Cap Haitien

CAP HAITIEN - Northern Haiti

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.