The Citadel

This is Citadelle Laferrière.  If you type that name into Wikipedia, you're sure to come up with all the interesting historical facts that I can't remember about it right now.  Essentially, it's a very big, old fort built when Haiti was divided into a kingdom in the north (where I am) and a republic in the south.  The king built this as a defense from both the south and from the Dominican Republic to the east.  I went with Budry (my Creole tutor), some Belgian girl scouts who were staying next door to my house and some of their Haitian friends.  There were 10 of us packed into the back of a Nissan short bed truck for the 4 hour, very bumpy roundtrip.  All in all, we had a very good time hiking up to and seeing the Citadel.  If I had access to Facebook (which I don't by the way, so if you've posted something for me there and I haven't responded... that's why) I would post more pictures, but these few will have to do.

Budry and me on the hike up.

The view from the top of the Citadel.

Budry and I in prison.  

Oh and one comment about my Argentina jersey.  This spring, on my last visit to Haiti, I noticed several people wearing Argentina soccer jerseys.  So, as I'm packing I think, "Hey, I'll wear this and fit right in... well as much as possible anyways."  Au contraire.  Apparently, all of Haut-Limbé supports Brazil, who just so happens to be Argentina's bitter rival.   I have found a grand total of two other "Argentin" supporters in my town.  My loyalty is unwavering though and it makes for some good natured (though less than productive) bantering on the quality of the two teams.