Haiti
Occasionally my overseas working trips would start out being a fortnight and then get extended. On one of these `the office` needed me to go to Jamaica for a few days to check out a potential bottling plant after a week in the Dominican Republic. My options were: 1. Fly back to Miami and kill time there over the weekend and then down to Jamaica, or 2. Fly to the other side of the island of Hispaniola and kill time in Haiti before flying on to Jamaica. Well naturally I chose the shorter and cheaper option – being a responsible individual – and spent the weekend in Haiti. Less air fare and cheaper hotels. No brainer. Based on reputation I made my way up the hill out of the capital, Port au Prince to the outlying district of Petionville where I checked into the very presentable hotel complete with pool and restaurant called Villa Creole which had good reviews . Unfortunately within hours things started to go wrong. The toilet wouldn`t flush and the electric power failed. So I decided to go to check out and go to the hotel next door called El Rancho. I came out of Villa Creole to be accosted by a couple of taxi drivers wanting to transport me but it was only about 200 yards and I could see where I was going so I declined. After about 100 yards the handle of my suitcase broke!!! I had to struggle manfully and with great dignity for the rest of the way whilst the two taxi drivers were pissing themselves with laughter behind me. Stiff British upper lip ensued and eventually I made it to the other hotel and enjoyed a pleasant couple of days there. That was of course well before the catastrophic earthquake of 2010 which killed hundreds of thousands and decimated major buildings including these two hotels. It also lead to a massive decline in trade.
Haiti was one of the places found by Colombus during his 1492 expedition and he established the first European settlement in the new world there. Spain passed control over to France around 1700 and hence the main language spoken is Haitian Creole, a French-based creole but they seemed to understand my rusty French adequately to allow me to haggle when it came to buying stuff in the street market near the hotel. I bought some local artist`s oil paintings of domestic scenes and also another`s of local birds - somewhat stylised. Everywhere around were fighting cockerels. But back to history . . . The USA occupied the country between 1915 and 1934 because of serious political instability. And of course `Pap Doc` Duvalier took power in 1956 and ruled with a rod of iron, followed by his son `Baby Doc` intil 1986, since when the nation has been trying to operate a democratic system although there is much corruption and poverty. Less than 25% of the country has electricity and almost 50% of the population work in the agricultural sector on products like bananas, millet, pigeon peas, sugarcane, rice, sorghum, maize, beans, cassava, sweet potato, peanuts and pistachios.
The Citadelle a large mountaintop fortress in Nord, Haiti, was built by Henri Christophe, a leader during the Haitian slave rebellion (1791–1804), after Haiti gained independence from France at the beginning of the 19th century. It is one of the largest fortresses in the Americas and was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1982—along with the nearby Sans-Souci Palace. Both are worth the visit. The fortress included palace quarters for the king and his family, in the event that they needed to take refuge within its walls. Other facilities included dungeons, bathing quarters, and bakery ovens. The Citadelle is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Haiti. Directions to and history of the fortress are provided by self-appointed guides from the town of Milot.
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