I’ve been reading so much about the abuses of aid that I think it’s become my hobby.  And, while I know the aid industry has a lot of horrible consequences, it also has unintended funny (funny funny and sort of sad funny) ones.

If you’ve ever traveled in developing nations, you wind up seeing people wearing what I can only describe as incongruous tee shirts.  And maybe because Haiti’s so close to the U.S., or that Haiti seems to be some sort of Goodwill store drop off for stuff people no longer want that it seems to have a particularly large number of people wearing unlikely tee shirts.  You know, a large guy digging a ditch with a shirt that reads, “Joshua’s Bar Mitzvah” or another guy lounging around in a “Vassar Women’s Swimming Team” shirt.  Spotting and mentally cataloging these shirts has become yet another hobby.

However, no shirts that I’ve seen so far have quite topped the one by the straw hat seller that I saw last week on a beach in Jacmel.

This current trip is my fifth to Haiti.  Usually, for a variety of factors, mostly involving the high cost of travel there, I rush through and do absolutely what I have to do and head home.   I changed things this time.

This has been by far my best trip to Haiti, in fact, one of the best travel experiences anywhere.  I gained new insights.   I met interesting people.  I listened to a variety of music that provided the perfect soundtrack to what I was seeing.  In a first for me in Haiti–although it tends to be my passion just about everywhere else–I ate street food.  I saw loads of art.

Yes, my first full day in Haiti was a very good day.