed, they turned over the product in a week.

He then delivered the bowl back to her. She asked him what she owned him, and he asked her if he could use her name on the bowls instead of taking payment. The Diana bowl is now one of his top cellars. And to think Dom bought them without knowing that story...he must just have great taste!

10.25.2009 Artisan Einstein Albert and His Bowls

Last Sunday, Dominic and I took a tour to the workshop of one of our favorite Hatian artisans. We already own several of his beautiful wooden bowls (ours are the Diana bowl which have their own story to be told at a later date!).

These bowls are hand made by Einstein Albert, one of the premier wood craftsmen of Haiti. He is running the businees which his father started - making bowls out of the fast growing Gommier tree (or the Gum tree). Einstein Albert's workshop is located in Mariani, on the eastern edge of Port-au-Prince, where he employs several apprentices. He also has several farm areas where he grows the trees.

Here are some photos of Einstein's inventory which he takes every Sunday. These bowls have been formed but not sanded, stained our water proofed! It is amazing how many different style of bowls he has, he says that they are constantly coming up with new designs.

 

 

During the next stage of the process the bowls are sanded down. Every bowl is done by hand! While we were at the workshop there was quite a team of workers, these are truly a handcrafted product. One of the women told us that they work 7 days a week to keep up with the demand for his bowls.

Einstein isn’t the only producer who is nervous about the recent push to raise Haiti’s minimum wage to about $5 a day. Although the legal minimum wage may be only about $1.75 a day many companies explain that they provide 15 days of paid vacation a year in addition to bonuses and payment for work done over $1.75 worth of labor a day. They claim their workers usually make closer to $5.75 a day. Garment manufacturing companies are being encouraged to stay in production and new investment is being sought. In the current economy, and with Haiti’s poor infrastructure, the minimum wage increase is everything but attractive foreign investors and struggling local production. Clinton and other supporters have proclaimed the possibility of a rejuvenated craft sector to lift Haiti from economic strife.

 

Each bowl is then inspected and any imperfections in the wood are filled with a type of putty.

 

Here are several of the bowls in the process of being lacquered, there are many coats of lacquer applied during this process.

Einstein’s bowls are made to last! They are made to be waterproof with up to 10 layers of lacquer which turns the naturally light wood into a rich dark chocolate brown. These bowls can be used to serve hot foods or cold foods. They can be left in the fridge full of last nights dish. And takes little effort to clean them off with a damp, soapy sponge.

In the past, Einstein bowls were sold at Neiman Marcus and other major department stores for hundreds of dollars. Now, he employs 30 people who he is occasionally forced to put on standby due to the former US embargo on Haiti in 2005 and the current recession.

He makes a beautiful product that will last a life time for a moderate price. You can be sure we stocked up on some Christmas presents over the weekend. The bottom line Crystal + Einstein Bowls =Love.

P.S. I will post some photos of the finished bowls and tell the Diana Story next post!

10.11.2009 Basin Bleu

Sorry that it has taken me so long to post these photos! I was sick last week and never got around to it! The day after we went to Jacmel, we decided to go to the waterfalls at Basin Bleu. It was quite a trek to get there from the beach. In order to head up into the mountains we had to ford a river! Yes, literally that is us in the middle of the river!

Then we were left in the hands of God and Greg as we climbed up the treacherous mountain path! The view of the ocean from the top of the mountain was definitely worth it!

Once we reached the waterfalls, we obtained a couple of guides to show us the way to the waterfall. It was quite exciting as we hiked and scaled the side of the mountain on our way to the waterfalls!

 

 

 

 

Finally we reached the falls!!! To bad that it rained the night before so Basin Bleu was Basin Brown!

 

Still we didn't let that stop us, let the fun begin!

 

 

Greg was the bravest among us!

Here he is before his big jump, yes he did jump off!!

 

So we climbed back up the mountain and headed back toward Port-au-Prince. The road was incredibly rocky! At one point, we stopped and asked a guy on the side of the road if the road was clear, and he said he didn't "think" there were any mudslides. Then we asked him if we would be able to come back up the mountain if there were. He told us, "No, you can go down but you can't come back up." I think we were all alittle freaked out at that point, except maybe Dom. But we made it down the mountain, and amazingly ended up in cloud forest which was amazing! We drove through clouds down all the way down the mountain side and of course had to stop for another picture of the million dollar view.

 

We also stopped at a road side fruit stand and got enough fruit to last a month. Needless to say I will need my mom's banana nut bread recipe as my freezer is full of bananas. Here's a photo of Dom with the spoils of war.

10.10.2009 Jacmel

Dominic and I spent the holiday weekend with our friends Kevin and Greg at a beach called Ti Mouillage, which is about 2.5 hours away from Port-au-Prince. The weekend itself had many adventures which will be covered this week in the blog! We left early on Saturday for a day at the beach! I can't claim to remember much of the drive down as I was concentrating on keeping my malaria medicine down, but besides that the trip was such a success!

The hotel we stayed at was called Cyvadier Plage.  The views were spectacular and-- luxury of luxuries--we had AC! There was a balcony off of our rooms that looked into the hotel's private cove. It was truly a fabulous beach get away. We spent the later part of the afternoon reading on the balcony and it was so relaxing!

 

We tried out the hotel's private beach first, where Kevin and I tried to navigate what turned out to be the strangest lawn chairs ever. If you lean back in the chair your legs were at a forty five degree angle, if you wanted to sit up you had to scoot all the way to the end of the chair. Neither of us were very graceful in our endeavor to conquer the chairs! But Kevin's hat was awesome!

 

 

After the quick trip to the private beach, we decided to hit the big time and go down to the big beach and also grab some freshly caught seafood for lunch. My lunch was DELISH, but the fish itself had teeth which left me wondering about how deep I should go into the waters. The fish had a barbecue flavor and was served with one of my favorite Haitian dishes which are banann peze ak pikliz

("fried plantains with spicy coleslaw").

 

 

While shooting some photos on the beach, Dom pointed out this little timoun  ("little man")  climbing a palm tree. It was ridiculous! The tree was so tall, and he just hiked himself up it like it was no big deal.

 

As always in Haiti you find things that surprise you, so in case you had any doubt, please do not bring any firearms to the next Haitian Hotel you visit.

9.27.2009 A Mountain Hike and Lunch at the Lodge!

Last Sunday, Dominic and I decided we'd had enough of Port-au-Prince and decided to venture into the mountain area of Furcy, which is about 45 minutes away. We had the best lunch at a place called The Lodge. I should of taken photos of the food and the Lodge itself but it didn't occur to me at the time. The photo above was snapped through the window on our drive up.

 

Seeing Haiti from this point is so different than being in Port-au-Prince, the air is cool and fresh! I was really fascinated by all of the farming on the mountains themselves. Seeing these fields makes you understand the mudslides of last year. There is very little vegetation holding the crops to the mountainside so when it rains the only place for it to go is down. To read more about deforestation in Haiti see the link below.

http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/05/10/haitis-poverty-is-directly-linked-to-deforestation-and-habitat-loss/

 

 

 

After our fabulous lunch we decided to hike down to see several waterfalls. Dom actually had to pay off the young guide to just tell us which path to take. Having the freedom to hike the mountain, breath the fresh air, without being stared at was a welcome change! See the waterfalls below.

 

Once we reached the bottom of the mountain, a storm began rolling in. We knew that we only had alittle bit of time to make our way back up. The ultimate memory was watching this young haitian kid come running at full speed down the mountain like a billy goat heading straight for us. He knew we were not on the right path, and was quite the entrepreneur and led us back up and out into the path. I was huffing and puffing up the hill as I haven't yet adjusted to the high altitude. We made it back to the car soaking wet from rain and sweat, but invigorated from our adventure!