HAITI
I travelled to Haiti in 2015.

Being Haitian

I met Jacky on my return to Port-au-Prince from Santo Domingo.  He was at the bus stop picking up passengers on his motorcycle.  I was very impressed with his fluency in English and hired him to drive me to a hotel.  The next day, he took me to a local voodoo ceremony which I had the privilege to videotape. ​Later, I asked Jacky for his personal views on the situation in Haiti.  I used his comments to narrate this video.

The awe-inspiring mountain fortress of La Citadella la Ferriere is a short distance from Cap-Haitien on the edge of the small town of Milot.  Built to repel a possible French attack, it also stands as a monument to the vision of Henri Christophe, who oversaw its construction.*
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Vodou is a complicated and sophisticated belief system with roots in Haiti's African past and the slave rebellion that brought the country's independence in 1804.*
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I met Jacky on my return to Port-au-Prince from Santo Domingo.  He was at the bus stop picking up passengers on his motorcycle.

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The visual arts of Haiti -- mainly paintings but also sculpture and Vodou flags -- are an outpouring of creative force unmatched in the Caribbean.*

Built as a conscious rival to the splendors of the Versailles in France, Henri Christophe's palace of Sans Souci has lain abandoned since it was ruined in the 1842 earthquake.  The years of neglect have left it partially reclaimed by the tropical environment, creating a wonderfully bizarre and evocative monument at once elegant and truly alien.*

The rich mix of traditions is what makes Haitian Vodou unique.  Many slaves...saw in the icons of Catholic saints their own African spirits, represented in new forms and new ideas, and appropriated the images as their own.*
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I was very impressed with his fluency in English and hired him to drive me to a hotel and around the area the next day.

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The awe-inspiring mountain fortress of La Citadella la Ferriere is a short distance from Cap-Haitien on the edge of the small town of Milot. Built to repel a possible French attack, it also stands as a monument to the vision of Henri Christophe, who oversaw its construction.

Built as a conscious rival to the splendors of the Versailles in France, Henri Christophe's palace of Sans Souci has lain abandoned since it was ruined in the 1842 earthquake. The years of neglect have left it partially reclaimed by the tropical environment, creating a wonderfully bizarre and evocative monument at once elegant and truly alien.

​

Haitian music has been used for many things -- as an accompaniment to Voudou ceremonies, as a form of resistance in politics,or even just to dance the night away.*



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Voudou services are highly developed rituals to pleasure, feed and ultimately summon the Iwa through the possession of a human body.*
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Later, I asked him for his personal views on the situation in Haiti.

The visual arts of Haiti--mainly paintings but also sculpture and Vodou flags--are an outpouring of creative force unmatched in the Caribbean.*

* These captions are from Dominican Republic & Haiti -- Lonely Planet's travel guide.