A cocoa plantation in the making. This was a acacia plantation which was good in that it provided cover and timber for the farmer, but now she is replacing the acacia with a higher value and more diversified system. You should be able to see cocoa, cedar, sapote, and banana, all of which will interact beneficially to protect the farm and generate higher profits for the farmer. A true win-win.

The view from my fishing spot. Didn't catch any fish but does that even matter?

One of the topics this week is training strategies. The staff here are using visual aids to help train farmers and they are pleased with the results. Here's an example

If you look beyond the wall in the photo you will see that my hotel is right across the street from a police station. That's a good thing right? Like probably nothing bad is going to happen here. At least that's my logic.

By the way I got all the way here with all my stuff. At customs here the only thing they asked was if the drone was used or not. Seems like people travelling with drones is just part of the background now. Also so far I don't seem to have forgotten anything. And I slept like a baby last night. I think it's going to be a good week.

Here's all my extra stuff. And it's alot of extra. Like 4 times normal. Including, you can see the tube with the red cap, a travel fishing rod. That's right, I'm carrying fishing gear which in the past I would have thought of as frivolous, but I'm eager to see if I can catch anything in Dominican rivers. I will let you know of course

I hope I haven't forgotten anything. I haven't travelled in over 4 months so I'm actually feeling a little bit out of practice. Also I'm really short on sleep and I'm catching myself making little mistakes like nearly forgetting my toothbrush. And setting my boarding pass down in a random place, something I would normally not do. So the chances I've forgotten something this time are pretty good. I have a checklist and I went over it a bunch of times but I can tell my brain is not firing on all cylinders.

There's a lot of extra things I had to bring on this trip too which means more things to forget. Like the drone for example. Which by the way, airport security didn't even bat an eye at. Drones are commonplace now I guess.

The drone on this trip is not just for fun. I'm hoping we can scan some farms and use those scans to learn more about structure and productivity of those farms. I've been practicing all summer at home but this will be the first real test.