I will post our Haiti travel experience in separate sections since it's a lot to take in! While in Haiti we were travelling with Michael and Becca on SV Dark N Stormy.
Cruising Haiti was the single best decision we have made on this trip so far! We absolutely loved it and are already hoping to return one day. We motor sailed the 23 hours across the Turks and Caicos bank and Atlantic into the northern coast of Haiti. We anchored in Labadee - a town used by Royal Caribbean to dock their cruise ships. Royal Caribbean has a "compound" there - an actual caged in area for their guests complete with a roller coaster, restaurants and lots of toys like jet skis. The shocking and insulting part of that is when you visit the Royal Caribbean website (like we did trying to get free wifi) they tell their cruise guests that they are going to Labadee in "Hispaniola" (the entire island encompassing Haiti and Dominican Republic) and mark Labadee as part of the Dominican Republic!!! It appears that people don't even know they are in Haiti. The bonus for us is that the massive concrete cruise ship dock acts as a very nice breakwater for the anchorage! The anchorage was spectacular - surrounded by mountains on three sides and a colourful village from which you can hear chickens, goats, and people singing in church. When we arrived we were greeted by every boat in the area - something we would come to learn is commonplace when you arrive at an anchorage in Haiti. Fishermen, children, water taxis and anyone who can get their hands on a boat rows, paddles and motors out to greet you and offer their services- everything from security, tour guide or garbage disposal!
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| Contrast of traditional fishing and cruise ship at Labadee |
We spent 3 nights in Labadee. Our first day we were there we arranged for a ride and tour guide to take us to Cap Haitien, the second largest city, and into Millot the site of the UNESCO World Heritage site of The Citadelle and Sans Souci. Our tour guide met us on shore in Labadee and we all hopped into the back of a pick-up truck for the harrowing drive through Cap Haitien to Millot. It was an incredible experience whizzing through mountains and then through the busy, vibrant streets of the city.
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| Riding in Style to Cap Haitien |
As four white people sitting on the floor in the back of a pick-up truck we got a lot of waves and smiles and heard "Les Blancs!" for the first and certainly not the last time on our trip! Children especially liked to exclaim "Les Blancs" or "Whites" and shyly wave and smile once they had our attention. For part of the drive we had an armoured and heavily armed UN jeep behind us returning to one of several UN compounds in the city. We had read that the presence of UN soldiers has done much to bring stability to the cities in Haiti and it seemed like the locals were happy the UN soldiers were there and seemed to have a good relationship with them.
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| Chilean UN Soldier in Cap Haitien |
Once we arrived at Milot we took motorcycles up to the first level of the La Citadelle - it's almost 10km uphill. The Emergency Department nurse in me just kept thinking "don't think about the possible head injuries that could result from riding a motorcycle with no helmet on"! I mean if entire families ride one motorcycle and are holding infants then we must be fine!
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| James at La Citadelle |
After we reached the first level we travelled by horse for the remaining portion of the journey.
La Citadelle was built in 1813 by self-crowned King Henri Christophe after Haiti became the "World's First Independent Black Republic". During Haiti's civil war of the early 1800s Christophe became the king of the North of Haiti and began construction of La Citadelle: an enormous fortress on top of a mountain. It was designed to be impenetrable (with 4 meter thick walls and 40 meters high) and large enough for the entire city and surrounding villages to hide in if they came under attack. It took 15 years to build and ALL the building materials were carried up the mountain by hand using a "human chain" - it has been estimated that 20,000 people died during it's construction. The views from the top of the fortress are breathtaking and it is understandable why no one ever tried to attack the fortress. The palace of Sans Souci is about 3 kilometers below La Citadelle. Apparently it was built to rival Haiti's previous colonizers Palace of Versailles in France. Sans Souci was destroyed in an earthquake in 1842 so sadly only parts are visible.
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| La Citadelle |
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| Palace Sans Souci |
After we left Milot we went back into Cap Haitien for lunch. We ate at a local restaurant with our driver and watched a Real Madrid and Barcelona match - two teams who are VERY popular in Haiti - the streets and bars were packed with happy cheering fans. We enjoyed fried plantains, peas and rice and the three meat eaters had chicken and "boulettes" (a meatball that must be the world's greatest meatball since the three of them talked about it for the entire time we were in Haiti!). And of course, Prestige, which all Haitians consider to be "the best beer in the world". On our ride back to Labadee we were accompanied by three young boys who ran as fast as they could and leapt into the moving pick-up truck! They drank our gatorade and asked all of us to remove our sunglasses and hats so they could see what colour eyes and hair we had - despite having a red head among us they did not seem particularly impressed!
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| Hitchhikers |
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| View of Cap Haitien in the distance |
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| Water Taxis, Labadee |
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| The trail to La Citadelle |
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| Busy city of Cap Haitien |
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| Sweet travel outfits at Palace Sans Souci |
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| King Heni Christophe |
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| Lots of students on school trips to Citadelle |
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| View from the fortress |
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| Cannon at La Citadelle |
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| Some mean break dancing at La Citadelle |
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| Our tour guide Antonio |
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| Traditional fishing pots being rowed out to be dropped in ocean |
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| Anchorage at Labadee |
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| Exit of anchorage of Labadee |
