ISLAND IN THE SUN
Captivatingly beautiful and fascinating Haiti is an enriching vacation destination
When we told people we were going to Haiti for family holidays last summer, we were inevitably met with barely disguised looks of shock and incomprehension. On more than one occasion we were greeted with a pause, followed by: “Did you say ‘Ta-hiti?’”
Perhaps understandable given the Caribbean nation’s history of political upheaval and natural disasters, the reaction, however, is both unfortunate and unfair. In our three weeks traversing Haiti with our sons, age 11 and 14, we discovered a fascinating island of white-sand beaches, safe and picturesque colonial-era cities, stunning hiking trails through mountain ranges, and warm and gracious people.
The only country borne of a slave revolution, Haiti has a rich history to explore, as well. As it works to lift itself from poverty and its reputation as a sub-par nation, recently reinforced by the ignorant comments of the U.S. president, vacationing there is a wonderful opportunity to enrich both country and traveller.
I travelled there with my parents as a 14-year-old, and left with memories of a poor but captivatingly beautiful place where locals shared the little they had and smiled often. I remembered, in particular, an older woman who made room on her lap so our family could squeeze onto an overcrowded bus. It was the type of experience we wanted to share with our sons.
Our voyage started in Port-auPrince, Haiti’s teeming capital of two million people. The rubble and tent cities of the 2010 earthquake are gone but poverty remains, evidenced by curbside vendors eking out a living selling fried plantain and plastic bags of drinking water, while skinny boys wearing rags wipe the dust from idling cars and beg for coins.
Leaving the home of friends Sonide and Nickel, we clambered into a crowded tap-tap, the often brightly painted covered pickup trucks used for public transit throughout Haiti. In the 30 C heat, it inched and honked its way through the traffic jams that plague Port-auPrince for the 20-minute ride to the National Pantheon Museum downtown. The displays gave a succinct and brutal history of the arrival of first Spanish and then French colonists who used African slaves to harvest sugar and coffee and make it the richest colony in the world.
Napoleon Bonaparte sent 40,000 troops to quell the 13-year revolution, but the slave soldiers simply waited for the French to die of tropical diseases before defeating the weakened armies on the battlefield.
On Jan. 1, 1804, the new nation of Haiti was proclaimed. The museum also has a gallery featuring many of Haiti’s renowned painters, among the best in the Caribbean.
At the enormous Marche de Fer marketplace nearby, we wandered through aisles of wood carvings and metalwork sculptures cut from oil barrels hammered flat. Stalls were packed with spices and fresh produce, hair products and Voodoo ornaments, but business was slow.
Like most large cities in developing countries, Port-au-Prince has neighbourhoods that are best avoided. But Haiti’s crime rate is much lower than in Dominican Republic or Jamaica, and crimes involving tourists are rare.
Moving on from the invigorating and exhausting clamour of the capital, we hired a driver and pickup truck to take us six hours north to the coastal city of Cap-Haitien.
Route Nationale 1, which was mostly good, cut through fields of rice paddies and market villages, before it deteriorated into a potholed dirt road that switchbacked through the imposing Massif du Nord mountain range.
Once the richest city in the Caribbean, Cap-Haitien is a pleasantly laid back and weathered oasis reminiscent of New Orleans, with ornate balconies wrapping around the upper stories of pastel-coloured buildings. It’s calm enough we could let the boys wander on their own.By ourselves, we explored deserted cliff-side forts overlooking the sea, built by the French 300 years ago.
Then we went for a dip in the Atlantic before heading to a beachfront restaurant for plates of fresh grilled fish with sauce, rice, cabbage and grilled plantain for about $10 each, washed down with Haiti’s excellent Prestige beer.
Nearby is the astounding Citadelle Henry, the largest fortress in the Americas, looming on a mountaintop 900 metres above sea level.
A UNESCO World Heritage site and Haiti’s premier tourist destination, the fort features five-metre walls towering 20 storeys high, with 163 cannons and sweeping views.
From Cap-Haitien we took a dusty, bumpy ride south in the back of an open pickup truck with other Haitians, driving through the verdant plains and forests of the Central Plateau.
To reach Jacmel on the south coast, we did a self-guided hike through the Massif de la Selle, where mountains stretch to the horizon. We followed a ridge that plunged into steep valleys of green, farmers clinging to the hillsides to plant their crops, looking up to smile and say “bonjou” as we passed.
In Jacmel, a seaside resort town, we visited the nearby Bassin Bleu, a series of three deep pools of luminous cobalt blue hidden deep in the forest, where the boys leaped from mini-cliffs beside the waterfalls.
After two weeks of fairly arduous travel we lucked into a rustic beach house on the sea just east of Jacmel. The final days lapsed into a beach existence of swimming, reading and eating grilled fish and lobster at restaurants featuring thatched roofs and sand floors.