I haven't updated in awhile but have lots of stories so I apologize in advance for a longer than usual post. Two Saturdays ago I was able to go to the beach. We had been planning to go to Jakmel (a city along the southern coast) because they have a party for May 1st but we had to change our plans because my boss had a problem with his tire. Instead, we ended up going to a closer beach in Leogan. The beach was not as nice as the other I had been to as there was no sand; the beach consisted of a concrete patio with a couple cabannas. It was still nice to relax a little bit after a long week. Because the food was so expensive ($12-15 per plate), we decided to eat street food (fried plantains, goat, rice) outside for a couple dollars. One thing that is interesting about both the beaches I have been to is that you can go away from shore for a few hundred feet and not need to swim. My theory is that this is a result of Haiti's deforestation problem (lots of people cut down trees to make charcoal/sell wood) because with no vegetation to stabilize the soil, large amounts of soil wash out to sea. Infact, you can see this from Google Earth if you look at the port of P-au-P. You can differentiate the Dominican Republic and Haiti by Haiti's lack of vegetation. Being one of only 3 "blans" at the beach, I received a lot of comments on my tan. I'm sure my friends and family who have made fun of my farmers tans would appreciate one man's quote: "Blan! Ale peye ou! Ou twop blan!" (White! Go back to your country! You're too white!) Of course the man was joking (and he might have had a few too many beers) as he and his friends were laughing as he spoke.

Although my boss's tire held up for the trip to the beach, it went completely flat the next day after work. Instead of phoning the auto club, my boss had me wait by the car. I was a little nervous as it was already dark but tried to relax and prayed he would be back quickly. After waiting 15 minutes, my boss returned with a repairman carrying a jack and a wrench to remove the lugnuts. After he had removed the tire, the repairman departed sprinting down the street while rolling the tire in front of him. Little did I know it would be 2.5 hours before he returned. I guess it could have been worse, but it reminded me that in Haiti everything takes time.

The next day, we experienced a 4.0 aftershock at work. I can't say I felt it as it only lasted a second, but as soon as it happened, everyone sprinted out of the office. I did not join in their reaction, but remained seated as I did not think pulling a Geore Costanza (in one Seinfeld episode, George pushes kids out of the way as he rushes out of the room during a fire drill) was a great idea. We have had other small aftershocks, but I can not say I have felt any of them since most have been at night.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I was able to join my boss on a trip to visit clients in the Central Plateau. If you have read Mountains Beyond Mountains about the NGO Partners in Health, this is where their headquarters are located. It was neat to see the large hospital complex, if even from the outside. In the village of Cange, where Partners in Health is located, lies Haiti's only hydroelectric dam, which supplies a lot of P-au-P's electricity. As a result of the lake the dam creates, many people lost their crops and had to relocate their homes, causing a great deal of poverty in the area.

The village we visited clients in was named Hinche and is nearby Cange. My boss chose to visit Cange because we had been getting lots of reports that clients far from the epicenter of the January 12th earthquake were affected and we wanted to learn how. We were able to visit 12 clients over two days which I know sounds small, but considering how far apart the clients lived, was not so bad. I cannot imagine having to consistently make the hours long walks or bike rides these people have to get around. What we found was that although clients businesses and homes did not suffer damage, the supply chain had been disrupted. Unfortunately everything is centralized in P-au-P in Haiti: suppliers, universities, jobs, government offices. One of Fonkoze's goals is to foster decentralization by supporting economic activities outside of P-au-P, but it is a long road. A common theme we found is that clients had good waiting to be picked up in warehouses on January 12th that were lost when the warehouses collapsed/were looted. Most of the clients we visited operated small stores out of shipping containers or their homes selling food, cosmetics, second-hand clothes, or construction equipment.It has been especially hard for some of the clients selling food (especially) rice to pay back due to all the food aid being distributed throughout Haiti. Although a few clients had run out of other products, they all had bags of rice which I would not doubt have been sitting in stock for awhile.

This past weekend was fairly low key. I went to church with my boss, got to watch some soccer matches, and hung out for awhile at a makeshift bar near all the tents set up in one of the plaza's near the Palace. Since my boss has left his car at a garage so the mechanics can take care of some other problems, we have been using public transportation. On Saturday, we were able to take a modern bus that Haitians have humorously nicknamed "Obama" because they arrived in Haiti at the same time Obama was elected.This next week I will be going to visit more clients affected by the earthquake in Bomon, which is in the southwest corner of Haiti. I am looking forward to seeing another part of the country. I am also excited for next weekend because I will be visiting the states for 4 days for my brother's college graduation.