(so much world, so little time....)

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Dry Hillsides & Live Oaks

We’re reaching the end of a lovely three-week vacation back home in the beloved Bay Area. Realizing that I’d taken tons of photos as always, but not posted any of them whether to facebook or to the blog…let alone to instagram, which friends are telling me I should try out…I decided that before I head to the airport tomorrow for the flight back to Port au Prince, I should at least start sorting some of the pics and putting them up. I’ve been out on my bike even more than usual this time, because I have no motor vehicle up here; I’ve driven around a bit with friends down in the city (SF, that is) and the peninsula; and yesterday around Sonoma County with another friend who came for a visit…but those shots will appear in future posts once I’ve sorted the good from the bad. This post is all about the superb mountain-biking park that is semi-literally out my door, turn right, and walk til the streets end and the paths begin. Any time someone wonders why I’ve continued to pay state taxes in CA during all these years when I’m more out of the country, than in…well, state parks with toilets and drinking fountains (potable water than won’t give you cholera! piped fresh to a faucet near you! don’t take it for granted!) and maintained walk and horse and bike trails…well, if my taxes are going for that rather than bombing schools in various poorer foreign lands, they’re taxes I’m happy to pay. ‘Nuf said…oh except the mountain lion sign is for my brother Steve: these, you can be afraid of. Chickens, no; mountain lions, yes. Got it? 🙂

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | August 19, 2016 | Categories: California, SF Bay Area, Sonoma & Napa | Tags: annadel state park, bay area ridge trail, mountain lions | 1 Comment

Metro PaP Miscellany

Croix des Bouquets 9

I’ve gotten off for another bit of a vacation at home in California, which has given me time to comb through my camera and folders for shots I’ve not yet done anything with. These are just a few bits and pieces of miscellany — from a ride-along I did earlier in the year when our outreach team did some sensitization work on services for survivors of sexual violence at a town on the northeastern side of PaP; plus a few other bits and pieces such as the lady with her little mobile copier set up on the square in Petion-Ville by the Mairie, police station, church, etc.

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | August 2, 2016 | Categories: Haiti, Port-au-Prince | Leave a comment

Once More From the Air: MIA–>PAP

It’s eight weeks since I returned from my lovely May break back home – from which the photos in the last entry emerged. Those eight weeks have been, as usual, mighty busy at work and I’ve not gotten out with my camera at all here in Port au Prince, let alone out of town. Also, I have to admit I’ve been pretty distressed at the state of the world — from Dhaka to Istanbul, Dallas and Orlando to Nice and London, it feels that these past weeks have brought a steadier diet of disheartening news of violence and people closing their hearts to each other than we’ve seen in quite some time. At such times, I tend to focus as locally as possible, on what’s in front of me that I can do. I also tend to look at photos of all the great people and places I’ve met around the world – memories of fonder times. And I did take some photos on that last flight from Miami to PaP – another set of mostly surreal-looking photos of islands in the Bahamas, and some of Biscayne Bay, as seen from an airplane window. Enjoy…and shed some light and kindness on those around you, please. 🙂

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | July 17, 2016 | Categories: Bahamas, Florida, Miami | Tags: aerial photography | 2 Comments

Paths and Parks, Poppies and Panoramas

In May, I spent a few weeks of holiday back in Sonoma County. As ever, I spent as much time as I could on the bike trails and in the parks. As you’ll see in these photos, the California poppies were in bloom, the days were usually sunny but sometimes – as when Amy & I climbed to the top of Hood Mountain — pretty cloudy and even occasionally rainy. (That’s rare for May in California, in case you didn’t know.) In Haiti, where I’m spending most of my time these days, I rarely have the chance to linger by streams with wading birds and gliding ducks, or to enjoy little irises or turkeys fanning out during a hike in the woods. I’ve also included a couple of shots taken at Dolores Park, one of my favorite spots in San Francisco, which has been under reconstruction much of the past year and now looks fresh, new and as popular as ever.

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | June 15, 2016 | Categories: California, San Francisco, SF Bay Area, Sonoma & Napa, United States | Tags: Annadell State Park, California poppies, Gunsight Rock Overlook, hood mountain regional park, Santa Rosa Creek Bike Path, Wild Turkeys | 3 Comments

Sugar History & Houses on the Hills

Sugar cane has a long and mostly painful history here in Haiti. Before it became the Republic of Haiti, this part of the island generated huge profits for the slave-holding French colonists. So it was with a mix of interest and discomfort that I took in all the sugar-making implements and buildings at the Sugar Cane Historic Park (Parc Historique de la Canne a Sucre), a private park, meeting space, restaurant and tourist site on the eastern edge of PaP. I was there for a full-day meeting but enjoyed the breaks and the end of day to explore the site a bit, and as you’ll see it’s rather picturesque. Given its incredible and utterly unique history, its mix of rugged mountains and beaches, its quite unique and rich culture and art — Haiti by rights should be the biggest tourist magnet in the Caribbean in my opinion.The mix of poor infrastructure, weak security and health care baselines, and other obstacles make it more of an adventure-tourist or even “humanitarian tourist,” especially for all the one-week teen-aged missionary visitors that fill the planes from Atlanta in their shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops). But I know the government certainly hopes tourism can grow and I for one hopethat the baseline infrastructure and other conditions improve sufficiently that Haiti’s manifest attractions for tourism can be more evident to the masses of North Americans who seek a safe, interesting and warm escape from cold winters :-). It’s been months since I last posted, and I apologize. Given the long delay, I’ve thrown in a few other random shots from around PaP, mostly views of houses on the hills. Every photo file should have a name which will tell you roughly what it is. Hope you enjoy!

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | June 2, 2016 | Categories: Haiti, Port-au-Prince | Tags: canne a sucre historic park, sugar cane haiti | 3 Comments

Springtime in Virginia

My Mom just turned 80. Happy birthday, Mom! She’s often chosen springtime celebrations farther south — this time she was interested in springtime gardens of Virginia, along with Virginia’s colonial and civil war history. I flew up for a few days with her, my brothers and sister in law, and my aunt (Mom’s sister). Here are a bunch of shots that I figured I should put up right away while the memories are still fresh and folks further north – or going into southern autumn – can appreciate the beauty of tulips, dogwoods, redbuds and other flowers and trees. I’ve never really been to Richmond before – probably drove through once or twice, but never stopped. Lovely city, fairly messed up history – not a coincidence that the only two historical monuments I decided to photograph are ones celebrating great African-Americans and their achievements. ‘Nuf said. Still…pretty buildings, eh?

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Governor's Palace Garden - Contemplation Space

Williamsburg Governor's Palace Back Entrance

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | April 15, 2016 | Categories: Virginia | Tags: Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, Richmond, spring flowers, Tulips | 2 Comments

Back to the Mountains

The year’s gotten off to a busy start – lots of work, long days and weeks, not quite the amount of free time that gives much chance to get out and about with a camera, or sort & post the photos once I’ve gotten out. Still and all, I did manage another hiking weekend back to the lovely Auberge la Visite, at Seguin. This really is a lovely if challenging hike. (Because it’s rolling, very steep ups and downs, and almost all in blazing sun unless you start really early or get a cloudy day…without rain: you would NOT want rain on this road). This time I walked again with a few work colleagues. We started really early, and in late January so the sun rose above the mountains too the east a bit later, and we actually walked in shade much of the time.

The stars at night were wonderfully clear and abundant – we spent time studying the milky way & deciding which were planets, which stars, and which satellites. On the way back we were actually surprised when we reached the end: if you look in some of these shots below, you’ll notice one can see the road most of the way – and we thought we had yet another village, and another down & up road segment, to cover before reaching our end-point. The end point, if you’re curious, is the last village that any regular 4-wheeled vehicles come to from the north. From the south, you can get to about where we spent the night and even a bit further – but the middle chunk of this road is so steep and rocky that it’s foot, mule, and motorbikes only. I, for one, would not have any wish at all to be on those motorbikes: it’s how I felt backpacking the grand canyon; I trust my own feet more than the mules (in the canyon) or the motorcycles.

There are mules here but mostly as pack animals: very few were being ridden by people, though I suppose after they drop off their carrots or scallions at the market or transport towns, the folks may ride them back home… (I’m sort of assuming there are brokers or agents in the village where we start, who buy up what all these folks are carrying, then shuttle it the rest of the way into the PaP metro area…but I haven’t investigated further.) The only real downside to this time of year for a visit is that the waterfall is more of a lovely water trickle, not much of a fall. Oh well. Enjoy the shots, even though they’re probably quite repetitive with the ones I put up last summer…haven’t checked but I suppose I will shortly, just to see how repetitive I’m getting! Happy spring, to those of you in northern climes where spring has sprung.

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In this shot below, plus the one at the very end and a few others scattered through the post, you’ll see these rock-strewn hillsides. My current suspicion is that this is the result of erosion — deforestation, as we know, has led to a lot of Haiti’s topsoil being washed into the ocean. I figure these rocks may have become more and more exposed, as the topsoil has washed away…but again it’s something I’ve not checked into. They make for an interesting sight, though, eh?

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | March 26, 2016 | Categories: Haiti, Southeast Department - Seguin | Tags: donkeys, flowers, haiti coastal mountains, Hiking, mountain walks, parc national de la visite, waterfalls | 4 Comments

The Bay on New Year’s Day

2016 dawned beautiful, bright and clear in and around San Francisco. And for the first time in many years, I saw my first sunrise of the new year in the bay area instead of out on another continent across a ocean or two. True, the next day I flew out again to head back to Haiti and my work here…which would be why it’s taken me nearly 1/6 of 2016 to get these put up: sorry! As you see, though – the view was clear enough to see easily and clearly all the way out to Mt Diablo, and all the way up to Point Reyes National Seashore. Enjoy these little views of my home region :-).

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | February 19, 2016 | Categories: California, San Francisco, SF Bay Area | Tags: mt diablo, Point Reyes National Seashore, san francisco bay, san francisco skyline | Leave a comment

From the Air: PaP–>MIA

Mostly when I’ve flown out of the Toussaint Louverture PaP Int’l Airport, we’ve taken off toward the east, then circled around north-westward until the airplane has climbed to its altitude and established its flight pattern toward whatever US airport it’s aiming for. On my last trip, I had a window seat and I took full advantage: friends and followers may remember how much I loved staring out the window and capturing the views in PNG and over the Coral Sea between PNG & Australia…well, the views on this route are equally wonderful. All photos in this post were taken during one flight, following that trajectory up and over Haiti and on to Miami Int’l Airport. Two highlight full-size shots are kicking it off here, out of order, but the gallery below is strictly in order as the plane advanced along its course. I’ve named each photo and hope if you run your cursor over it, you’ll see which was when; where I knew I was looking at xx or yy geographic feature, I cited it. I find the contrasts between Haiti, the other islands and the finally Miami very interesting. And many of the shots nearly modern-art-like in their beauty. Hope you agree!

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | February 3, 2016 | Categories: Bahamas, Florida, Haiti, Ile de la Tortue, Miami, Port-au-Prince | Tags: aerial photography | 1 Comment

The Trouble with Trees…

Taking pictures of them, that is. Especially when they’re 2,000 years old, enormous, and have curious and fascinating extrusions angling off in interesting directions. Or when its just grand and full, and no photo your little pocket-camera can capture could ever convey the enormity of leaning against its trunk and scanning the grey skies through its dense crown. That’s all my way of apologizing for the inadequacy of my attempts to show two of the grand heritage trees that can be found at Jack London State Historic Park, where with Steve & Mom, I spent a chunk of one of the last days of 2015. Mom and I had been before, to learn more about the man and his family and ideals and history. Really remarkable stuff, and it was clear to me that Chuck (my eldest brother) would have been good friends with the guy – seems he was quite the cut-up, aside from being quite work-driven and really a fairly original thinker in many ways. (He tried to experiment with sustainable farming in the first decades of the last century — well before the dust bowl first made obvious how badly we were over-farming the continent!) Anyhoo — here are just a bunch of shots from a hike Steve & I took to a remarkable, lone ancient redwood. I guess it’s the only old-growth redwood left, i.e. the only one that didn’t get cut down and turned into planks for housing some time between 1850 and 1980 or so. I’m fairly sure we saw new-growth redwoods coming back in various spots along the walk, which is nice to know. So many SF tourists stick with Muir Woods, which is certainly lovely but also a great deal more densely crowded than the many magnificent state parks which dot the coastal mountains both north and south of the city. If you’re interested in redwoods and considering a trip to the city, do think about ranging further afield…it’s well worth it.

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That’s Steve with the ancient redwood behind him, especially the multi-tiered burl, which may look like a fungus or problem but is apparently one way the tree can reproduce itself if it needs to. I’m not quite clear on the mechanism, but it’s clear the coast redwoods have multiples systems of reproduction. Further down there’s a shot of me & Howard & Gene at sunset on the last day of 2015, at Limantour Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore – another great bay area location well worth visiting. 🙂

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | January 10, 2016 | Categories: California, SF Bay Area, Sonoma & Napa, United States | Tags: firethorn, jack london state historic park, Limantour Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, pyracanta, redwoods | 2 Comments

Family Holiday…at Home :-)

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2015 was the first time since 2005, when I started this whole global-wanderer thing, that I’ve been at work only one flight away from the US, and in the same time zone as my mom and one of my brothers. This was also the first holiday season in more than a decade where both my brothers and I managed to get together in one place. Not only several lovely meals and afternoons together, but a trip to the local, fantastic, brewery in honor of my biggest brother’s new brewing ambitions. My sister-in-law generally stayed behind the camera, but certainly helped fill out the festive feeling for everyone. We got out and about a good deal, some with just mom and Steve who were able to stay longer, and some with Chuck as well. Lovely, and I’m going to let the many pics just speak for themselves. Some are really just family stuff of limited appeal to most of my readers…apologies, but it was special for me. 🙂

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | January 6, 2016 | Categories: California, Families, SF Bay Area, Sonoma & Napa, United States | Tags: Annadell State Park, Armstrong Redwoods State Preserve, bodega head | 1 Comment

Elephant Seals @ Ano Nuevo

smw, slt has landed back on the west coast of North America for a short end-of-year holiday. The morning after I landed, I had the chance to head down from SF to Ano Nuevo State Park with my cousin’s daughter, who’s recently begun her college career in SF. Ano Nuevo is best know for its large visiting population of elephant seals – enormous, unusual seals of the northern Pacific who were nearly wiped out when Europeans first discovered how easy they were to kill when beached, because they had no natural land-based predators (and thus no land-based fear, let alone defense against guns). After European hunters had decimated whale populations, they found elephant seals a reasonable alternative source of oil for street lamps and other uses, and by early 20^th century, there were no more seals hauling themselves out on the beaches of California for their mating, molting, or socializing seasons. Ano Nuevo Coast3

Mercifully a small remnant population of seals remained on a small island off the coast of Baja California. From that remnant population has sprung a newly-robust population that has resumed its historic habits of seasonal haul-outs in various spots along the mainland California coast. The very first, small groups started coming back to the island with the lighthouse-keeper’s house which you’ll see in these photos, in the 1960s or late 1950s. Now there seem to be thousands who haul out for mating, from mid-December through March or so – and then for the molting season (different months for adult males and adult females), the juvenile socializing season and other such things. These are fascinating animals who spend months at sea, then haul out and spend months on land without taking to the water again. We saw the very beginning of mating season – in six more weeks, the beaches will be completely packed with harems dominated by one bull seal – they’re the ones trumpeting loudly, and with scars on their necks. The females delay implantation, and then give birth just after beaching in December…feed their pups ‘til they wean (about four weeks), mate again, and head back to sea for several months to fatten up again, before returning to the beach for molting season. Truly fascinating stuff.

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In the slide show just above you’ll see some juveniles hanging out together, and then a one-year-old (or so) coming ashore and wandering up onto the beach. I set that one up so if you follow the sequence of slides, you’ll see the young one emerging from the water, and then shots as it works it flippy-floppy way up onto the beach. The other shots are just general – you’ll see one bull seal trumpeting, but I didn’t have my camera out at the right moments when two were facing off. They don’t physically fight as often as the media would tell you: mostly they just posture and then one backs down, and the most we observed was two bulls trumpeting and staring each other down, ’til the smaller one shrank back and turned away. You’ll also see a rock – truly a rock – that was so distinctively shaped I hypothesized it had to be a petrified part of a (very) large animal’s skeleton – and indeed the ranger confirmed it’s a piece from the back of the skull of an ancient and mighty big whale. Every shot should be informatively named, so you can hover over the image or click on it to see its name. Enjoy.

Ano Nuevo Coastal Panorama

Ano Nuevo Coast Pano Elephant Seal 6

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | December 23, 2015 | Categories: California, SF Bay Area, United States | Tags: ano nuevo state park, elephant seals, pigeon point lighthouse | 2 Comments

Remembering in December

My wandering field life passed the ten-year mark earlier this year. That’s ten years of finding my way into a new work environment and getting to know new colleagues once a year or so. In a more mundane way, it’s ten years worth of photo files to keep up-to-date and to try to remember to share on my blog. A cousin (thanks, Juliette!) noticed that the entries from my earliest days had lost their photos: mine was a rather early blog, and the ways of uploading photos have changed since then. (Many of those earliest posts appear frankly so embarrassingly shallow to me now that I’m tempted to simply wave my editorial wand and have done with them…but thus far my sense for historical accuracy is controlling that temptation…) If my continued research succeeds, many of those photos will be directly restored onto the blog as I find their originals in backup hard drives and other obscure locations: ah, new year’s resolutions before the old year has even wrapped up!

In the meantime, I’m uncovering little treasures that never made it up here, while fondly remembering where I’ve been and what I’ve done. I was recently saddened to learn that Nancy Schrom Dye, former president of Oberlin College, had passed this year. During my years of active alumni-association work I greatly appreciated her contributions to my alma mater – so I was proud to join some other colleagues in taking her for an end-of-year meal which, the digital date stamp tells me, occurred in Beijing on December 31, in 2005. Up above are also a few rediscovered December 2005 Beijing-area shots which somehow didn’t get posted at the time. (Posting photos was more challenging in those early days…)

Just below are some previously-unposted 2015 shots: early-morning moonset at my home here in Haiti; me with my brother and a colleague when I gave a talk at Carnegie Mellon University earlier this year; and some shots from the lovely Frick House & museum in Pittsburgh, from the same visit. And since this put me in the mood, I’ve wandered through the many countries & continents, family meals & trips & assignments on four continents that have filled the years between these two sets of photos so very fully. Assembling them’s been fun for me so I hope viewing them is fun for you too :-).

This time last year? In December 2014, I returned from Sierra Leone & later went with great friends to enjoy the Ai WeiWei exhibit on Alcatraz Island (more photos from that one in the original post….though that particular set of great friends – you know who you are! – are remarkably camera-resistant):

Where’d I spend 2013? Living in PNG, participating in meetings in Amsterdam & dive trips in Australia, then celebrating the holidays with Steve & Mom in New Zealand:

I began 2012 in the US (where I visited Washington, DC in cherry-blossom season), turned 50 in the company of Howard & Gene at Kakadu National Park in Australia, and finished the year in PNG:

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2011 was mostly Mweso, a little Lamu, a little London and a year-end back home seeing Frank Lloyd Wright homes of Pennsylvania with family:

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2010…wow, what a year. Just seeing all the continents and countries where I spent time (actually meaningful time, with friends and family and work) makes my head spin even now. The photos evoked so much for me that I just couldn’t narrow it down to three or four…so I’m giving you a lot from 2010, a mix of Manipur (start of year) and Mweso (end of year), with a sprinkling of Sweden, Berlin, Paris & California in between:

Konzerthaus & Franz Dom w Xmasmarkt Tents

Mweso - Looking South in Front of Compound

Alingsas - Sara & Alexander Snack on Deck

I entered 2009 in Tahiti, yes it’s true: during the year I took off from work to help Mom with her house, I dedicated two months to exploring Australia (and watching the Australian Open!) and New Zealand, flying in via Tahiti with a few nights in Papeete, just because I could. The year ended, of course, in Manipur and included a great trip to see excellent sites of Rajasthan with Howard & Gene:

2008 started in Nigeria, and ended in Tahiti…with a lot of good work in Nigeria, a short assignment for the earthquake in China, visits in Germany with my exchange family friends there….and a good deal of time in and around NYC (Mom, aunt Judy & I enjoyed a harbor trip past Ellis Island where our own immigrant ancestors entered the country, and also a trip to our favorite sculpture park up th Husdon)…with a side trip for some hiking in Sequoia and other California adventures:

2007…I began the year based in Colombo but spend the new year’s period with Mom & Steve at Angkor Wat, returned to Colombo to finish out an assignment, headed on for training in Paris where I also got celebrate Mom’s 71st birthday…back to the US to reorganize my life after my first two years in the field, and then off for a new assignment in Nigeria. At the time it felt big. Now it’s all fond memories:

…which will bring us back to year two of this current phase of life’s great adventure, the lovely year 2006. From Beijing & Yunnan in China, to Polonnaruwa & Sigiriya in Sri Lanka (where I was based at year’s end), with family time on Cumberland Island (Mom’s 70th birthday dinner!) and in Germany in between. With a special souvenir from Seoul, where I had the opportunity to work a bit with the young ladies pictured with their daffodils. In a small-world twist, I had dinner with one of those two young ladies just a few nights ago in Port au Prince, which she visits sometimes in her current work with the CDC. So much small world, so little time for it all. Happy end of 2015, and many good hopes for a 2016 of more peace and health to everyone, everywhere.

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | December 15, 2015 | Categories: Akwa Ibom, Angkor Wat & Siem Reap, Australia, Beijing, Berlin, Bo, California, Cambodia, Central Province, Changes & Adventures, Cherry Blossoms, China, DR Congo, East Frisia, England, Families, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Great Barrier Reef - Coral Sea, Haiti, Hudson Valley - Storm King, India, Kakadu & Northern Territory Parks, Kenya, London, Manipur, melbourne, National Parks, Netherlands, New York, New York City, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Holland & Amsterdam, Papua New Guinea, Paris, Pennsylvania, Port-au-Prince, Queenstown, Rajasthan, Rivers State, SF Bay Area, Sierra Leone, Sierra Nevada, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tahiti, Tari & Hela, Thailand, Tongariro National Park, United States, Washington DC, Yunnan | Tags: Angkor Wat, Columbus Circle, Ellis Island, Frick House & Museum, Great ocean Road, Jaisalmer Palace, Luebeck, Nancy Schrom Dye, Panda Bears, Polonnaruwa, sculpture park, Sigiriya, Stained Glass, Stained Glass Windows, statue of liberty, Stockholm, storm king, Tea Plantations, The Moon, Tongariro Crossing, Udaipur Lake Palace | 5 Comments

Election Fever in Port au Prince

There will be 54 candidates on the ballot when Haitians vote for president on Sunday. Driving through the streets along one of Port au Prince’s wealthier neighborhoods recently, I commented to a Haitian colleague on a trend I’d noticed: no posters visible anywhere around for the Lavalas party. By contrast, in other more crowded parts of town I’d noticed plenty of posters. I figured I knew why – and my colleague’s response put it clearly: Lavalas’ supporters are the children of Dessalines, and the wealthy neighborhood is the children of Petion. Indeed, the wealthier neighborhood is named Petion-Ville, and in the poorer parts of P-V you will find a few Lavalas posters, but not higher on the hills where the big houses are.

Haiti’s founding, as anyone who’s followed my blog knows, inspires me with awe. That several hundred thousand slaves could rise up and free themselves, in the process pushing back the armies first of Spain and Britain, then finally being the first army in the world to defeat the concentrated attempt of Napoleon Bonaparte to force their submission, is a simply unique event in human history. Unfortunately that early history held the roots of a rich-poor, powerful-powerless divide that remains present in Haiti today. Describing the wealthy as children of Petion refers to his ancestry as mixed-race son of a wealthy white plantation holder, compared to Dessalines’ (& Henri Christophe’s) purely-African ex-slave background. But it’s worth noting Petion made himself president in the republic that governed the south of the country, after Henri Christophe made himself king in the north…after both he and Petion were among those in the government conspired to kill Dessalines shortly after Dessalines crowned himself emperor for life. So things got complicated fast, and it’s not always purely about power, wealth, or ethnic background.

On Sunday, Haiti holds the first election since 2010. Races for parliament and for municipal posts have been successively postponed by the current government, the last several years. In January, parliament was dissolved and the current president, elected five years ago and in office since February 2011, has been ruling by decree since. He stated that he’d use his power of decree only to ensure that elections did happen this year for all offices. On Sunday Haitians will vote not only for the next president, but also for all municipal offices around the country, all deputies and most senators. There will almost certainly be a run-off for president at the end of December, and many of the coming weeks will doubtless be absorbed with arguments over which two candidates will be on that final ballot.

Every photo in this post has a campaign poster, graffiti or some other electoral element to it. If you can’t see it in any picture, look harder :-).

Americans of my generation remember Bertrand Aristide and his election as president in 1990. Many then lost sight of him, and got lost in the details of Haitian politics fairly soon after, but to recap, Aristide was ousted seven months after taking office (military coup), returned in 1994 to finish out his term; was succeeded by Rene Preval (presidents can’t serve two terms in a row, and can’t serve more than two total, under the post-Duvalier constitution); was re-elected in 2000 and held office from early 2001 until forced out of office by an organized and armed opposition movement in 2004; was then succeded after the 2005 election again by Preval, who was succeeded after the 2010 election by the current president, Martelly. The party Aristide founded, Lavalas, is being permitted to run candidates for the first time 2004 – and though the party has lost some of its shine since the idealistic days of the late 1980s and 1990-91, it seems to me that for many they still represent hope. For many others, it seems they call up fear of a return to violence and strife. I’m hoping for a reasonably peaceful weekend and an electoral result that most Haitians feel is fair enough. Either way, I have to admit I find the all the posters fun, seeing how politicians all over the world promise the same things, do the same things…a pothole on our street just got fixed last weekend! Just like NYC during election season, eh? Above all I join many friends and colleagues in hoping for a maximally non-violent weekend and subsequent counting period…

Posted by somuchworldsolittletime | October 23, 2015 | Categories: Haiti, Port-au-Prince | Tags: Delmas, haiti campaign graffiti, haiti campaign posters, haiti elections, haiti history, Petion-Ville, port au prince | 2 Comments

Meandering on Montagne Noir

It’s been a busy several weeks here at smw, slt — busy enough that I’ve barely brought out the camera lately. I did manage a long-delayed walk around our neighborhood last weekend with the intention to collect many shots of the plethora of campaign posters, signs and graffiti which have proliferated in recent weeks as the country prepares for the biggest day of voting in, I think, its history: on the 25th of October there will a chance to vote for all three levels of government (president, legislature, and municipal posts all in one day). In the past, I believe these different levels have usually been elected in different years. Before then, I’m sure I’ll put a large collage of electoral miscellany up here, but for the moment I’m missing a few things I’d like to find, photograph, and add before I post for my much-appreciated, loyal and lovely readers. As it is, I’ll give you a wee appetizer of a sort – in the photo above you will see some posters if you look a bit, and in one of the other shots they’re there but you have to look harder to see them. 🙂 Hope you enjoy these little snaps ’til the larger selection’s ready.