My trip to Cap-Haitien (by Dan)

To get to Cap-Haitien from Ouanaminthe, where we were staying at the pastors house, it was an hour’s ride in a pickup truck. Two benches running parallel inside the back of the truck and one small chair served as our taxi. We managed to squeeze inside with 13 other people! Yes, there were 16 of us total in the back of a small pickup truck (with a topper so the head space was really limited).Talk about a cozy ride! The lady squeezed in next to me fell asleep on my shoulder! The price was right though, about $2 per person.
One hour and 65km later, it was sure nice to stretch the legs when we arrived at Cap-Haitien.
The landscape of the city is brilliant and breath-taking. Towering mountains line one horizon while the opposite drifts away into an endless view of ships and sea. But for many locals, these would prove to be their own boundaries. The scenery far outweighs the quality of life; houses are falling apart or fallen, many people are trying to make a living by selling fruit or shining shoes. There are many people with some form of job, but very seldom do you find one with a career. Life is more about getting by day by day than planning for the future. For many, there is no future.
The main roads are paved and have massive gutters for water drainage, but all the rest of the roads are dirt. The gutters were used by many locals to throw their garbage in. Every once in a while a garbage truck would come around and a few people would grab shovels and shovel all the garbage into the back of the truck. We saw many fascinating sights; an enormous cathedral, the city square, the port, a few statues and lots of people including the UN police which patrol the entire country. What an incredible experience being able to visit the country of Haiti and the city of Cap-Haitien. It is one that I will not soon forget. Even with cultural, geographical, social, racial, language and economic differences, we were able to find something in common with many of the people….our religion. We both profess Christ as our risen Saviour in whom we have new life. Praise the LORD!