Crossing borders

I remember when flying was a pleasure. It was exciting, it was smooth, it was pleasant. And I don't think that I am just jaded by having flown too much. We have lost the fun of it all. Inspections, pat downs, more inspections, -- is that only in the US? Perhaps.

I can't think of another way to get here as there are no hydrofoils from Florida - even though the DR is only 500 miles away. And, as we have all read, the trips on the open boats are no fun.

I am spending a lot of times telling people "No, really, the poverty is not that bad in the DR- perhaps in the batays- but it is a middle income country. They eat meast usually once a day.

And as for Haiti -It is THE PLACE WHERE THEY DO THE MOST WITH THE LEAST" -- We have a lot to learn from them.

They are going to post an economic growth rate this year for the first time in perhaps twenty years.

Things are going to just get better and better - that perhaps is the advantage of being on the bottom.

Whereas here in the States, there is the sense that things are going to get worse. Perhaps I am just imagining the fear level, but somehow, I don't think so. The mortgages are coming due and people are beginning to realize that they have a really expensive health care system that isn't even that good, that even though the banks say that they "own" their own homes, they are really just renting them from the bank.