Another gem from New York Times reporter Damien Cave, who’s chronicling Haiti’s earthquake hangover.

Exodus to Countryside Reverses Long Trend

Maggie Steber for The New York Times

Mikerlyne Dorvil, injured in Haiti’s earthquake, rested her head on her brother, Arckela, on Wednesday on a bus leaving Port-au-Prince for the countryside.

Cave’s (always compelling) lede:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Arckela Dorvil carefully lifted his teenage sister from the road, practically holding his breath, trying desperately not to aggravate her wounded right side. He climbed into the back of a truck called Love Divine.

“Arcahaie, Arcahaie,” shouted one of the men, announcing the destination. “Dlo, dlo,” said another in Creole, selling water for the trip.

The other passengers waited. Normally, they would be scrambling for seats, but this time they held back. They all knew where the Dorvils were coming from. They all knew where they were going. Out, away from the destruction, the water shortages, the rancid stench of death, and back to the pastoral countryside where family and food were more plentiful.

“Plentiful,” of course,  is not a word commonly associated with Haiti.

More from Cave’s NYT piece:

Another tap-tap [on the side of the truck]. Another town: Carries, where the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as Baby Doc, used to vacation, the town where the Dorvils needed to get off.

Mr. Dorvil ran down to the wharf and found a seat for his sisters near the front of a boat heading to Gonâve. He ran back to his sister. Leaning forward, he pulled her arms so she could rest on his back — she swore from the pain. Moving down the stairs of the boat deck brought more agony, then relief. “We’re almost home,” Mr. Dorvil said.

All around him were others making the same trek: men with sweaty brows, a woman with a bandaged leg, and too many mothers and babies to count.

Beautiful reporting.