Haitian Muleteer On The Road to Milot
Hardship, pain, hope and pride – this photo embodies it all to me. This, you see, is a Haitian muleteer. I came across him while exploring a Clairin distillery in northern Haiti. Hundreds of them can be found along the road between Cap-Haitien and Milot.
As with most things in Haiti, Clairin is chiefly made the old fashioned way. The kind of hard way that always requires outsized effort, yet generally yields exceptional results.
In the case of Clairin production, mules and other beasts of burden do a lot of the heavy hauling, much as they have since the 1700s. It’s an arduous job for the Haitian muleteer as well, though one rooted in the grand revolutionary history at the heart of what makes Haiti so special.
Muleteer, you see, was one of the many professions once practiced by Toussaint L’Ouverture. The same Toussaint L’Ouverture who rose from humble beginnings like this to spearhead the Haitian Revolution.