After 2008 here, there was a proliferation of Obama posters, Obama t-shirts, businesses named Obama, restaurants named Obama and apparently, Obama stationary. There is no such similar event this time.

A view from my guesthouse. The barbed wire is not that photogenic granted but is an important part of the story of this photo. These mountains in the background have seen many wars over the years, and you can see the tell-tale signs of that in the architecture here.

I had a chance this afternoon to talk to a local chief who has lived through the Belgian era, Mobutu, wars with neighbouring countries and a host of other experiences. He talked about the past with great fondness, when the forest came right down to Lake Tangyanika, wildlife was abundant, and there were so many fish in the lake that the people couldn't take them all out.

Someone like that has lived more lives than most of us could ever know.

Mexico city from the air. I don't know how someone can look at the air above cities like this around the world and not even wonder a little bit if we are having an impact on the air above us.

This is tom tom, a dish specific to certain parts of Haiti, particularly Jeremie and the North. Tom tom is commonly made from breadfruit, although it can also be made from maize or cassava, and is ground into a flour and then a thick porridge is mixed which is then eaten with a sauce. After 20 plus years of going to Haiti, I finally had my chance to try tom tom. An exciting culinary moment for me because I had always thought from the descriptions I had heard that it strongly resembled ugali or fou fou eaten throughout Africa. In fact the resemblance was uncanny. And delicious. I think I should become a food anthropologist.

After spending all week talking to nearly everyone about the elections in Haiti, I think things can be summed up in one word: disenchanted. Nothing else to say about that really.

Here's some Christmas lights in Port au Prince to cheer you up.

26 minutes 34 seconds from parking to gate. slower than usual.

Today's trip is to Haiti. Main activity is a crop yield study although so soon after the election and only a couple months after Hurricane Matthew, there will be a lot to see.

Every election changes a country a little bit. Maybe not much but a little. As a Canadian, I have been following the evolution of the US political situation with considerable but slightly detached interest. However, after spending a week here, and having had a chance to hear from a number of people from a personal level, I feel like I haven't been taking the situation seriously enough. Regardless of who had won the election, I think this represents a major societal shift. I don't know exactly what that means, and I'll continue to watch with interest as our American friends (and we too) figure that out. 

Today I think I won the transportation game. object of game is to arrive in a new country and get from one place to another using local transport without getting overcharged, scammed, pickpocketed, groped or anything else. So I visited the Intramuros area of Manila which is the old walled city built by the Spanish 500 years ago. On the way back I grabbed a local taxi which runs a semi regular route which didn't drop me right at my hotel but within 2 minutes walk: 25 pesos or about 50 cents. This compared to the taxi I took from hotel to Intramuros which cost about 5 dollars.

I had read warnings about taxis in Manila so I was a little wary so be careful.

Everywhere there are black and white images of the King honouring his memory. Many people are wearing black or dark colours. TV shows are all about him all day. Buildings are decorated in long swaths of black and white cloth. Even Google Thailand has changed their logo to simple black and white. This period of mourning will apparently continue for 30 days.

Fishing in Thailand

This is the kind of tired that I am not a huge fan of. Sitting all day in meetings--no physical activity--but still tired because of having to focus for long periods. Then I came home and ate 2 huge bowls of rice. Now it's 7 pm and I don't feel like moving. Plus I've only been here 4 days, so my body still doesn't quite know what time it is.

These are all good things. The meetings are about things that I really enjoy talking about, with people I really enjoy talking to--staff here who work directly with farmers and are passionate about helping farmers. And the rice was delicious. And if jet-lag is the biggest problem I have in my life then, well, I have no right to complain.

On my way to Thailand for  a bit. But to tell you the truth I feel like I might be going in the wrong direction. It feels like Haiti is calling.

Still lots of things to do in Thailand, not the least of which is to take part  in the 25th anniversary of UHDP, our partner organization there.

It's been raining alot for the past 3 or 4 days. Almost continuously I would say. A few breaks here and there which we've used to get as much tree measurement done as possible. Below is a photo of the Haina river overflowing a bridge and stopping traffic. Doesn't look like much in the photo but the current running over the road was definitely strong enough to pull a vehicle into the river. We found another way to go around. The rain has stopped for now and there was a little bit of wind last night but at least in this part of the island things haven't been too bad. Today I am supposed to fly through Miami. It will be interesting to see what happens with my flight.

Not really much to tell about hurricane Matthew so far. It rained a lot today and I got soaking wet because we were out measuring trees on farms. The Haina river doubled in depth over the course of the afternoon and children were out of school just in case. My colleague from Haiti says it's is windy and raining.

Meanwhile this was the view on the weekend. A bit gloomy maybe but pleasant nonetheless.

Hurricane Matthew is expected to pass over land in the southern part of Haiti today. It will likely miss the Dominican Republic, but likely it will rain some. Hopefully nothing too disastrous. Will keep you posted.

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