Climbing to Citadel, Haiti

Karley Writing:
Today is our last day in Haiti, so we decided to visit the Citadel, a huge mountaintop fortress in Milot. We took the Blanc-Mobile (our name for our trusty pick-up truck) up half-way, and then walked up the steep road of the mountain. We took numerous stops on our way up because the roads sometimes were too steep, and we were all sweating by the time we made it to the top. We had the option to take a donkey up all the way, but we were convinced that we could walk it.

The Citdal is an absolutely beautiful and old building, with an awesome history. It was built by 20,000 workers designed to keep Haiti safe from the French. It's built upon a 3,000 ft mountain, and you can see all the other mountains and valleys around it. We saw all the cannons and cannon balls that were never used as well. Henri Christophe, the general in the Haitian army, started the building of the fortress in 1805. The Citadel rises 130 feet, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Haiti. When Christophe died in 1820, the building construction was stopped, therefore it was never finished. It was also never used, as the French never attacked them.

On our way back, it was all downhill which got us places much faster. We stopped a quarter of the way down to have a coconut and mango break, since it was already a good 4 hours since we had eaten breakfast. We shared our food with our tourist guides and looked down at the awesome view below us. We saw some locals as well and by the time we got to the bottom, everyone was tuckered out. What an awesome experience!