My last day in the DR and the end of a month of nearly constant travel.  Tired but still sorry to be leaving. Now begins a month of nearly constant data analysis.

This would be a prettier scene without all the electric wires but still

So tropical storm Nate is official and looks to make landfall somewhere in the US on Sunday. Please don't take it from me, check the official NOAA forecast. I don't know if the super hot weather here in the DR has anything to do with Nate, but I can definitely confirm that it is warm here. But how see how beautiful these deep green hills are.

In less than 2 days we've been to the border with Haiti and back, and done 3 trainings for surveyors on how to conduct interviews. It is now 1:30 in the morning and I am wide awake for no apparent reason (well, I guess an apparent reason might be that I am in the Dominican Republic and I drank coffee every time someone brought one to me which is at least 5 times I can count right now). Good to have the last of evaluation trainings behind me. Now just focus on data entry and analysis. This is a view of Lago Enriquillo from the mountains right near the border between the DR and Haiti. Haiti is behind you in the photo. Oh, also  NOAA predicts a 70% chance of tropical storm formation by Sunday.

Selling Moringa in the Port au Prince airport. Someone is mounting an aggressive campaign. I know there are pockets of people around the world who are totally dedicated to socializing the use of Moringa. I wonder how that is going.

Port au Prince! I'm still only in Port au Prince.

Fe foje. Traditionally this was made from discarded steel barrels and has become a well known form of Haitian art. This one happens to be hanging outside my room.

Musical chairs Haitian style

Traffic in Port au Prince at dawn. We tried to get here early to avoid this but here we are. Trying to get to a meeting in a town on the other side of PAP by 10 but doubtful.

The traditional way of sawing a timber log. One person stands below and one above and the saw is patiently drawn through the log lengthwise. You can see the marks where the log will be cut into boards.

An example of the certificates being handed out to program participants who are graduating. After receiving training in various techniques and demonstrating that they are knowledgeable in those techniques, many farmers here have graduated in the past couple of months.

Mayi moulen, milled maize, a popular and very traditional dish here. In this case again at breakfast, although corn may be eaten at any time of day here although people are eating it less often now than in the past.

As of yesterday, NOAA (credit to the good people at NOAA for the image below) is still predicting no new tropical storms in the next 5 days. Plus the next mass demonstration in Port au Prince is not scheduled until Monday (credit to the local rumour mill for that information). So that at least gets me through this week. (and yes, it is all about me...I am prepared to admit that). Getting through this week means completing the evaluations in Haiti, and hopping on a short flight to the DR where we will do the same thing all over again.

"Si Dye vle."

"If God wills."

Farmers crowded around flipchart paper discussing changes in their community over the past 3 years. Among the things that they said (and then wrote down):

"avek tet ansanm nou fe anpil bagay"
"when we work together we can do many things"

Spaghetti for breakfast. A Haitian classic.

Nearly every Canadian or American I have known has the same reaction, "Spaghetti for breakfast?!". I heard a bit once that Chris Rock did about Haitians eating spaghetti for breakfast. Don't know how he's familiar with it. Maybe he is friends with Sean Pean or something.

Anyhow, once you've tried it you won't complain. So delicious...

In addition to hurricanes, the past few weeks, Port au Prince has been plagued by demonstrations against the new budget put forward by the government which would raise taxes considerably. In fact our staff today were concerned about getting through Port au Prince and out to the regions where our household survey's are being conducted. Basically, of the 4 regions where we work in Haiti, 3 of them require travel through the capital. Kind of a bottleneck, but hopefully they get through. If its not one thing its another I guess. Or as they say here,

'deye mon, gen mon'.

'beyond the mountains, more mountains'.

First day of the household survey. So far everything is working like clockwork. It is so great to be working with colleagues who are dedicated, and know what they are doing. This is the team getting the survey sample ready for the field.

In the airport one more time. Headed to Haiti for one week then directly to the DR for one week. Hoping the weather holds out. NOAA forecasts no new tropical storm formation for the next 5 days.

Finally I get to see the mountain. But I had to get on the plane and get above the clouds first. Then I only saw it for about 30 seconds before the pilot banked away. I thought I wasn't going to take pictures of it because I've taken so many before. But there's something about it. So beautiful.

Lunch time in Marangu. Notice the slab meat hanging in the kitchen window.

This is one of those times when Kilimanjaro is not visible. I've been here 6 days and haven't seen it yet. How can I be right next to the biggest thing on the continent and not know it is there? Some kind of metaphor in there somewhere...