Haiti

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Haiti, where do I begin. Immediately after crossing the border one could feel the difference between the two sides of the island. The people, the animals, the buildings, the air- everything felt quite unique.

One part of the experience that stuck out to me the most was the fact that we, being tourists, mostly white tourists, did not receive attention like we did in the Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic, the constant cat calls, remarks, shouting and what not is all the rage in the DR. Very obvious, very "rude" by N. American standards. But, in Haiti the gawking really was hardly anything compared to the Dominicans. The majority of Haitians that we saw would look for a few seconds and go on with their daily duties.
Haiti is a place that I thought would be one thing and I proved myself right. Well, for the most part. The country itself looks much like the Dominican Republic but the buildings have a little more of a French colonial feel to them. There are people covering the streets (if you are in the city), selling various types of goods, foods, toys, shoes, clothing, paintings and the like. We arrived and dropped our things at a hotel that looked like it should be out of a horror movie, but it was “pretty nice” for Haiti, or so they said.

First of all, the customs process was the biggest joke of my life. There was a Winnie the Pooh notebook that took down our information and I was so nervous that my passport was going to be stolen, my eyes did not leave the maybe 17 year old that was handling the “process”- even if there was some type of process at all. It took about an hour for all of us to be completely “okay” to enter the country. Incredible.

Something that I immediately realized was that I could not communicate to save my life. This was the first time I had visited a foreign country and was not able to say hardly a word; I could say thank you, hello and goodbye but that was it. I felt completely helpless. It was the most bizarre I had felt in a long time. I almost felt like a mute or a tiny child. BUT, I did realize just how much Spanish I can speak and how fortunate I feel for that.

We traveled through the city, which was called Cap Haitian, it was full of dirt roads and French-feeling buildings. It was bizarre, the streets seems like they had once been paved or covered with something but had maybe been torn up for whatever reason. We traveled through some ruins of an old castle that lined the beach, which was absolutely gorgeous. There was a lot of trash which is so unfortunate because the island of Hispaniola is truly breathtaking, all of the exotic plants and flowers, gorgeous lush trees and grass. Covering a lot of this unfortunately is A LOT of trash. Not in all parts, but most neighborhoods have a significant amount overflowing from the waste bins and around the streets.

The next day, we traveled to a huge castle that was called the Citidel, which was built in the 1700s. I do not remember much about the history than the fact that it took seven years to build with the intention of keeping all threatening ships and travelers away. The castle is at the top of a hill and from there you can see the ocean and would be able to fire canyons from the top of the castle to the ocean. In the seven years to build the castle 20,000 people died throughout process. If you would like to know more about the castle, wikipedia it!

To reach the top of this mountain, it takes about two hours walking and a little less if you ride a horse. The horses were small and skinny but certainly helped me to the top. The man that helped me with my horse spoke five languages and was rather excited to tell me all about it. Unfortunately I found out at the end the reason why he was so friendly and chatty was to attempt to get a bigger tip, which did not work too well on me. He was rather ungrateful. He said to me “ think about your conscianse” with a very thick creole accent, I was rather surprised by this as his English was not very good. He obviously had done his research as how to guilt a person into something in a foreign language.

On the way to the castle we saw many tourists from all over the world; the castle turned out to be something that was much more popular than I had originally anticipated. There were Japanese, Chilean, Argentine and many more. When we finally reached the top I realized how worth it was to take the trip to Haiti. I was truly amazed by the views and the fact that we were actually in clouds. The views were truly breathtaking; I tried to take pictures but it really was even worth it; the essence could not be captured! Now the images are only saved in my memory.

When we finally got back to the border I was rather satisfied with my decision; there were many people that told me it was too dangerous to go, that I should not go right now because of the state of everything there but I think that I definitely made the right decision.


Haiti was really my last big trip with much to talk about in regards to my first semester in the Dominican Republic. After a semester in a foreign country I felt more independent, MUCH more street smart and much more aware of my surroundings, learned so much about my confidence, my bluntness and most importantly my position as a North American in a foreign country.

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