Champ de Mars

Statues of Haiti’s founding fathers are here, including Alexander Pétion, Henri Christophe, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and Toussaint Louverture. The most arresting of them all, though, is Marron Inconnu, the iconic statue of the unknown slave blowing a conch-shell trumpet. Sculpted by Haitian sculptor Albert Mangonès, the statue represents a runaway slave on one knee, arching back to blow into the conch-shell trumpet. In his free hand, he holds a machete; around his ankle is a broken chain. In Haitian history, the sound of blowing into a conch was used to announce a slave’s – or a group of slaves’ – freedom. The statue stands to represent Haiti’s independence from the French.

If history’s what you’re after, the Museum of the National Haitian Pantheon fronts onto the square. Two theatres on Champs de Mars - the Ciné Triomphe and Rex Théâtre - were severely damaged by the earthquake, and the Rex, still boarded up, gives you a sense of what much of Port-au-Prince was like in those first bleak years. The Triomphe theatre fared better and has reopened to the public.

Daytime

Under the eaves of the Triomphe theatre, a long strip of artisans sell their arts and crafts: paintings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, wooden bowls, metalwork, and more. Interspersed between these artisans street food merchants sell hot food, usually rice and beans, by the Styrofoam box. For an authentic treat, and relief from the Caribbean heat, find a Fresko or snow-cone merchant.

Afternoon

Afternoons here buzz with conversation and music playing from sound systems around the park. On weekdays, white-collar Haitians funnel into Champ de Mars on their lunch breaks from local banks, hotels and government offices, or maybe from their lecturing jobs at the nearby university departments - the Faculty of Sciences, the National School of Arts, the Faculty of Ethnology, and the Haitian-American Institute.

Evening

In the evenings, Place de la Constitution de 1801 fills up with the tables and chairs of opportunistic food sellers. If you linger, a waiter will pull you up a chair and ask “Kisa n ap bwè?” What will you be drinking? Underneath the symbolic 200 steps of the Tour 2004, built to commemorate 200 years of independence, you can grab a beer at Kay Leyo, or Leo’s House; an outdoor bar where employees from the nearby Ministry of Culture – come to enjoy a drink after work. There are several brands of local beer, but the strong lager Prestige is consistently drinkable - as long as it’s cold.