Picture of Ready for action but never used: cannons in the Citadelle la Ferrière (Citadelle La Ferrière, Haiti)

Cannons never fired: inside the Citadelle la Ferrière

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A major building on top of a mountain, Citadelle la Ferrière is a prime example of an enormous effort with huge costs for, ultimately, no real reason. It is also one of the major historic sights in the Caribbean.
We were determined not to take any guide, and also to walk all the way up to the Citadelle, before we arrived. As we entered Milot, the starting point of the path to the Citadelle, two men came on the bus who approached us to convince us that going without a guide was impossible, and that it was way too far to walk. Once we got rid of them, we still faced more guides offering their services and horses, our best response was a polite thank you, while we walked on. To be honest, the morning sun was burning on our back and we were sweating it out as the climb is steep mostly in the beginning, from the Palace Sans-Souci in Milot. Once we got a little higher and the trickle of guides had dried up behind us, we went a little slower and took some breaks to drink; we were very thirsty. A little higher, women emerged from their huts trying to sell us all kinds of self-made jewellery. We ate the mangoes we had harvested that morning from a tree right out of our room in Cap Haïtien, and took a drink for the last stretch. The drink vendor tried to convince us that we had "a serious problem" and definitely needed a guide as the last stretch was "very dangerous".
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