16719: Vishnusurf: Re: 16705: Laleau: northwest of Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: VISHNUSURF@aol.com

Much of the northwest is desertified, but the area around Bombardopolis
remains relatively lush and green. I worked as a consultant for CARE in the mid
1990s on their soil conservation project, which was focussed on building
retaining walls in mountainside ravines to combat erosion of fertile land at lower
elevations. Although I was very impressed by the comparatively richness of the
land and fields, a few old peasants told me that it is much less wooded than it
once was. In any case, CARE's soil conservation project in Bombardopolis was
very well conceived, aiming at preserving one of that region's few remaining
fertile expanses.

Other things were very striking there; for instance, avacados and oranges and
chadeks are so abundant that you do not find them in local markets, as no one
would pay for a product that s/he can just scoop up off the ground in any
number of places. I actually saw oranges and avacados rotting on the ground
beneath their trees... this at a time when an avacado in Port-au-Prince was costing
about 7 gourdes, when the exchange rate was roughly 12 gourdes to a dollar.
Avacados sometimes sell in Philadelphia and New York for over US$3 each !!!
just imagine, then, what wealth is being wasted, thanks mostly to a lack of
infastructure.  In any case, I would imagine that CARE-HAITI has a website that
provides info on their projects up that way. I really loved Bombardopolis, which
arguably has the greatest place name in all of Haiti.