CAP HAITIEN - Northern Haiti
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| MacDonald and the Bay of St Marc, Haiti |
On Dec 5, 2011 we left St Marc for a two day
trip to tour part of the north. We wanted to take a break from our mission work
and see part of the country and learn more about Haiti. Barb McLeod joined us
on this trip as while she had been in Haiti for years, she had not been to the
north. We all welcomed her company and her ability to speak Creole; in fact the trip would not
have been possible without her. We planned to visit not only Cap Haitien but to
visit two important historic sites on the north coast, Sans Souci and the
Citadelle la Ferriere.
Cap Haitien is located on the north coast of
Haiti facing the Atlantic Ocean, originally built by the French in 1670 as Cap
Francois. Once considered the jewel of the Caribbean, it has suffered through
destruction by fire and earthquake, disruption by revolution and perhaps worst
of all, neglect by Haiti’s governments since 1820. It underwent many name
changes over the years, first as Cap Francois, Cap Français, Cap Haitien, Cap
Henri and finally, once again Cap Haitien. Even today, Haitians know it as "Au Cap".
The road from St Marc to the city of
Gonaives had been rebuilt recently and was in excellent condition. The one hour
drive included a brief delay at an accident scene; there had been a fatal
motorcycle accident. Accidents like this are far too common on Haitian roads as
drivers do pretty much as they please with little or no regard for the rules of
the road. Drivers seem to understand that the larger vehicle automatically has
the right-of-way regardless of where it is on the road – including head-on in
what you thought was your lane. An important survival technique is to always
yield to the larger vehicle. In the cities, the streets are jammed with cars,
trucks, buses, tap-taps and motorcycles. The tap-tap is a small imported
pickup with a canopy and benches on either side of the box. I have counted up
to 15 passengers jammed into one of these. The tap-taps are independently owned
and follow a route between towns or villages all over the country with people
getting on and off when and where they wish for a small fee paid to an
attendant on the back of the vehicle. Buses follow a more formal route with
designated stops and a schedule. People cram on filling every space with no
thought or concern about personal space. When the inside is full, the overflow
moves onto the roof rack with the baggage. Safety issues don’t seem to be a concern in
spite of the fact that when an accident does happen, fatalities often number in
the 50’s. On every visit to Haiti, I have seen at least one fatal accident.
The city of Gonaives has played an important
part in Haitian history both in the distant and recent past. Gonaives was where
Dessalines declared independence from France in 1804 and where plots to
overthrow a number of subsequent governments have been formulated. The city of
300,000 was almost destroyed in the floods that followed hurricanes and
tropical storms in 2004 and 2008. High water marks can still be seen just under
the eaves on many houses. The road into the city has since been built up on a
virtual dike so that future flooding will not cause the residents to be cut off
from the rest of the country.
After Gonaives, the next 60 miles of road to
the north coast was in very poor condition, winding and narrow, twisting up and
down through the steep mountain passes and very much in need of significant
repair work. It was heavily rutted with deep pot holes reducing our average
speed to about 15 miles per hour. A busy highway with many large trucks and the
ubiquitous buses but few cars. On occasion we had to stop and pull off the road to
allow a large truck or bus room to pass. We rarely went over 25 mph to avoid damage to
the car and to limit the discomfort of the passengers, one of whom got car sick
anyway.
We got into the city Cap Haitien by
mid-afternoon and began the search for a room. We looked at 4 or 5 mid to upper
priced hotels and rejected them all due to high room rates. These rates were 2
to 3 times higher than what was quoted in our 2 year old tour guide. This we
blamed on the opportunism of the hotel owners taking advantage of the sudden
influx of aid workers and UN personnel due to the earthquake who are willing
and able to pay whatever is demanded. After much group discussion, we selected
a modestly price hotel that turned out to be even more modest than we had
thought. The electrical system sole source of power was a large diesel
generator whose exhaust was pointed directly at our room so noise and fumes
came with the lights. The windows that wouldn't close, showers that wouldn't
work, tap handles that fell off when touched, air conditioners that hadn't been
cleaned since installation years before and toilets that leaked are all the stuff
that legends are made of.
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| Statue of King Christophe in the gardens of the hotel named for him |
Once we had selected the hotel for the night,
secure in the fact that we at least had a room, such as it was, it was time to
look around this historic city.
The city is laid out in a grid pattern, at
least in the old core of the town making it easy to find our way around. The
streets are narrow and crowded and the buildings are built in a 19
th
century French colonial style with shuttered windows and high wooden doors.
None are more than 4 stories high and all seem to lean and appear to need their
neighbours help just to stay up. We visited two of three nearby 19
th
century forts on the east end of the city, both in almost complete disrepair.
Little effort has been made to preserve and present these obvious tourist
attractions. In fact, over time, most have been plundered as a source of
building materials. All that remain are the stone walls, some rusted cannons
and cannon balls, all too heavy to move and of little use as building
materials.
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| Restored 17th Century mortars |
We picked up some food at a grocery store
and returned to our hotel early in order to be off the streets before it got
dark. It is never a good idea to drive at night in Haiti for any number of
reasons, not the least of which is the fact that many vehicles have few if any
functioning lights, street lights are rare and dark skinned people wearing dark
clothes – well, you get the picture.
That night’s rest wasn’t. Noise from the
generator, smells from the bad plumbing and rodents scratching around the room all
added to the charm of our room.
Early the next morning after a breakfast of
crackers and water, we checked out of the hotel and headed east into the
mountains to the village of Milot and the Citadel and San Souci.
From Milot, a roughly paved road and a
decent 4x4 will take you to the parking lot at the tourist centre next to the
Palace of Sans Souci.
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| Remains of Sans Souci |
The palace was completed by King Christophe
in 1813 not only as his home but also as the administrative centre of his
kingdom. Its splendour was said to rival that of Versailles in France. It was complete with gardens and orchards,
barracks for his palace guard, a hospital and even a school. Destroyed by an
earthquake in 1842, it lay abandoned until the grounds were reopened as a park.
From the grounds, you can see some remaining statuary and portions of the
barracks and gardens.
Here we paid a small fee that covered entrance to both sites and hired our tour guide. Then we were back in the car to drive to the end of the road, roughly 20 minutes from Sans Souci.
From there you still have a 45 minute hike
up a steep mountain trail to the Citadelle. An option would be to hire a mule or horse and ride up but that looked like more work than walking.
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| The Citadelle atop 3000 ft Pic la Ferriere |
The Citadelle is a UNESCO world
heritage site. Once there a truly spectacular 360 degree view of Cap Haitian
and the mountain valleys is spread out in front of you.
The fortress was completed in 1820 after 15
years of construction by over 20,000 people and remains largely intact even today. It was designed to house 5,000
people with food and water for up to a year. It has over 160 cannons still in
place and an estimated 50,000 cannon balls, all of which had to be carried by
hand from the coast to the mountain top. The cannons, a variety of styles and
sizes, some iron and some bronze were captured by the Haitians in various
battles with the French, Spanish and the English.
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| Original cannon on a restored carriage |
A replica of the original
officer’s quarters was recently built on the edge of the parade square. These
quarters look over the parade square and a large rock located in the centre.
Under that rock, it is told that Christophe’s remains were buried in quick
lime. This method of burial was to prevent his remains from being desecrated by
Voodoo practitioners.
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| Restored Officer's Quarters |
The tour guide that we had hired when we paid the entry fee at the tourist centre was very helpful
throughout the tour, both up at the Citadelle and later at Sans Souci. When we returned to our car, chaos
ensued as a large number of vendors assertively attempted to sell us souvenirs,
none of which related to the Citadel.
As our guide was encouraging us to “get out
of Dodge” some of the people were getting quite aggressive and he was
concerned for our well being.
We were able to complete our tours by noon,
paid our guide and returned to Cap Haitien for lunch. A quick bite and we
hit the road for home. This trip was a repeat of the beating that we had taken
the day before with Barb getting car sick and the rest of us just plain tired
of the whole thing. We got back to St Marc just at dark, exhausted and ready
for bed.
