Rick Klouda with the Lutheran Church of Hope team, shares the teams experience of the Citadel trip. 

We started out early at 5:15 am on a sight seeing journey to the Citadel.

Our adventure began by riding in the back of pickups on B level roads (equivalent to bull riding) on a 2 1/2 hour journey.
Our first stop was breakfast; this is one I would like to try at home, stopping in the middle of the street along with several other vehicles, jumping out and order a bag of peanuts and some boiled eggs while blocking the street. It worked for a few minutes until a large truck pulled up behind us and would not stop blowing his air horn. He obviously wasn’t wanting breakfast.

Soooooooo … on with our tour to the palace ruins and the one and 1/2 hour walk up the mountain with peddlers hovering over me leading a horse by there side, asking me if I’m doing alright and if I would like a ride for the low cost of $20.00. LOL Of course I’m alright!
Just two days ago I climbed a mountain in an hour and a half. However the little boy leading the the horse didn’t think I had a chance, for I was the only one he offered this wonderful ride to, if that tells you anything!

The fortress was built by King Henry after the victory from oppression and slavery in 1804. The nationals reclaimed their original name Haiti and built this fortress to defend themselves from another oppressive invasion of tyranny and slavery.

The site is stunning to take in

Well, I made it to the top of this massive fortress and examined every inch that was available along with what was left of its 124 cannons. It was amazing! It was like the movie “Trains Planes and Automobiles.”

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On a serious note I have learned that the journey of the Haitian people has been full of good, hard-working, intelligent people striving to become over-comers in the mitts of oppression.

Lord I pray for “Your Good” to continue to emerge from these hard working people in Haiti!!