Loosely translated, the above means “behind the mountain is another mountain” which is an apt way to describe this incredible land.
Due to its altitude, NT benefits from a moderate subtropical highland climate, with average temperatures ranging from 57 to 78 degrees throughout the year. The rainy season runs from April to November when NT receives most of its rain, and the other half of the year is much dryer.
Nouvelle Touraine is located on the side of Morne Laselle, the highest mountain in Haiti. It is the first section of Kenscoff, one of the six communities of the first district of the West administrative department of Haiti. Sparsely populated and rural, roughly 13,000 people call NT home.
Nouvelle Touraine itself is peppered with small villages and is made up of 19 defined areas including Sonis, Decouvè, Timiska, Byenveni, Tipokann, Kajak, Disent, Tèfrèt, Lamak, Betani, Bèlfontèn, Nan pyewo, Barèt, Kay chemen, Padèl, Nan mawo, Nan rezen, Nan sitwon, Nan tòti.’
Known for its mild weather and stunning mountain views, Nouvelle (or New) Touraine (NT) possesses rich organic soils and plentiful rain. The steep mountainous terrain makes farming a difficult manual chore, but coffee and vegetables grow well here. Despite this rich potential, the people of NT are still very poor because of the lack of roads to bring goods to market from the village. Farmers walk as much as 8 hours over mountainous terrain to get their goods to market.
‘Roads’ is a term used very loosely by western standards, as most ‘roads’ in this area are roughly cut flattened mountain sides marred by washouts and covered in a mix of soil and large rocks and boulders. Many villages and areas are only accessible by steep goat trails that only support hiking and in some cases ‘motos’, which are small motorcycles. Public utilities are non-existent.
The same lack of infrastructure that limits commerce also makes children’s education very difficult. There are few schools, and many children must climb steep mountainsides for miles to reach a school, if they attend at all.
