More exciting shots of plants. Still in the border region, this time in  the DR. The first photo shows an agroforestry plot, which you can see is a somewhat complex mixture of multiple species including taro, castor, coffee, bananas, and a shade tree, in this case Guama (Inga spp.).  A system like this imitates natural forest in many ways, allows multiple products on the same piece of land, makes better use of resources since each plant has it's own niche, reduces soil loss, and improves soil quality. In the second photo, you can see one of these plots right next to the conventional corn/beans field.  Corn/beans is fine until the crop is done, and the field is bare, often  because the farmer has burned the remaining stubble, leaving the soil exposed to rain, wind,  etc. I think you  can get a sense of how much damage a heavy tropical rain might do in the field pictured. Fields like the coffee agroforestry plot you see pictured are popping up all over the place  in this area, I'm quite happy to say, thanks to the hard work of our staff here,  and of the farmers who are changing their fields.

I didn't know which other picture of plants to show you. Here is a living barrier in Haiti in the border area. The grass like plant you see is sugar  cane, and the white and brown  stem you see in  the foreground is eucalyptus. There are several  trees  planted along  the barrier.  An  earth barrier is  dug along the contour  using  an implement called  an A-frame (which maybe I'll describe in another installment), and then a  grass or sugar  cane is planted along the contour. Trees are planted on a wider spacing to help reinforce the barrier, and provide additional products  and organic  matter. The barrier helps  retain soil  in the field, while at the same time improving the  quality  of the soil, and providing multiple products beyond just the standard beans  and corn. So  it's a win-win situation. One  of  the small but important details  in this case,  is that sugar cane is considered  people food, so people are less  likely  to allow their  animals to graze  on a living barrier, thus keeping it from being destroyed. Sugar cane can also be used as animal forage,  but little details like that can make the difference between a field successfully being protected and not.

Had a bit of a scare yesterday when I couldn't seem to retrieve any pictures off the memory card on my camera. Somehow through the last week, the card itself had suffered physical damage, and coincidentally acquired a virus. After a few moments of panic, some creative use of scotch tape, and following some obscure instructions from the internet, I'm happy to report that all those photos of corn and trees have survived. 

Yesterday I visited the Dominican museum of modern art. All these years of coming here, and I've never once visited a museum up until now. Kind of sad, I admit. It was pretty interesting too. Below is a photo of a painting called "El Sacrificio del Chivo" by an artist named Pichardo. What's interesting is that the goat (chivo) symbolized Trujillo, the brutal dictator of the DR from 1930 to 1961. This painting was done in 1958, and was intended to symbolize the Dominican people rising up against oppression. All in secret of course. Had Trujillo known the true meaning of the painting, I suppose Pichardo would have been the goat.

I don't which of my 400 pictures of trees and other plants to show you.  But this one is pretty exciting to  me. These are pines planted in the border area in Haiti in a community called Savane Bombe. Two things about this are surprising to  me. One is that they are being planted  at all.  The local pine, Pinus  occidentalis is disappearing in Haiti,  and  there are very few forests left which contain the species. It is endemic  to the island, so once it is gone, it's gone. Fortunately there is still lots of it on  the Dominican side. However, to see people planting it in  Haiti is a  big deal for me. Turns out that people at  least in this  community  like planting it. It doesn't demand much water from the field,  or create much shade, so people can grow other underneath, and eventually  it produces timber which makes the farmer  a profit. The second surprising thing for me is how fast it grows. These trees here, which are 2-3 metres tall are about 3 years old. Not too bad for a tree which is supposed to be slow growing. So maybe there's hope for pine in Haiti after all.

So I'm  back  from my trip to the border area (where we have a project). This is me standing by a concrete border marker between the 2 countries. RD=Republica Dominicana, RH=Republique d'Haiti. In other words, the top picture, the RD picture shows Haiti in the background,  the bottom picture, the RH picture shows the DR  in the background. My question is, in which photo do you see more trees?

Today,  the final results of the presidential vote were officially declared and  then some celebration ensued. This is Piedra Blanca, a small town of maybe a few thousand people. But there was enough noise to make it hard for us to continue our office meeting. So I took the opportunity to duck out onto the office balcony and take some pictures.

This afternoon, I'll be heading for the border region near Haiti. This is about a 6 hour drive and I'll be there for a few days. No internet, no blogging sorry. The border area, which I think I've talked about in the past, is pretty interesting. There's this blending and clashing of cultures and economies and beliefs that make it pretty complicated and fascinating. Sort of a wild west scenario in someways. Would make an amazing Ph.D thesis for somebody. Anyone?

Today, my arrival, just happened  to be presidential election day. An apparently peaceful and orderly event. However, this evening everyone seems to be staying off the streets, I guess in case  something does happen. 

So I pulled the old stay-up-really-late-the-night-before-an-early-morning-trip stunt. This I actually think is a good strategy, because then on the travel day you're so tired you keep falling asleep all  through the flights and layovers, so the day doesn't seem nearly as long. The obvious drawback is that if you need to be alert for any reason during the course of the journey, well, you're kind of out of luck.  

I've got all these little plants on my balcony which now are going to go unattended for a bit. I hope they make it. 

I'm in a really good  mood tonight, and I don't even know exactly why. Maybe it's because I got to go canoeing with my Dad this  evening, which was really great, and we got to see a whole bunch of wildlife right in the middle of the city. Or maybe some other reason, I don't know. Probably shouldn't over-think it.