Cap Haitien

>>> this post was written at the beginning of August but I think I forgot to publish it. Sorry!

I hope all you Canadians are enjoying your long weekend. We actually Monday AND Tuesday off last weekend, so Ian and I decided to take advantage and do some in-country travel to Cap Haitien, a major town on Haiti's northern shoreline. We started off in PAP on Saturday morning, and drove on the "northern route", following the coastline to about the mid-way point in the big bay that makes Haiti look like a horseshoe. That was a beautiful drive along the shimmering blue ocean. We then darted inland to get to the northern coast, going through valleys then mountains then jungle, quite a different landscape than what I've seen around PAP. During the evening after we had gotten there, we went for a stroll along the major plazas, saw some lovely gingerbread houses and had dinner at a seaside restaurant.

Palais Sans Souci

The next day we went to Palais Sans Souci and the Citadelle, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Sans Souci palace was built in the early 1800s, meant to the be "Versailles of Haiti". In the 200 years since it's been sacked and looted, but you can still see a lot of the old structure and it's quite nice. There is a catedral at the bottom of the hill, and a grand staircase leading up the palace, with a large garden area off to the side. UNESCO World Heritage sites in Haiti are not like those in Europe, there are no barriers that prevent you from going upstairs (or ones that prevent you from falling over, for that matter), so we had a good time walking through and exploring.

We drove up the hill, parked the car, and walked up to the Citadelle, a fort built on top of a very high hill which overlooks the valley clear through to the water. The Citadelle was built with 4m thick walls and has a very steep slope to access it. It also has about 1,500 cannons and something like 15,000 cannonballs. For all of this protection, no one ever tried to attack the fort and the cannons were never fired at a hostile enemy. The Citadelle itself is very well preserved compared to the Palace, and it was really cool to wander around. The whole thing is open and you can wander wherever, from the rooms with the cannons to the medieval-esque courtyard inside, to the top of the structure to give you stunning views into the valley below. Again, there are no barriers to keep you from falling over and tumbling down the valley, but fortunately the 4m thick walls make it easy to walk across the top without fear of falling over...

View from the Citadelle

The day after we explored the Citadelle we had our beach day. We first went to Labadee, the beach that Royal Caribbean has "leased" from the Haitian Government for something like 50 years, and has cruises stop at twice a week. Since there were no cruises that day, the place wasn't open and they didn't let us in, but you can drive around the perimeter and see into it from the other side of the beach. This place has everything from a zip line to a waterslide to a roller coaster! I couldn't get over it, a roller coaster in Haiti. This must be how the cruises make their money... there is also a beautiful stretch of sandy beach, clear water and a water trampoline! Fun. We asked and you can't even get into the area when there is a cruise, probably because Royal Caribbean is scared you'll tell people they're actually in Haiti - apparently Royal Caribbean calls it "Hispaniola", which is the name of the island that has Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

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After our visual tour of Labadee we headed to Cormier Plage, the beach where we were staying at that night. It was just as gorgeous and way less crowded than Labadee would have been, and we spent the day reading, snorkeling, swimming and tanning. It was a really relaxing way to end an already chilled vacation, we actually wound up staying till 3pm the next day before heading back to PAP. This time we drove back through the central plateau, which had a very different landscape form the northern beach route. We went through the jungle, through plains with lots of agriculture, rolling hills that looked like English countryside and then past a series of connecting lakes that reminded me of Quebec. I really can't get over what a diverse countryside Haiti has, and how different the cities outside of Port-au-Prince can be. I'm really glad we could take the chance to see Haiti outside of Port-au-Prince...