The street kids from Cap Haitien know all the best places to go, best prices too! Their favorite "in town" beach" is Rival Beach. It is not on the regular tourist route and very beautiful. As you can see, everyone was eager to get there.
As protection from the French, Fort Picolet was built over 200 years ago on a cliff-side just west of Cap Haitien, and around the corner from Rival Beach. These cannons were never fired, they sit untouched in a ruins that would be a national park almost anywhere else in the world.
The fort has many walls and staircases remaining. There is even a cistern which still catches rainwater. Some say that the fort is in such good shape because too many people are afraid to visit it. Haitians definitely do not like to "haunt" those locations were people died. Others say that most people stay away because "vodoun" is practiced in some of the empty chambers.
Here you can see some of the paintings left behind from "vodoun" ceremonies. The bamboo post in the corner were used to make a temporary "tonnelle."
You can see how steep the outside walls of the fort were! If you look carefully, you can just make out the container port in the distance. The rain clouds further south, are covering the mountains and The Citadel.
As we climbed the cliffs, returning back from Fort Picolet, this bateau cleared the headlands from where we had just come. It was not Napoleon finally returning to conquer the Haitians, but.....Can you imagine?
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