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You will have to zoom out to see where Port Au Prince is in relation to the fort

Lots of the fort was in ruins, but we could get into the magazine, the barracks, part of the prison, and, of course, up on top.

One the way we stopped at a Mission that was founded in the 1940s and has since that time been providing medical services and education to the communities in the valley ever since. This community was on the of the first to reintroduce terraced agriculture back into the area. What was once reputedly the poorest part of Haiti, deforested and eroded to barren rock, has been able to pull itself up and become a destination area for wealthy Haitians, and a source of local produce.

Along the way, too and from, we did see some earthquake damage. While dramatic, what you see in these photos is exceptional and not indicative of the majority of the city.

Shortly after we left the fort and headed to lunch at a lovely restaurant nearby, the rains began. It took almost 2 hours, but we wound our way home.

Equivalent to $0.60

My first impressions of Port-au-Prince leave me thinking of Africa, though.  The earthquake devastated an already pitifully poor nation, and recovery has been slow to say the least.  I read today that more than 600,000 people around Port-Au-Prince are still displaced and living in encampments like these:

If I didn’t know better, I’d swear I’m in Africa and not just an hour and a half flight from Miami as we drive to and from the office.

Tomorrow we’re being driven out of the city to a beach resort for the day.  I’ll be interested to see what we drive through.

I also took some pictures at a couple interesting places, though I was pretty discrete with the camera.  First is the Faisal Mosque, in the outskirts of Islamabad. It’s a huge complex, stark outside, but wonderfully ornate inside.

One of the things I remember about Iran is all the different modes of transportation you’d see in the city. People would, of course, walk, bicycle, ride motorcycles, drive various motorized contraptions with 3 or more wheels and, occasionally, you’d see more traditional transport like these.

All exist side-by-side and fill the needs of the people.

I’ve got to say that I’m looking forward to heading back.

[flickr video=4279165170]

These past few days have been days of discovery for us.  I’ll not spend a lot of time on things, but it’s been eye-opening.

• We’ve met a Spanish couple and a single French woman who are adopting from this same orphanage. The Spanish couple met their son for the first time in 2007. We met our son in April. The whole process for us has been long, but these folks have really had a hard time of it.  The woman from France is lovely and is adopting a beautiful little girl, but she’s having a hard time connecting with the girl.  Roman was uneasy with us at first, but now we’re a “normal” part of his life.
• One of his caregivers, Svieta, truly cares for Roman. For his birthday this year she gave him a little golden cross. Today she earnestly asked if we would mind taking the cross with Roman so he would have a memory of her. Of course we said yes. We also got her mailing address so we can send pictures so she can continue to share in his life.
• Today the photo album we made when we were here in April reappeared.  It’s obvious that they have been showing it to him.  He was so excited and flipped through the pages, naming mama & papa, mama & roman, papa & roman, pointing to our house and saying “dom!” (house), pointing to our parents and naming them baba and dyeda (babushka, grandmother, and dyedushka, grandfather). He wouldn’t let go of the album for the better part of an hour. Whenever we moved from one part fo the room to the next, he was clutching the picture book and he really objected when he thought someone was trying to take it from him.
• He’s quite comfortable riding in a stroller and he even got concerned when I began to push the stroller before his seatbelt was fastened. This bodes well for the airport.

Tomorrow’s a busy day trying to get paperwork done as fast as we can.

Here are a few pictures of Topkapi Palace from earlier today:

Caligraphy at the gates of the inner palace

Views of the outside of the Throne Room pavilion

Inside the Throne Room pavilion

Inside the innermost court of the palace where only the Sultan could go

A beautiful fountain in the innermost court

Some of the most impressive sights were forbidden to photograph. There are several rooms with holy relics such as swords of the Caliphs, golden rainspouts from the Kabbah in Mecca, the Mantel of the Prophet Mohammed, jewelry that makes your eyes pop and so on.  May of the items from Mecca were brought to Istanbul when they “wore out” and were replaced; such holy things were not discarded, rather they were placed into storage and are now on display some 400 to 1300 years later.