Tigwav

About Tigwav

Ti Gwav, as Haitians call Petit-Goâve in Creole, sits on a bay of the Gulf of Gonâve about 68 km south-west of Port-au-Prince. It ranks among the oldest towns in Haiti: the Amerindian name Goâve became Aguava under the Spanish, and the French later split the area into Grand-Goâve and Petit-Goâve. In the colonial era it grew wealthy and briefly served as the de facto capital of Saint-Domingue.

Buccaneers once used the bay, including the Dutch captain Laurens de Graaf, who was based here in French service. The town later gave Haiti a head of state, Faustin Soulouque, who became Emperor Faustin I, and the writer Dany Laferrière spent his childhood here with his grandmother. Petit-Goâve was badly hit by the 2010 earthquake and its strong aftershock.

Today visitors find old wooden houses and coffee warehouses, a busy market, beaches such as Ti-Sab Blanch and the cool hills of Palmes above town. Leave room in your bag for dous makòs, the striped milk fudge the town is famous for. Check current security advice for Haiti before planning any trip.