Taking advantage of the Easter holidays, I decided to travel to the North of Haiti. I went from Jacmel to Port-au-Prince where I began to discover another part of the country which hosted me now for 4 months. It took us three hours by bus towards the north to get to Saint Marc. A friend of mine recommended stopping there to enjoy Anse Piroge, a spectacular beach on the west coast. Some hours of strolling in Saint Marc gave me the impression that it\u2019s a city similar to others I’ve already seen in Haiti: crossed by a main road, rather unattractive architecture, but where I enjoy observing the rhythm of life. The next morning, we left Saint Marc hitchhiking towards Anse Piroge. The 20-minutes drive was followed by a half hour bike ride. The beach did not disappoint: Turquoise transparent water, white sand and nobody else to be seen.<\/p>\n
At noon we continued to Cap Haitien, on the north coast, with a change of transportation in Gona\u00efves and the usual waiting time for the \u201ctap tap\u201d (Pick-up used for transportation of people … and whatever else) to be filled with passengers. There is no official departure time…. the car is leaving when it\u2019s full.<\/p>\n
Cap Haitien – in Creole \u00abKapayisien\u00bb or simply \u00abO’Kap\u00bb – is the second largest city in Haiti. Originally called Cap Fran\u00e7ais, when it hosted one of the most important ports for the trade of tobacco, coffee, sugar and cocoa, it is today a vibrant city with over 200,000 inhabitants. Its center, with an orthogonal design and colonial buildings, sadly in ruins, let imagine that glorious past.<\/p>\n
About 30km from Cap Haitien, in the municipality of Millot, are the ruins of the palace of Sans Souci and the Fortress La Citadelle. Sans Souci, built in the early nineteenth century and heavily destroyed by the earthquake of 1842, was the residence of King Henry I (known as Henri Christophe). The fortress La Citadelle, ordered to be built by the same king to defend the north against French attacks, was constructed by around 20,000 workers for 15 years. The historical value of this monument gave it the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as being one of the most attractive places for tourism in Haiti.<\/p>\n
Around half an hour in taptap from Cap Haitien lays Labadie Beach, a well-known stop for cruises in the Caribbean sea. It is impressive to see a more than 10-stories high construction that is home to around 3,000 people in this idyllic coastline where families mainly live from traditional fishing. At the beach of Labadie we arranged with local people to take us to some of the coves and islands in the area.<\/p>\n
The initial idea was to continue the trip westwards from Cap Haitien to Saint Louis du Nord, and to take a boat from there to the island of La Tortuga. But finally we realized that the route connecting these solely 100km… doesn\u2019t exist . The alternative and usual way to arrive at La Tortuga is through Port-de-Paix, via Gona\u00efves, that meant travelling the two sides of a triangle instead of a single straight line (I cannot find accurate data but something like 230km instead of 100). Pa gen pwoblem<\/em>. About 12 hours later we arrived victorious at Port-de-Paix, where we took a boat that allowed us to imagine and step into the scenario of historic pirates, buccaneers, torturing and treasure hunting.\n\t\t