Every Xmas, my parents get these end-of-the year newsletters that are usually pretty insipid. There's one, however, that's always interesting.
One of my mom's college roommates is a retired master beekeeper. I think USAID sends her to developing countries several times a year to help beekeepers develop their hives.
This year she traveled to Haiti, Georgia (Republic -- not the state), and Azerbaijan. Extracts of some of her comments follow:
- Haitian beekeepers will be threatened by Africanized bees.
- A deep gorge in eastern Georgia is the original home of honey bees.
- Rural Azerbaijan has not changed since her last visit 10 years ago. The roads are still as bad as ever. And oil deposits haven't been as big as hoped for, but there is plenty of natural gas in the Caspian Sea waiting to be tapped.