Musee de Guahaba

Along National Highway 1 in Limbe in northern Haiti is a small museum of pre- and post-Columbian artifacts found in northern Haiti. Medical doctor and amateur archaeologist Dr. William Hodges led expeditions in the 1970s and 1980s, along with the University of Florida, to unearth artifacts created by the Taino and other native groups who lived in Haiti before Columbus and Europeans landed, and in the 1980s created the museum to display them (more info here). While some of the wording is reflective of western attitudes of Dr. Hodges era, the museum is a nice presentation of the history of Haiti, including the colonial slave period. Hours aren’t posted, just stop and look for the caretaker who has the key. I gave him a small donation for letting me and my friend see the museum. He explained some of the paintings, and perhaps would have explained more if we had more time to spend there. Allow an hour if you want to read everything. We were able to briefly look at most everything in 20 minutes. Signs are in French and English, but unfortunately the red ink of the English has faded on many signs. While the stone, ceramic, and metal artifacts seem stable, the displays are showing age and the entire museum could use a cleaning and upgrade. I work in a nearby university – contact me if you are interested in training students and others as to how to preserve this museum!

 

Restaurant – Les Jardins du Mupanah

 Behind the Musée du Panthéon National (MUPANAH, National Pantheon Museum) in Port au Prince (near the fallen palace) is the restaurant Les Jardins du Mupanah, on Av. de la Republique near the Palace of Finance being built.  The museum and restaurant both have their own parking lots.  The restaurant looks like a glass box and has a little water garden alongside it.  It is very open and inviting inside, with a bar and museum gift shop.  My 10 students and I used the restaurant as a transfer stop on our way to Furcy.  Our van from the central plateau dropped us off and while we waited for the van to Furcy, the students went to the museum while I waited with our gear that the staff let us pile in the corner of the restaurant.  We ordered lunch as soon as we arrived, and it was served on time when the students returned from the museum.  I drank my cherry juice while I waited with our gear and the waitress gave me some rolls and real butter.  The menu offers traditional Haitian food served in a fusion sort of way.  Being a vegetarian, I ordered the Aztec salad without chicken.  It was like a taco salad, with plantain chips instead of tortilla chips.  See photos of the menu below.  Salads and sandwiches were around $10US, while dinners were $10 - $15US.  Fruit juice was $3US.  Added to the bill was 10% tax and a 10% service fee that the waiter said was for the kitchen, not for him!  I have been to the museum twice and never knew this restaurant was behind it.  I will definitely go again if I can.

English menu

French menu

The Citadelle in Haiti

I finally got to visit Haiti’s famous Citadelle, the fort built on top of a mountain by Henri Christophe in 1820.  It is near Cap Haitien which now has international flights, and the road is paved, so is easy to get to.  From Cap Haitien drive south on National Route 3 to the town of Milot.  Drive through town, and past the Palace Sans Souci (Perhaps first visit this palace since the Citadelle is grander.  Don’t buy all your souvenirs here, there’s more at the Citadelle).  The road to the Citadelle is paved with rocks and is steep.  You’ll eventually come to the parking lot where there are flush toilets and sinks, souvenir booths, a police station, and what seems to be a new visitor center.

You can either walk or ride horses.  Going up took about 40 minutes on horseback.  A friend is working with the horse guides and owners to get better saddles and treatment for the horses and much improvement has been made, so I didn’t feel badly about riding a horse.  A guide will lead the horse up the trail, and occasionally take pictures for you.  But also other people will come along coaxing the horse or ‘helping’ you and expecting a tip!

At the Citadelle you dismount and tell the horse guy if you’ll walk or ride back.  There are also women here selling cold pop and water and snacks (bring small bills to pay them).  Then a guide will take you all over the Citadelle explaining what everything is.  Near the end of the 2 hour tour is a modern bathroom (leave some money for the lady who cleans it).  There is also a new museum with lots of cannons, and a restaurant is being built.

The walk back down to the parking lot is easy and only about 40 minutes.  There is also a short cut near the little building right before the Citadelle.  The path isn’t any faster than walking the paved road, but you see cool rocks and are amongst the trees.  It is tricky to navigate since you are going down over rocks.  The guide will help you. 

The visit cost $25.  Because someone else made all the arrangements, including paying the guides and driving, my group and I were free from the hassle of many people trying to be our guides, and hangers-on wanting tips for ‘helping.’ The women selling souvenirs were really pushy, you just have to say no and walk on.  At the very end when we were in the truck about to leave, a bunch came over offering their wares for super cheap, so I got two of the bird carvings I had been eyeing for $5 total!  The lady had asked for $15 each when I was in her booth.

After the trip read the historical fiction about this time period, The Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier.  Here is someone else's blog about his Citadelle visit.

The road through Milot. The dome is on a church that is next to Palace Sans Souci.

The road to the Citadelle, coming from Milot.

The parking lot and where you get on the horses.

The ride up to the Citadelle.

Start of the shortcut down.

Steep shortcut.

Walking down from the Citadelle.

Day 3 – St. Marc and Ti Rivye

With Larmier's son in front of his art studio.

(Day 3 of this mini-tour of Haiti)  After leaving the plantation museum around noon, we continued along the coast to St. Marc.  The grocery store mentioned in the Bradt Haiti guide had gone out of business, but we found another on the town square.  We stocked up on some snacks for lunch, then continued to Ti Rivye to visit the bird artist Larimer and his art studio which sits along the highway near the west edge of town.  I have mentioned him in these posts.  If you are interested in his bird art contact me.  It was great to see him again and see where he lives. 

 

Baby goats at the fort.

Larimer and some friends took us for a tour of the local historic sights: Palace of 365 Doors and Fort Crete-a-Pierrot.  A high school social studies teacher was with us and explained the history of these places.  The palace was built in 1816 by Henri Christophe and is being restored (we had to find a man who had to find a key to let us in).  The fort was attacked by Napoleon’s army in 1802.  The Haitians were holed up there for 20 days and used voodoo to fight off the French.  We stopped at a hotel* on the west edge just to see what it was like – another one is nearby.  Contact me if you would like guided tours of this area and we can track down the social studies teacher.  

We continued through the Artibonite Valley to pick up a friend of Rhoda’s who needed a ride to Port, passing the turn to the famous Saut d'Eau waterfall and also the new Partners in Health hospital in Mirebalais, the town where the cholera outbreak started.  Finally meeting up with National Highway 3 and taking it south back to Port.  We ended our journey around 8pm at home in Tabarre.  

Palace of 365 Doors.

Fort Crete-a-Pierrot

View from the fort of the Artibonite River.

Common sight in the valley - rice drying by the side of the road.

*La Piscina Hotel disclaimer – I don’t know the owner and didn’t stay at this hotel.  I just want to let travelers know it is an option if you are in Ti Rivye.  There is another hotel, d’Ossieau nearby.

La Piscina Parc Hotel near the west side of Ti Rivye.

Entrance to the hotel (pink building) as seen from the highway.

The pool at the hotel.

Day 2 – Moulin sur Mer and Musee Ogier-Fombrun

This continues my 3 day road trip around Port au Prince and the Artibonite Valley.  After church on Sunday Day 2 we hit the road around 2pm and drove National Route 1 which follows the southern coast of Haiti’s northern peninsula.  From Tabarre PAP it took us about 2 hours to get to the resort Moulin sur Mer.  There’s a sign right along the highway pointing the way to the resort, just keep driving til you reach the resort gate.  You park inside the gate then a little cart comes and takes you to the check-in booth.  Riding the little cart made me feel like I was at Disney World!  A room for 2 with 2 beds was $156, an affordable splurge to relax at a clean beach.  That price came with a great breakfast of fruit, rolls, omelet, and juice (with real butter!).  There is a higher price that includes dinner.

The room was great – nothing fancy but it did have hot water!  The grounds had a lot to look at - a pond with geese and giant land crabs which entertained people like me and Rhoda.  Miniature golf, a swimming pool, a cage with two monkeys (!), a small playground, racketball court, and a giant chess game.  There is a little gift shop with mainly swimwear, toiletries, and medicines.  But we were there for the beach!

There are several mini-beach areas.  At the edge of the roped off swimming area next to the man-made ‘island’ are rocks with sea urchins and fish, but jet skiers were going back and forth just beyond us, churning up the water and making it difficult not to get sloshed up against the rocks.  Why couldn’t they go farther out?  They have the entire bay!  The hotel offers kayaks and snorkeling gear to rent, and there’s a marina right next to it to rent jet skis, store boats, etc.  We swam, had dinner, then the best part came after dark when we were hanging out on the little ‘island’ where fish were attracted to the lights!  It was so exciting to see all the fish, clear water, no jet skiers.  Next time I’ll try night snorkeling.

Food was Haitian restaurant fare, a bit more upscale I suppose, but since I am a vegetarian I can’t comment on how it compared to other places.  For vegetarians I recommend a cheese sandwich with mushrooms and onions on the side to put on the sandwich which came on a great baguette.  Even better was the dessert, Twa Let, which caused some confusion.  Twalet – a toilet?  Or Twa Let – 3 milk?  Fortunately it was cream-based desserts (see photo).

We got up for a sunrise swim.  No jet skiers!  Clear water!  And then a great breakfast.  We checked out at 10 am and went to the plantation museum right across from the main gate.  This Musee Ogier-Fombrun was closed for renovation, but we were able to walk around the grounds and see some of the exhibits in the entrance way (and oddly there is a small pool and a bar – I suppose for the hotel patrons?).  With my museum studies degree, I was horrified to see letters written by Toussaint Louverture, Haiti’s revolutionary leader – in the entrance way – under glass but still exposed to light and humidity.  Here is a photo to preserve the letters for all eternity (or until the end of computers).

We left the museum around noon and traveled to Petite Riviere via Saint Marc.  Stayed tuned for the next posting about that journey.

The turn from Route 1 to Moulin sur Mer.

The island lights attract fish at night!

A good place to do some light snorkeling - sea urchins and fish.

And you can do some light birding - sandwich terns!

The marina next to Moulin sur Mer.

 

Historic letters.

Letter by Toussaint Louverture!

Day 1 – Apparent Project and Art Fair

This continues my 3-day road trip post.  On Saturday Day 1 we went to Papillon Enterprises, the boutique of the Apparent Project which strives to prevent orphanages by teaching job skills to its employees who create jewelry and art.  Thus the employees have income and don’t need to put their kids in orphanages which are big business in Haiti (even I was encouraged to start one as a business venture).  Many ‘orphans’ are really kids whose parents were desperate enough that they gave them to strangers at an ‘orphanage’ to be cared for.  There are even people who go around collecting kids for these orphanages, where the kids essentially work as slaves and may be sold to other people, while the person running it collects all the donated money.  I know this from a friend who reunites these kids with their families.

Workers at the Apparent Project make their own beads out of Haitian clay.  It is a refreshing change from all the rolled bead projects that have become popular (which they also make).  Last year here in Les Cayes I met a woman selling jewelry she had made through this program.  It was nice to see that the store and woman who runs the business actually exist!  (I’ll have to do another post on all the foundations that I’ve been asked to support!).

We then spent the afternoon at the art fair at the Parc Historique de la Canne a Sucre (Sugar Cane Museum).  It cost 300 gds (~$7US) to get in, and the ticket came with a free pop, 50gds in digicel minutes, and 150gds to use at any booth.  

There were the typical metal art, ash(?) sculpture, and food/syrupy alcohol product booths.  But new to me were the handcrafted fashion products.  The Apparent Project had a booth there.  Others included variations of beaded purses and sandals, scarves and dresses, and crocheted dresses, sandals, and bathing suits.  The clothing was quite expensive, >$100US for some items.

Our best find was a paper mache barn owl which Rhoda bought for me!  I will use it in teaching and fill it with candy so kids have a good association with owls (which most people seem to associate with demons).

We ended our outing with a trip to the grocery store which deserves its own post, as I live in Les Cayes which seems to have slim pickings compared to the Port grocery stores.  Stay tuned for Day 2 at  the beach!

Look for the pink gate to go to the Apparent Project boutique.

Beads made and sold at the Apparent Project boutique.

Entrance to art fair was across from the US Embassy.

Too much metal art - if anyone who runs the art fair reads this, contact me for suggestions!

Fashion booths

Pressing sugar cane for fresh juice.

Apparent Project gifts.  A new bag that isn't so long it hits the moto wheels!