The damage from Hurricane Sandy in Haiti is insidious, I think is the best way to describe it. No sort of dramatic, media-worthy destruction to report, but multiple days of rain and wind right in the middle of the cropping season, essentially took out a good portion of the country's food supply for the next 6 months. You can see in the first photo below, in a shot I took looking north towards the Gulf of La Gonave that there are many whitish looking spots. These are areas that were stripped bare by the storm, and an indicator of the extent of damage. More serious really is that the bean and pigeon pea crops were wiped out or set back. The second shot is flowering pigeon pea (Pwa Kongo). I shouldn't have really  bean  able to take this picture this time of year. Pigeon pea should be well on into the seeding or even harvest stage by now, and people  would  have been counting on that for food or  income. Fortunately a second flowering  took place, although the yield will likely be small compared to the initial hoped for season. All  of these consequences remain hidden, and most likely the affected areas will suffer in silence until the next cropping season which  begins in March or April. For a more official assessment you can check Reliefweb: http://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/haiti-food-security-outlook-october-2012-through-march-2013

Off in the distance you can see the island of La Gonave. La Gonave is apparently a woman sleeping on the back of a whale with her hands folded. In her folded hands she has the secret to peace for Haiti. She was sent at the beginning of time to deliver this message but the whale carried her so gently that she fell asleep and has yet to wake up. During the day the whale moves out into the harbour and every evening he brings the woman close in to shore hoping she will wake and deliver her message of peace. Haiti is still waiting.

The best travel towel I have found. I'm sure I've mentioned it before. The funny thing is, it's not even a travel towel, but it's better than any of the 'official' travel towels I have tried which you get at the fancy camping stores. And a lot cheaper. I bought a pack of them at a hardware store and then cut it into quarters. It functions well as a washcloth and for drying (because it is so absorbent as advertised).  And the towel itself dries well and quickly. It is best though to hang it somewhere in the sun and open air, such as  in the picture. The infomercials say they last 20 years, but my experience is they last 6-12 months with heavy usage. The wear results mostly from wringing it out to help the drying process.

Really difficult to get the exposure just right so that it feels like what I was looking at. Maybe someone has advice on how to do this reliably. My strategy was to just take about 30 shots and hope for the best. Seems like there has to be a better way.

The dish that keeps the office here connected and lets me keep blogging. I climbed up on the roof to get this shot with the traditional rural house and homegarden in  the background. There was a time when people went overseas and didn't know if they would ever come back or hear from their loved ones. Even my grandmother left family behind to get on a ship to come to Canada and it was years before she got a chance to go back and visit. Now its so easy for me to communicate with anyone anywhere. But I also think it makes it harder to focus on just 'being' in a place. I'm in Haiti,  but I'm also  thinking about  Burma,  Burundi,    Canada.

This also is farmer field school. Farmers making observations together in the field to solve real problems that they are concerned with. As I mentioned the other day, the idea is to put more emphasis on farmer knowledge and less on trainer knowledge. This is a hard habit to break, and there's a well established hierarchy of those with more education having more to say.

I looked out my window this morning when I first got up and saw this mist. I grabbed my camera and ran outside basically in my pyjamas because morning mist like this doesn't last long. Turns out I had about 5 minutes before the mist started to burn off. I don't know what real photographers say, but it seems to me that the beginning and end of the day are some of the most interesting times to take pictures but the light conditions change so fast it's hard to capture. Not that this picture qualifies as 'interesting'. In my imagination it looked much better than it actually turned out here.

This is farmer field school. Or at least a part of it called the AgroEcosystems Analysis. The idea is that farmers observe real field situations, and draw their own conclusions, and learn from each other. Among other things, the system is designed to break out of the mentality that organizations do all the teaching and farmers do all the learning. Here you see the result of the staff testing the idea, making observations and drawings of a plant in the field, in this case, velvet bean. I took a picture of the field where this observation was done just a few days back, for those that are keeping track.

If this looks like a picture of a bunch of grass, that's because it is a picture of a bunch of grass. Otherwise known as a forage bank. One of the big causes of deforestation here, or perhaps one of the reasons it is so difficult to reforest is because of animal grazing, especially goats. So creating alternate food sources for animals so they aren't tempted to eat trees is one of the objectives. This is not a new idea. Forage banks have been around and successfully used around the world. But not a widely adopted practice here. At least not on the scale required to also allow reforestation. 

Every time I visit, if I am able, I visit this farmer's agroforestry plot. Basically I've been following this tree planting and this farmer for the past 6 or 7 years. It's fun to see the trees growing and talk to the farmer. It's kind of our thing. In fact this time he came by the office and asked me when I would be free to go see the plot. He keeps planting more trees in the remaining spaces. You might remember from previous blog entries that the soil in this spot is not great, one of the reasons he decided to plant trees, but but they continue to grow and are starting to be a small forest. If you look at the tops of the branches you might see that there's a lot of resprouting after Tropical Storm Sandy

I did catch up on my sleep. Not that I'm going to make this entire blog about my sleep habits. But on the first night I went to bed around 8 pm and slept right through til morning. It's very peaceful here at night. If you're looking to catch up on your sleep this is definitely the place to do it.

Now everytime I pass by these fields, I am compelled to look and see how the soil conservation and tree planting we did on a massive scale as part of earthquake response is holding up. Two years later there is considerable loss, as would be expected, but there are a few pockets where farmers have been able to protect their fields from marauding goats and other troubles. This field in the foreground is one. I don't know if you can really see but there are a bunch of trees on the first hill that are doing pretty well, and 3-5 metres in height.

About the whole physical readiness thing. The reason I didn't score 100% in that category is because I went to bed at  2:30 am this morning, and my alarm was set for 3:00 am in order to get to the airport on time. You read that right. I felt kind of silly trying to sleep at all.

I'm not looking for sympathy though--just to be clear it was completely self-inflicted. I'm sleeping on the plane. I'm probably sleeping as I type this.

Five days at home is all I get in November. I'm back at the airport again waiting for an early morning flight to Haiti. Ideally I would like to have more time between trips to recover and prepare for the next foray, but this is just the way the scheduling happened to work out this time. Keeps me on my toes I guess. I'm mostly ready. To me there are three levels of readiness:
1. Physically ready--is my laundry done? am I caught up on my sleep, do I have my travel documents? etc
2. Tactically ready--is all the scheduling lined up for the events/activities that are suppose to happen in the upcoming days? are training or discussion materials prepared? are the right people prepared to take part?
3. Emotionally ready--less tangible obviously--are the mental batteries recharged? am I ready to give the visit 100%? Am I eager to get out in the field, or am I kind of wishing I could sleep in and have a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast?

For this particular trip I would give the following ratings:
1. Physical readiness--90%
2. Tactical readiness--85%
3. Emotional readiness--70%

The Korean Air in-flight magazine has an article on Burma that describes the changes going on in an almost off-hand matter-of fact kind of way. It makes me feel like my speculation about change is out of touch. And the article also recommends that you book your hotel well in advance because there are so many tourists pouring in. I know that a friend of mine who is a travel agent says it's one of the more popular destinations at the moment. Maybe someone who knows more about the country can comment, but I see no evidence that things are going back to the way they were. And the evidence I do see (including inflight magazines) seems to point to massive and sudden change. I just get this kind of gut feeling that no one either inside or outside is ready for what is happening or about to happen. Like this is truly is a pivotal moment in the history of the country and the region.

Many citrus orchards all over northern Thailand are in serious decline. I've heard different explanations, but at least one factor involves a disease known as citrus greening. Maybe someone else more knowledgeable can elaborate, but this tree and hundreds of others in this plantation are victim, and apparently once the disease reaches this stage, it only has one or two years left. In fact the owner of this orchard is going out of business and is looking to sell his land. Some large scale farms are turning to rubber plantations as an alternative.

In case you've never heard, I've been on a quest for the perfect travel pants. I virtually live in them after all, so I've had a lot of time, on planes, in airports, in crowded markets, to think about what they would  be like. And  I've never found  them. I've  looked in every store and on every website where you think they  might show up. No  luck. So one of our staff here in Thailand used to be a professional seamstress, and I finally decided that the only way to get the perfect travel pants is to  actually make them. Last time I was in the region, I left  a pair of  pants--one of my favourites, which was close--behind, along with a hand drawn sketch of what they ought  to look like, with the dimensions. And here they are.  There's going to be some rigourous field testing,  but I'm pretty excited  about the outcome.  I've also realized that with some minor adjustments, travel pants 1.1 will be even more perfect.

Thaton is a town near the border with Burma where there is a famous temple and several statues of Buddha. It's quite a beautiful and interesting spot. Definitely a tourist trap but worth seeing. These dragons were not there the last time I visited and seem to be part of a multi-million dollar project for and by the faithful. From where I took this picture, you could literally turn around and see Burma across the next hill.

This is a community leader explaining the map which shows the various types of forest as well as grazing, cropland, and houses (the white triangles). This community has organized itself, produced this map and more formal digital maps to help themselves better manage their forest as well as make their case to authorities that they can care for the environment and feed themselves at the same time. Our partner organization here has worked with this community to help them achieve these goals. This particular map is mainly an education tool for the community itself, to help everyone understand what parts of the forest are for what type of use or protection.

A very sad--what I think is a--sun  bear in this miserable cage in a tourist area. Funny thing was it wasn't even somewhere where people would see it. It was kind of in behind the craft market all by itself. I had to wander off on my own to find it. So why was it there? I understand--from the internet--that there's a practice of collecting bile from bears in Asia for some kind of medicine, but generally the bile bears are kept in much smaller cages. So I'm not sure what's going on here. All I know is that this bear seemed very much out of sorts. At one point as I was rudely snapping these shots, he lunged at the side of the cage.

Buddha on the Mekong River at the golden triangle, or the confluence of the Mekong river and Mae Sai river. Buddha is actually in a boat headed downstream. Doesn't appear to be in any particular hurry. I shouldn't be surprised I suppose.

My latest past-time: collecting pictures of me with flags of countries. The trick is that the flag has to actually be in the related country. This is Laos, the latest addition to the collection. Right in at the Golden Triangle, where the Mekong River meets the Mae Sai River. I didn't realize that today we would be passing this way and that I would get a chance to cross the Mekong into Laos. I mostly satisfied my criteria of having officially  been in a new country, which are to have a stamp in my passport (a special visa stamp for a free-trade zone), taken local transportation (the tourist boat across the Mekong), and had a meal (drank a cup of local Lao coffee). I realize this one is a bit shaky but I'm claiming it anyway.

I just totally ordered breakfast in Thai. No resorting to English, and no guessing what the waitress said. I think that's the first time that's happened to me here. Mind you there were only 4 things on the menu; and there were pictures; and I'm pretty sure the waitress is used to dealing with tourists with terrible accents. Stiil don't take this away from me. It's one small step forward in my years long (albeit occasional) struggle with Thai. 

Another fun thing to do here is go to the night markets. This one also happens to be in Chiang Rai, but one of the most famous is probably in Chiang Mai.  There's lots of tasty and inexpensive  food and a wide variety of things to try. Below you see the widely popular noodle soup, and the perhaps not so popular deep fried crickets. The second picture is  traditional Thai dancers. The idea is to just wander  around,  eat, take in the sights, maybe look  at some touristy craft stuff. I ended up buying a small clay lantern that burns cooking oil.

This is the Mae Gohk River heading downstream towards the Mekong, the main river in south east Asia. There is a perfectly good road to Chiang Rai,  our destination, but we chose the river mostly for the fun of it. While water travel is an important means of transport in the region, this particular section of river is primarily monopolized by the tourists. In this case, I can't really pretend not to be one, since while I am here for work--and have been the whole time (no, really)--this morning's destination was elephant riding. 

At the home of a farmer who is doing a lot of backyard agriculture. On his own he has figured out how to raise this what appears to be an amphibious fish. Locally known as snake head fish (in Thai). It is apparently a delicacy and quite expensive. He's raising it in tanks but pulled a few out the  tankd for us to see.  They seemed quite happy to just sit on the ground.  Is it a mudskipper? Someone must know. It was strange looking in any case. I  was pretty impressed though that this farmer had just thought to get some from local fisherman and start raising them himself. The advantage is that they don't need much water, or frequent change of water which reduces management issues. 

Today was a field day. Visits to a couple of villages who have been facing the same problems as the village I mentioned the other day. These villages though have managed to gain at least partial security and have also been able to use farming techniques like agroforestry to improve their income and improve the local environment. Here's a farmer showing us how to make rope out of bamboo by slicing it lengthwise in increasingly thinner strips. He took one strip of bamboo and split it probably 4 or 6 times to get the right dimensions. The machete skills involved were quite impressive. I asked him when he started using a machete. Six or seven years old apparently. 

Not much to tell, or take photos. I have been note taker for these meetings so far which means I sit and type for 8 hours. It's improving my listening skills.

We did get to go out for supper with someone celebrating their birthday and there was cake.

This is an agroforestry plot at the farm center where we are meeting. Agroforestry as  you  know  if you're read this blog at all is a system of integrating trees into farming systems--as you might guess from the name.  Here you see fan palm, a plant used for roofing materials,  pineapple, and timber trees. Pretty much everything in an agroforestry plot is probably there for a reason, producing some useful product for food or income while at the same time creating a system which is good for the soil and often mimics natural systems. The organization here, UHDP has been promoting agroforestry and other beneficial practices for almost 20 years and has become regionally recognized as a place to go to learn. I have been here a whole bunch of times and learn new things everytime. If you're ever in the neighbourhood you should drop by.

China was just a step to my destination--a meeting in Northern Thailand. I'm here with representatives of all the countries where we work for 2 main reasons: one, to see the work that our partner in Thailand is doing, and two to share ideas and discuss our work around the world. Below is a photo from a community of an ethnic group called the Palaung. Many of them came from Burma and have settled in Thailand under less than ideal conditions. It was really interesting for me to listen to, and participate in a dialogue between this group and our staff from different countries. One of the things that strikes me more and more, here, and in other parts of the world is the situation of 'stateless' people. I have a hard time imagining the impact it must have on someone to leave one place because they are unwanted, and arrive in another place where they are also unwanted. People carry on, inspite of the odds, as people do, but one can sense in a meeting like this a kind of vulnerability that is very moving.

Maybe some would wonder why I ended up in Kunming any. It was really just an excuse to go somewhere. I was on my way to Thailand for work anyway, and the flight did work out to be slightly cheaper than the alternate routes. Admittedly it was not the easiest way to get to my destination. But I got to tour around if only briefly. One thing that struck me was the quiet. Every scooter I  saw, and there were many were electric and therefore almost  completely silent. Even some of the cars appeared  to be electric or at the very least hybrids. I also saw several bicycles that had been converted to electric. My pre-conception was that things are not very environmentally friendly, but on that count, Kunming at least seems way  ahead.

I'm a few days behind because I couldn't access my blog site from China. But I did manage to arrange my transit travel there on the way to Thailand. Not the route more travelled, but I got to sight see a bit around Kunming in the southern part of the country. Big modern city with an enormous new airport. A strategic error on my part since I had the mistaken idea that it would be a tiny back country airport. I had further assumed that it would be easy to get out of this imagined airport and find a hotel. A classic and somewhat hilarious situation ensued with about a dozen strangers gathered around me (all about a foot shorter than me) trying to (helpfully) understand what exactly I was trying to say. Eventually I did find a cab driver who spoke enough English to get me to a hotel at 1 am. On my return journey to the airport the next day, an equally amusing situation occurred with me standing in the middle of the street holding my arms out like an airplane as a substitute for being able to speak coherently to the cab driver. 

Below is the complimentary hotel breakfast--fresh noodles--quite delicious and just a little spicy, and hot soy milk.

Another conference over. This one as quick as it started. It was interesting to be amongst a group of engineers applying their skills and energy to humanitarian challenges. I was expecting some overlap with what we do, but their was even more in common than what I had anticipated. One of my hopes was that we could connect with people who might be able to help us solve some of the technical issues that we face. I have a fistful of business cards that may  pan out. At the same time, it also made me feel like we have something to offer others in terms of getting technical solutions out in the field in ways that effectively reach communities.

Just had yet another disappointing airport sandwich. The thing is can I really categorize the experience is disappointing? I should know by now. They look pretty good through the glass screen, but it always turns out that the bread is cold and stale, the lettuce soggy. So if your expectations are low, then technically it's not a  disappointment is it? I know, it's a first world problem. There's a lot worse things to contend with in life than a tasteless sandwich. Still, I just feel like the airline industry has mastered the art of making food look promising from inside a plastic wrapper. I did once have a great sandwich in the airport. It was Heathrow. The bread was fresh and crusty, the cheese amazing, and the ingredients fresh and crisp. It was like it was just made. I remember it well. Too bad I can't remember the name of the shop since they deserve the credit for pulling off what no other airport seems to be able to manage.

Domestic travel, more or less: going to Seattle for a conference. An engineering conference of all things. The theme is technology for humanitarian endeavours. We're actually presenting a paper on community forestry and mapping. Should be fun, and kind of outside of my usual routine. Like for example I'm wearing dress shoes and a jacket.

Also unusual, but unrelated, I saw someone let go of their big suitcase at the top of an escalator. She yelled as it slid all the way to the bottom. Fortunately, everyone was  off the steps  by the time it reached the bottom,  but I wouldn't want to have seen anyone in the way. And it was moving at a pretty good clip. After it reached  the bottom of the escalator  it slid for probably 5 or 6 metres before coming to stop.

Since this is my last post on this  particular trip, I thought the priest walking down the trail seemed somehow appropriate. So, til the next trip, and the next sequence of posts, happy trails.

Airplanes are beautiful aren't they? I know I keep coming back to  this topic from time to time, and the technology itself does inspire me. But I  think I am also  inspired  by the grand vision required to create a world wide transportation system that is based on flying machines. All coordinated, reliable and safe.  I know everyone has had a bad airline experience, but when I think about what it would take to bring together all the pieces needed to make a system like this work, it kind of boogles my mind.

The Kuala Lumpur light rapid transit system, KL LRT. Clean, easy to use, and I spent no more than 50 cents on any given trip--in air conditioned comfort. Tokens, such as the one below are purchased using machines with touch screen and I had no problem selecting the stop I needed and paying. The token is then swiped at the gates in the background to allow you into the system, and then when you reach your destination, you deposit the token in a slot in the same gates to exit. I thought I was going to be able to keep one as a souvenir. But this is much better since the tokens are recycled. And I seemed to be able to get anywhere I wanted to get. I would have to say this makes this city a definite recommendation as a tourist destination. If only Toronto could figure out how to do something like this. Ironically, the trains in the KL system were built in Canada.

Petronas towers, Kuala Lumpur. Another one of my, I'm not sure what to call them, micro-vacations maybe.  Passing through a place leaving just enough time to meet all those qualifications I have for saying I've genuinely been in another country, ie. got the stamp in my passport, taken local transportation, eaten a local meal, and used the local facilities. So far I've only done the first two, but it's 2:30 am here so the other two will have to wait til tomorrow. These buildings used to be the tallest in the world. Truthfully, it was about the only thing I knew about this place. But I have to say my first impressions are good. The airport was clean and well organized, passing immigration was fast and pleasant. It made me realize that there are sort of three categories of country immigration officers. Those that seem  like they don't want you in  their country, those that seem completely indifferent and barely acknowledge that they are dealing with another human being, and those that seem to actually want you to visit their country. I would say Malaysian immigration fits the third category, based on this one experience. Some other countries (which shall remain nameless), not so much. I actually think the immigration experience can tell you quite a bit about a country. So kudos Malaysia.

I think these single pole bamboo bridges are pretty cool. Just like balancing on a log to cross a river, except with handholds. Very minimalist, very cyclone adapted (ie easily replaceable). My apologies if this shot is slightly blurred but I took it from the window of our speeding van. The problem is I see cool stuff about every 5 minutes, so if I asked people to stop, I would pretty soon be walking. Somedays I wish I my job was to just  take pictures of cool stuff. 

This is a beach town in the western part of the country. Some would call it sleepy I suppose. But as I walked along this strip of small traditional shops and homes, there was construction and renovation going on at probably a dozen hotels or so. Some would call  the pace  furious.  Even  the place I am staying at, the paint was still wet on the windows of my room, and the manager himself arrived  2 days ago (from somewhere in Europe I  would guess). If there was ever a sure sign of impending change this would be it. If I am  fortunate enough to return here someday, I am  guessing that this strip will be full of flashy hotels and tourist distractions and look nothing like the photo below.

I am stranded on the beach for 24 hours. Kind of a long story but has to do with places I can't travel that are otherwise on the agenda of places to visit, etc, etc. I'm not minding. My daily to do list suddenly shrunk to almost nothing and included things like ordering a cup of coffee and going for a swim. When I went for a walk on the beach I noticed that there were all these circular patterns in the sand. At first I thought maybe they had combed the beach with somekind of machine that had spinning brushes but that didn't make sense since there's no tourists on this beach. You can see in the photo, all the little holes and in one hole near the centre of the shot there's actually a little tiny crab. At first I thought it was a spider, but it actually has little tiny claws. Around each hole are concentric circles made up of those tiny mounds, and alley  ways in  between I guess for ease of movement. I they do move fast. As soon as I start walking towards the holes, there's a blur as all the spider-like crabs head for cover.

There are so many pictures I  want to show you,  or things I  want to talk about, but just can't because of lack of time, space, or other reasons. This is tamarind in the market, which is used in cooking. If you know about tamarind you know about tamarind. If you don't know about tamarind, then you probably know A1 steak  sauce, which has tamarind in it. This is the biggest pile of tamarind I've ever seen. Just before  they started packaging it as you see in  the picture, they were actually breaking it up--because it came as a big brick--with a large metal rebar like a tire iron. Didn't get my camera out in time for that.

This basket contains the ingredients that go into the chewing  of betelnut. Betelnut comes from a type of palm tree and is a mild stimulant. Add to this the leaf you see at  the bottom, tobacco (the  brown  leaf  at the top)  and the  betelnut itself (you can  barely see a few fragments of it on the right, plus the lime (calcium carbonate) in the little medicine bottle, and you get a moderately potent combination that is commonly used by lots of people here. You can tell because you  see the red juice on the street as well as the red stain on peoples' teeth if they have been using it for a long time. I tried it the other day just to see. It left me feeling relaxed and a little bit dizzy which was ok, but the taste was like chewing  a combination of toothpaste and aspirin. Not really for me.

This is the row boat I mentioned yesterday. And do you see that black blob in the sky? That's not a bird as I first thought, it's a bat. A big old bat. And there were dozens of them just after sunset (flying out of some cave I suppose) heading out to feed. They really were huge, like the body of the bat was almost chicken size. In fact locally they call them chicken bats. At first I thought they were seagulls.

Also, if these recent blog posts make me sound like I'm on vacation, I will admit that this trip is easier than normal, and technically, I am on vacation. The organization I work for is not actually working in this location. We partner with an organization that partners with someone. A bit indirect and convoluted perhaps, but then that seems like the most appropriate arrangement, at least at the moment. And the main purpose is a get-to-know-you kind of situation. Don't get me wrong, I do like the kind of intense (and hopefully productive!) trips that I normally get to do, but it is nice to be able to dial it back a bit, at least for a few days.

For some reason, photos aren't uploading from here. Don't know exactly what that reason is, but it is denying me the chance to show you some beautiful and interesting sites. Maybe you are able to see this, but I can't. The picture is of this golden temple spire, shining on the night shoreline of a river just after sunset. It was hot here this afternoon and still hot when I took this picture, but getting out of the direct sun was a bit of a relief. This shot I too from a small row boat where the rower stands and faces forwards. I have shots of that too, and tons of others. In fact I really had trouble today deciding which one to choose. Just sorry that it seems like I'm being denied the chance to share.

Hmmm. Doesn't seem like I  can upload a photo for some reason. So imagine if you will, and shot down and alley looking out onto the main street which I took leaning out the window of my hotel. Had a good but longish trip from the airport, and a really great meal last night which consisted of fried shrimp, baked fish , fried fish, vegetables, rice, and a locally famous soup. Waiting for our ride right now to take us out for the day. I am hoping to be able to upload photos later.

No photo this time sorry, since I'm using an airport computer and there doesn't seem to be an HD card slot. I discovered that Thailand now has a policy of requiring health clearance for travellers coming from certain countries in Africa and Latin America where Yellow Fever is a threat and you need proof of the vaccine in order to enter. I do have that, but then you also need a stamp from the health department in the airport before you pass immigration. That's the thing I didn't do, and only learned that I needed this after standing in the immigration line for 45 minutes. So for those of you coming from Africa or Latin America to Thailand, the Health office is just a few metres outside the entrance to the Immigration area. Go there with your completed health form (which they will give you on the plane most likely), and your yellow fever vaccine certificate, and your completed immigration forms (also from the plane). Get in that line and get the stamp. Then go to the immigration line. They do have someone checking to see if you have the required stamp, but only when you almost reach the immigration desks, not where you enter the line. I noticed a number of people from my same flight had to stand in that 45 minute line twice as a result. I hope this saves someone the same experience.

My last post from Burundi. Sadly--it's been  a good trip. This is mixture of plantain--one of the disease resistant varieties I've been telling you about--and Mucuna pruriens (aka. Velvet Bean) which is a green manure crop, capable of producing high volumes of organic matter (as you can see), and nitrogen which makes it a natural fertilizer, increasing yields without addition of any chemical nutrients. This makes it cheaper for the farmer, more easily accessible, and is better overall for the health of the soil. The program here is just experimenting with this--a technology that has been proven in other parts of the world--but we need to work with it and make some adjustments so that it will be well adapted to the local situation. From this particular experimental field, generously offered to us by a local farmer, we are able to run such a test, as well as produce and multiply seed  to share with others.

Technically  this post is not actually from Burundi,  I'm in the Nairobi airport where they've given me an hour of free  internet. Thanks Jomo Kenyatta International.

This is a grey crowned crane hanging around at one of the nicer hotels on the beach on Lake Tanganika. Was in meetings again today, so we decided to have a change of venue at least to a scenic location. I think they feed  this bird or something in  order to keep it hanging around. Sort of a living lawn ornament.

There's  tonnes of valleys  and ravines here that are being farmed. They look  pretty nice so here's  the photo.  Actually today I  was in  meetings all day, so  this shot is kind of cheating since I took it yesterday on the way back to Bujumbura.

This is Nyakazu nature reserve, close by some of the communities where Floresta Burundi is working. These cliffs must be at least 100 metres in height, and from where I took this picture you are looking down on a dense tropical forest. The ranger that accompanied us told us there are chimps down there. I am hoping next time I return that we can hike down into the fault and exit on the plain in the background. It's pretty spectacular--an unexpected pocket of vibrant wilderness surrounded by otherwise typical farmland. I've been visiting farms only a few kilometres from here for 4 years, and had no idea this was hidden away in the nearby hills.

Real quick because I'm almost out of battery and I'm sitting outside the internet place which is actually closed on Sunday, but the wifi still works. Here's a picture from church (Catholic) this morning. Totally in Kirundi so I didn't understand anything. Since I had the time I worked out that there were probably 1100 people in attendance, plus or minus 50 babies on women's backs. And there's 3 masses on Sunday and one on Saturday. That makes somewhere around 4400 people attending every week. Just so you know.

Sorry that all my pictures are about banana propagation but I've been involved in trainings for the entire week and haven't got out much. This is one of our staff digging up a macro-propagated banana shoot which now has it's own roots and can be planted out in the field like any banana plant.

This is a banana propagation system being promoted by our local partner. I may have talked about this before, but this is a method which lets you multiply many times more banana shoots than  the traditional system. You can see several dozen in the photo. This is a particularly critical time for banana here since there is a disease, BXW which is devastating the older varieties. There are only a few varieties  around  which are resistant and getting those out to farmers is urgent.  We have trained local community groups to use this system and now they are able to multiply these seedlings to supply farmers in their area. This will restore the ability to produce banana since the traditional varieties are  being seriously threatened as well as  create on opportunity for these community groups to make some income from selling these superior plants.

After all this time, and all the flights I've  taken, flying still amazes me.  If you told people 200 years ago, that someday there would be big metal vehicles that weight thousands of tonnes and could carry 300 people many kilometres above the surface of the earth and cover distances that 'normally' take days or weeks, and on top of that you could get a hot meal and a cold drink, they just wouldn't believe you. Even now I don't believe it, especially when I'm standing in some farmer's field where they are barely scratching out a living next to a mud hut--well, it just doesn't seem possible that perhaps a few hours before I was on one of those giant metal  birds.

Just a practical note for those of you who travel to Burundi. I've discovered Brussel Airlines. Direct flight from Brussels to Bujumbura. Eight hours, no transfers, not waiting in some other random Africa airport. Plus the meal comes with all things Belgian.

The conference is over. And my flight out of Monterey  is about  to board. I  got a  chance last night to  go to the Aquarium here, which is great. This is a shot in one of the jellyfish tanks. Very  amazing. And we were able  to ask a whole lot of questions of  one of the staff here, who was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastically answered all questions. I learned a lot about jellyfish, which, it turns out are pretty amazing. Turns out they are kind of on the threshold of  being animals  at  all. They have  no organs, and hardly any concentration of nerves  which could be considered a 'brain' of any kind. So beautiful though. This particular one also happens to be quite poisonous.

Finally I got this creature,  whatever it is to cooperate.  It  was  being  coy the  whole  time,  but this shot should  make it identifiable. Several  other folks here at the conference also thought it  was a sea otter. Since it's somewhat uncommon to see, I'm kind  of excited. Again, if anyone has better id.  abilities pls weigh in.

Conference is  pretty much over for me.  It's  pack up, airport, home.  Well  worth the trip.