I have decided to try to make this account of my time in Haiti a bit more chronological so you can see the differences and transitions i went through in my travels.  Today I am going to begin with my departure from Nashville, the flight to the Dominican Republic, and my arrival there.  Tomorrow, hopefully, I will begin transcribing a journal entry written during my first night after arriving in the Dominican.

This is the view that greeted me as our plane gained altitude after takeoff over Nashville, TN.  I have included it to note the contrast in the weather.  Below freezing, snow covering the ground when I left to tropical warmth, almost too hot to sleep on the island of Hispaniola .

Beautiful crystal clear waters surrounding a small island chain somewhere in the Caribbean between Miami and Santo Domingo.  Not much to say about this one just thought it was pretty.

One of several small cities we flew over in the Dominican Republic.  While from this distance the city its self doesn't look much different from one you would find in Haiti the lush green farm plots and trees would be very rare.  Hispaniola is an island of two nations, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and an island of two colors, green and brown.

This is the view across the street from the airport we landed at in Santo Domingo.  Again you see the lush green plant life, the beautiful scenery, and this is in the middle of the largest city in the Dominican Republic.  This beauty is the reason the Republic is able to gain so much from its tourism industry while Haiti's tourism is nonexistent.