James left his home in Port-au-Prince at 7 a.m. on Monday, January 13, 2025, to travel to Tiburon. The journey promised to be a true ordeal, but James had prepared for it. As a young accounting professional, he deemed passing through Martissant too dangerous and instead chose the route via Morne Ka Jacques.

From his house, James took a tap-tap to Pétion-Ville. From there, a minibus brought him to Kenscoff at a cost of 125 gourdes. "Once I got to Kenscoff, I found motorcycles that go all the way to Jacmel. The price? 7,500 gourdes," James recounted. While some prefer to take one motorcycle to Morne Ka Jacques and another to Jacmel, James opted to complete the trip with a single driver.