Jacmel, Haiti

Who would have thought I would have my 1st acupuncture (by Acupuncturists Without Borders) and chiropractic (by Naturopathy International) treatments in Haiti. There are all kinds down here! The energy is amazing.

Had a great, well needed, weekend off in Jacmel. Jacmel is over the mountains on the other side of the peninsula from Port-au-Prince. The drive was incredible. Great to breath some cool, clean air and get out of the big city for a change. We were lucky enough to know a friend near there and stayed on the ocean under a thatch roof listening to the waves all night. The next day was a well needed beach day of drinking coconuts and beer and splash around in the waves. Couldn't get better.

And then back in Port-au-Prince for my final week here.

Can't believe how fast my time here has gone. Fast and slow...as with everything here. Snowy Tahoe will be quite a change!

Port-au-Prince and Leogane, Haiti

Still in Haiti... Still crazy. Getting into the groove down here finally. Keeping busy. We are getting our hands into a lot of different cool projects and more keep coming our way. Pretty computer bound with what I'm doing, but Sam does his best to yank me out of the 'office' so that I don't go insane! Thx Sam!

Took off to the beach last weekend for what was supposed to be a relaxing night.

We caught up with another relief organization that we have close ties with out there... 18 of us in the the back of that tap tap...note picture. It rained the whole night...but somehow the fire raged on... and so did the parting... the 100 5ths of rum that the other group brought, definitely did it's job and things got sloppy... these kind of gathering seem to be quite the release for pent up energy in these type of environments.

On the work front... met with a really cool Haitian today that owns a solar company here. There is talk about him loaning and setting up a system for the new base. Things are always in the works. Always interesting.

As for the base, it is still a work in progress...perimeter wall, cracks in the house, electrical, water...well, pretty much everything needs some TLC. It's got a lot of potential. Much more than it looks like in the picture.

Got to take a detour on the way back to the base one day to check out the Palace. Sam described it as "the after picture of dooms day" Didn't quite make it through the earthquake. They are are in the process of tearing it down, so I wanted to make sure I got to see it. I have been getting out to see a bit more of town lately. Giving me a lot more perspective. There are some areas that will never fully recover. Really Sad.

OK, Back to work. Brenda is going to make it down this weekend. We are all excited to see her (and get some goodies from the states!...Love ya Brenda...).

Port au Prince, Haiti

Made it to Haiti! Still a bit baffled... Especially the money thing... In Creole to begin with (kinda similar to French...still doesn't help me)... Prices are given in a non-existent Haitian dollar, times that by 5 to figure out what it is in Haitian gourdes (what you actually pay in) and to figure out what you just paid, divide that number by 40 for the American dollar equivalent. All that to buy a piece of street meat!


Been stuck in front of a computer since I got here... They found out I'm semi computer literate and now that's where I'm stuck! All of my work being computer dependent is complicated by the power constantly going out in the middle of whatever I'm trying to work on. So I'm taking this forced break to write some stuff for my blog.

The compound is great. Really cool people and and a lot of good energy.

We should be moving in to our own place by early next week (at least, that's the hope). We are already working on fixing up the place with a lot more to go!


It's such an interesting feeling around here. Sometimes the earthquake is totally evident and other times you almost don't even notice. All the Haitians I have come into contact with have been amazingly friendly. They smile so much, I sometimes forget what a tragedy they have all just been through.


We did a distribution of Life Straws today at a camp. Life Straws are a water purifier that can be used like a straw to filter water from any source. Great for these camps where potable water is not accessible.
They have a 700 liters lifespan (that's 2 liters of water a day for a year).


Back at the compound. Glad it's Friday, course, there really isn't such a thing as a weekend here. Although we are pretty strict about taking Sunday Funday off.

Miami, Florida

Hmmm... Where to start...got stuck in Bogota for a night trying to leave for Miami in route to Haiti. Bit of a change of plans mid-trip to venture to Haiti to help an organization named GrassRoots United.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it on the plane the first day. Worked out really well though; met a cool Brazilian woman and explored the city with her. She had been there for a couple of days already, so she made things pretty easy for me. Which, after a full day in the airport, was quite a relief.

So glad to have made the flight the next day and have Sam and Brenda pick me up from the train station in Fort Lauderdale. Went out for a couple of beers and then headed to an enormous warehouse run by another organization. It contained more goods to go to Haiti than they could get down there. It's crazy...some of the stuff has been sitting there since it happened.

The next night, Friday, Brenda's roommate and company threw this amazing benefit for us and another org named "Plant it Peace". 5 bands at a really cool venue named Revolution. It went over really well and without a hitch.

Yesterday afternoon, I got to see Scott, an old friend from Peace Corp. Had a beer and caught up. Got to rehash some old Macedonia stories and meet his wife. So great to see him!

Well, a couple more days in Miami and then down to Haiti. Getting antsy.

Cartagena, Colombia (once again)

Got back to Cartegena and went to the fort at the edge of the city. Explored the underground tunnels and beautiful views. We followed this with a night out at Babar "la discoteca de spring break"...no one was over 22 and the music was, of course, hard core techno. Plenty of good laughs though!

Had a lazy day on Saturday shopping, drinking cerveca, and lounging at the roof-top pool. Found this great bar down the street named 'Cafe Havana' where the live Cuban band didn't stop, mojitos always flowed and the dancing went all night.

Volcan de Lodo el Totumo was an interesting spot. A cone of dirt with a mud pit in the middle. Once in it, you can't really move around so its this scene of around 30 people laughing and trying to convince one another to dunk their heads under. Good times.


Last night in Cartagena. Packing and leaving in the morning!

Tolú, Colombia

Sent my dad off the other morning and Allie and I headed to Tolú. We were looking forward to relaxation and beaches, Colombian style. We finally arrived after a very bumpy bus ride with very full bladders. We were immediately accosted by the bicitaxis (the local mode of transportation).




This morning we bought tickets for a boat ride to the islands. But the boat never came. So we went to the outskirts of town and found a local to take us around on a canoe. Traveling always keeps ya flexible.

Stopped on a floating house to relax and have a drink and to eat oyster that were collected off the mangrove roots. Might regret eating them later, but they were damn goo going down!.

Just got back to Cartegena. Relaxing and drinking a beer before the finding some trouble to get into tonight...

Cartagena, Colombia

Made it to Cartagena where my dad and I are to meet up with Allie. Excited to travel with my long lost travel buddy again!

For the last few days we've been in Taganga, a small, relatively touristic beach town near Santa Marta.

We did a lot of laying around and relaxing...great way to unwind at the start of the trip.

Dad has his 1st bout with a stomach bug... So far bug-1/dad-0. Hope he's able to kick it quick...he has been looking forward to Cartagena the whole trip.

NEXT DAY...got to explore Cartegena today and met up with Allie. Visited the walled city and just wandered around all the cute squares.

It reminds me a bit of New Orleans with all the balconies and architecture. Truly a great city.

Medellin, Colombia

On the travel train again! Colombia. Started out the trip with a couple days in Chicago. And in true Olson tradition, my dad decided last minute to join me.

Medellin is pretty metropolitan. Went to the botanical gardens and aquarium today. The orchid exibit was impressive. It was housed in a large wooden open-aired gazebo that was as interesting as the plants themselves.

Heading to Santa Marta tomorrow. Then to a smaller town that is said to be a little backpacker haven, but have heard that it's worth going to. Hopefully we'll get some diving in.

Black Rock City, NV

Lots of Pictures...Not many words. I don't know how I would try to sum up my summer. After I got home from Panama, till now I haven't done anything I was planning on doing this summer. Had an intense time of it, just now quite what I was expecting. Went to more festivals than thought was possible, put on a little music fest of our own, helped build a temple, got less sleep than I have since college, and learned a lot about myself and the people around me. Just enjoy the pictures...





The Stargazer (our 'cute little temple')

San Blas, Panama

Trying to keep up with this blog this trip has been quite a challenge. How to tear myself from the beach to sit in front of a computer has proved to be hard feat. So now that I'm back in Tahoe, I can finish writing about the tail end of my trip up.

So...Got a couple of days surfing in while in San Juan del Sur. Waves were small, and I actually feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it...a little.

From there, I headed straight through Costa Rica ended up in Bocas, Panama only a couple hours before Collin and Cheri flew in. Perfect! Had a night of swilling wine and catching up before we met Nick and Mike (who owns the neighboring property where Nick has been hanging out for the last month) the next morning. We had a morning of shopping for supplies for the week (2 pineapples or 4?...4. 2 cases of beer or 3?...3, of course. Decisions, decisions). After that, we headed to Bastamentos. The property is about a 30-40 minute boat ride out to the far side of the island...completely secluded and insanely beautiful. The rest of the week consisted of hanging out, making amazing blended fresh fruit rum drinks, hiking to deserted beaches, cooking crazy meals and pretty much having an incredible time.

The day before we left, we visited Lily's beach. Walked the whole length reminiscing about great times and adventures that we have shared with her. She was there with us.

After a week of being on the island, Nick, Cheri and I flew to Panama City. Said goodbye to Cheri the next morning and Nick and I continued on to San Blas. San Blas is an archipelago of 350 island on the Caribbean side of Panama. It has been on the top of my travel list since I went to Panama the 1st time...needless to say, I was pretty excited to actually be going. We flew into El Ponvenir on this tiny plane that acted as a colectivo (shared taxi). The plane landed and took off at 3 different landing strips on tiny little island picking up and dropping off people and packages along the way before we made it to our destination. The 'town' of El Ponvenir had a air strip, one hotel, 5 locals and a few drunken sailors...all you need, right? After a couple of beers and a couple of hours we had hooked up with Captain Peter, and his girlfriend, Paola who owned a 54' sailboat and were willing to take us around. So, on a boat with nothing more to do than relax, swim, and visit beautiful island after beautiful island...guess I can deal. The water was insanely blue and the islands were of the of the picturesque kind, white sand and coconut palms. The local Kunas are really friendly and we had the luck of spending a morning with a family who invited us into their home and treated us to food and good conversation along with dressing me up to look like their long lost tall Amish cousin...just look at the picture...looking good.

After 4 days on the boat, we were all packed up and ready to catch our 6am plane out the next morning. While drinking with Peter and Paola on our 'last night' we thought we should check the date...What!... today is Thursday?...our flight's on Saturday...um...guess we have an extra day. So, on the boat for one more day. Until...at 4am when Nick got woken up by an attacking swarm of sand flies. The wind had died down and brought in a storm of sand flies like I have never seen. No skin was off limits to these guys...we tucked ourselves into our clothes and covered our heads with my sleep sheet and drank coffee...sleeping was not an option. After a few hours of that, it was decided we had to take refuge on the island and get a hotel for the last night.

We caught the plane the next morning back to Panama City and caught back up with Collin. Had a dirty night of dancing at a sweaty gay bar...got no sleep...and caught our plane the next morning.

The End...for now...