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.