- The U.S. Embassy is located on Harry Truman Blvd., Port au Prince; telephone (509) 22-0200 or http://usembassy.state.gov.haiti.
- For information on safety and security you can always visit the State Dept. website at www.travel.state.gov/travel/warnings.html. The site is going to have many warnings about travel in Haiti, but be assured that we continuously monitor the situation with our Haitian partner whom we trust to advise us each trip. Those of us involved in this work have made many wonderful trips to Haiti and have not encountered situations that we felt were unsafe. We are also very careful about what we do and where we go and how we behave as guests in another country that is very unlike what we are accustomed to. Of course, common sense anywhere in today’s world dictates that you keep doors locked, do not wander around in unfamiliar places or at night, stay with the team or go in pairs with prior knowledge and permission of Team Leader. The time in Haiti is the same as U.S. Eastern Standard Time.
- The monetary unit in Haiti is the gourde (pronounced “goude”), which is based directly on the U.S. Dollar. The exchange rate for $1 U.S. has varied between 30 to 70 gourdes, and as of this writing is about 63 Gourdes to $1 U.S. Most Haitians talk in terms of Haitian Dollars, although there are no dollars and the currency is gourdes. Five Gourdes = 1 Haitian Dollar. Haitian Gourdes are not exchangeable outside Haiti.