Garbage

Oh, this beautiful country never ceases to amaze and confound me. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'm sure I'll mention it again, the garbage trip here is ridiculous. For the most part the garbage collection system is non-existent. In the cities supposedly garbage collection exists but it's spotty service at best. They're supposed to come once a week and they come once every other week. Outside of the city in some places they're supposed to come but never do. And I don't know what happened, but the concept of garbage cans is a foreign concept around here. So, I'll give you one guess as to where the garbage goes. That's right, on the ground. Sometimes in one place, but definitely on the ground. For example, my friend had bought an ice cream from a street vendor in Santo Domingo and was trying to figure out where to throw the wrapper, not seeing a zafacon (garbage can) nearby. A guy, seeing her confusion, came up and took the wrapper out of her hand and threw it on the ground and told her "that's where garbage goes." Another example, I saw some students walking home from school the other day. They give them a merienda (snack) at school during their recess and some of them save it for the walk home. So...these girls were walking home and had 3 bags of chips. They split one bag into the other two and then the empty bag got thrown into the irrigation ditch that runs alongside the road. Or there's the other school girls that were walking by my house yesterday and chucked their milk containers down in the middle of the road.

Or there's this example of a place where a lot of garbage gets thrown. This spot is right beside the Rio Guanaré that runs through my town. Eventually, if this garbage gets collected, which is questionable, it will get put in one spot and burned. The tragic thing is that most of it (almost 80%) is organic and could be used for compost here in this agricultural region. And making compost here is pretty easy because it's hot and humid so things break down rather quickly. I'm hoping this is a project I can work on while I'm here. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Washing Day

My host mom does most of the washing thank goodness. All I'm responsible for is washing my underwear (which here in the DR are called pantis). However, as many of you know I like to procrastinate. Luckily I brought an extraordinary amount of underwear with me just for that reason and they told us that underwear take a beating around here. So what I should be doing is washing my underwear when I take my bucket bath every day because it's a heck of a lot easier. Instead of doing this I've been accumulating underwear for the last couple weeks. Today, my doña pretty much told me I better get to it and today was as good a day as any! So she set me up with a bucket full of detergent and water and I tossed in my underwear and she tossed in some soap. After letting them soak for a while I had to scrub them together, then scrub soap on them, then scrub them some more, then rinse them, then toss them on this plant to dry. My doña was nice enough to give me instructions on what I should be doing, although she was laughing at me the whole time. Here's a picture of my clean underwear drying on the bush out back. Doña Francisca was nice enough to pick a bush where they couldn't be seen from the road!! Maybe too much information for some of you but I couldn't resist sharing. I wish I had a picture of me washing to go along with it, because it had to look hysterical. Although I think the pantis make a pretty decoration on the tree! Maybe when they start to wear out I save the pretty ones and make Christmas tree decorations out of them.

My Road

So technically they call my road a carretera which literally means a highway. I think that's a gross exaggeration of what it really is considering that it's just dirt, even though they did throw some rocks from the river on it last week. However, I can't tell you how much pleasure I derive from sitting in my front patio (yes, in, it's kind of like being in a bird cage and I sometimes feel about that much on display as well) watching what passes by my house. Here's a picture from this morning and a little video I thought you might enjoy to give you just a clue of what I see during the day.

My Loma

At first I was a little disappointed that I didn't get reception in my house or pretty much anywhere in my pueblo, but I've quickly gotten over that. Now, I look forward to climbing up the loma (hill) behind my soon to be house so that I can make phone calls. (The house where the previous volunteer lived and where I will most likely be living.) It's a steep climb up the hill, in a field full of sheep and goats, but the climb is worth it. The view is incredible. I can see the whole valley and pick out houses and buildings in my pueblo spread out below. I can follow the river by the trees that line it's sides. I can see the green hills that surround us. And if I go all the way to the top I can peek through the fence and see the valley that spreads out to the other side. I included a picture in my last blog of the view from the loma, but I may well include it again because it's spectacular. It's so nice to spend some time sitting up there talking to friends and family, watching the clouds roll in. Monday I took a sombrilla (umbrella) with me which was fortunate because I got caught in a rainstorm up there. Luckily it was a big umbrella and I sat down with my bag on my lap, my phone is one hand and on my ear of course, and my umbrella in the other hand (see picture below) and only my feet got wet, which of course were in my Keen chancletas (sandals) and capable of getting wet as they often do around here. Getting down is actually the hardest part as I found out today when I was bajando (going down) the loma and slipped in the loose rocks and landed on my behind. I don't think I bruised anything but my pride! I still love that loma though!!

This is the view! It´s even prettier than in the picture!



Here´s me hiding from the rainstorm under the umbrella!



Hopefully my house!!



Looking up the loma from the bottom



This is from behind my hopefully soon to be house up the hill and no home in the campo would be complete without it´s own letrine.

In the Name of Progress

This week in El Batey they’ve been going crazy working on the roads and sidewalks. They say it’s because it’s been needed, and it has, but there’s the added impetus that on June 1st there will be hundreds if not thousands of people here in town for a Catholic festival where they bring a figurine of a saint from here in El Batey to San Juan. It’s supposed to be quite the party. I’m looking forward to it. But back to the roads. So in order to mejorar (improve) the roads they brought in some huge machinery. A road grader to level out the road and then they brought a ton of gravel (well, gravel is an overstatement, it’s more like a bunch of dirt with rocks in it) from down by the river Guanaré which runs through my pueblo. This means that they found a place in the river that had a fair amount of rocks in it and on the side and they filled dump truck after dump truck full of the dirts and rocks and hauled them away from the river. They cleared away trees in the way as need be to make sure they could get more. They hauled loads all day yesterday and all day today. And I think it will continue for the rest of the week at least. Here’s a couple pictures so you can get the idea.

Peace Corps Moment

Yesterday I had one of those moments. One of those moments where you have a realization, a recognition of the reality of where you are and what you're doing. I had arrived about 5:00ish on a bus from Santo Domingo to San Juan de la Maguana, the city closest to my campo of El Batey where I am now living for the next two years. In San Juan I found a motoconchista (motorcycle taxi driver) that knew the previous volunteer (and found out later that the man was a little in love with her) and offered to take me to my site. However, I had a slight dilemma. I needed money desperately. I had borrowed money for my bus ticket from another volunteer that happened to be there because the ATMs at the nearest branch of our bank to the bus depot were broken, and the ATMs from the other bank wouldn't let me take out money. I didn't even have enough money to pay the motoconcho driver unless I went to the bank. So I had to trust the guy to take me to the ATM to take out my money. Meanwhile I had two backpacks filled with all my most important belongings and my guitar with me, which let me tell you it is not easy to manage all that on a motorcycle. So I strapped on my casco (helmet), handed him one of my bags, put the other one on my back and looped my guitar over that, and wrapped my arms around this guy's waist. Well, I got my money and then we did this loop to a gas station so the driver could get gas put into his motorcycle, which he didn't turn off of course. No one I have yet seen turns off their vehicle while gassing up. A worrisome practice but I have yet to see anyone blow up thank goodness. Then we proceeded to take several more turns onto the "highway" (I use the term loosely) that heads towards my campo. And no, I still haven't gotten to that moment of realization that I was talking about.

So off we go, one of my bags in front of him, the other and my guitar strapped to my back, money and cell phones in my pockets. The "highway" that quickly goes from broken pavement to a rutted dirt road is already muddy from earlier rains. There's a drizzle coming down which leaves beads on the visor of my casco (helmet). We slide out now and again in the mud but my driver quickly regains control. I can see the hills, vibrant and green all around me. Chickens, goats, cows, sheep, and pigs look up as we speed by. Dark clouds fill the sky, threatening to open up and drench us at any moment. Thunder roars and lightning claps ahead of us, moving in our direction, definitely too close for comfort. And I smiled...

I keep trying to find a way to sum it up, but it's the mixture of emotions that's hard to explain. It's not that I wasn't scared because I was, and it's not that I wasn't apprehensive because I was that as well. It was just this moment of clarity when I realized that despite my fear and apprehension, I loved it. I loved every minute of it.

I did however, want to kiss the ground when I made it home safely, although slightly muddy from spinning out, as well as the fact that I had to get off and walk up a hill at one point so the driver could get the motorcycle up it. I paid $100 pesos for the ride although I have to say it is priceless as a memory.



Not me on a motoconcho obviously but just so you get an idea of what it looks like!

Swearing In

We finally made it. After 10 weeks of training and tests, we made it. Wednesday, May 13th we were sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. That´s right we are now officially employed by the U.S. government. We sang the national anthems of the Dominican Republic and the United States. We swore oaths in English and Spanish. We listened to speeches by the Director of Entrena, the Director of Peace Corps, our bosses Alberto and Domingo, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (who is the grandson of one of the Mirabal sisters), someone from the Primer Dama’s (First Lady’s) office, someone from the Ministry of Education, the Doña of our friend Tamara, and our compañero Jared. We introduced ourselves and shook everyone’s hands and got a Peace Corps DR pin. And we took lots of pictures!! I wore my dress from Enchanted Alpaca and got lots of compliments! Thanks Carol and Rick!

Yeni and I

the gang of girls!

Stacie, my roomie in Miami, and I

My host mom Sol, me, and my host brother Eduard. I´m squatting down cause trust me they´re short.

Sarah, Jasmin, Kiri, and I
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The boys!

Ruth, Malia, and Stacie. Ruth is the volunteer that lives closest to me.

Roberto with Helen in the background

Mali and I

LeeAnn and I

Jasmin and I

Jared giving his speech about how awesome Doñas are!

Cliff and I

Kevin and I

My Spanish Professor Juan and I

My good friend and another Spanish professor, Claribel

Ben and I

Arya and I

Andrea and I. She hates this picture but I love it!

Alanna and I

My Gallo in Santo Domingo

So I moaned and complained about my gallo (rooster) in Santo Domingo often enough I thought I would video his crowing for your personal viewing pleasure. Imagine this at 3:30 every morning about 20 times! And then every 30 minutes or so after that until about 7:00 when I actually have to get up. I know Mom and Dad know what I´m talking about!

Whoops!

So I had all these plans to update my blog today but I either did not get the info on the right disk when I was copying last night or this computer is not reading it. I´ll keep trying but it looks like you folks may have to wait a few more days!!

My Site

So finally, after weeks of waiting and after the Technology group already knew their sites, us Environment kids finally found out where we were going to be living. Oh, the anticipation was killing us let me tell you. And of course they wouldn’t tell us first thing in the morning. We had to do a reconnect session first and talk about what the plans were for the week. Talk about suspense. Luckily our director Alberto didn’t make us wait at all once we were able to meet with him. He called out our names and we ran to get our booklet. I looked at the cover of mine and it said El Batey. My first thought was that I was going to be in a batey which is generally a largely Haitian or Haitian-Dominican community that was organized around the now almost defunct sugar cane companies. However, most of these are in the East and my site was in the Southwest. So once I realized it wasn’t a batey, I was a little shocked to find it was in the Southwest. I had been hoping to be in the mountains in the North of the country. I knew very little about the Southwest and had not been drawn to it by what I had heard. I read through my whole booklet that I had been provided and found that I was solicited by a health volunteer who had just finished up her 2 years in November with the main goal being that many women still use only the fogon (traditional super smoky stove that uses lots of wood). I also learned from the booklet that the area I would be working in has about 3000 people or roughly 450 families spread out over a valley into 13 loosely grouped communities. It’s a pretty big area for an environment volunteer. Still I had very little to go on and I was going to meet my project partners and head out for my site the next day. I’ve come to find that Peace Corps often times is more about the adventure of finding things out for oneself because there just isn’t an easy answer to anything.

Wednesday arrived early and hot. We had the majority of our bags packed and most of us took taxis to Entrena so we wouldn’t have to haul them from our communities. We loaded up and headed over to the site where we were going to meet our project partners. As luck would have it, the volunteer who was here before me who finished her service here in November had extended her service for another six months in another part of the country so she came to meet me and see her friends (my project partners). It was awesome to have her there because she could tell me so much more about the community than I would have learned just showing up here. Then there’s my project partners Nivin and Francisca (who’s also my host mom). They are absolutely wonderful people and leaders in their community. Everyone knows them and respects them and they are super supportive and excited about having another volunteer in El Batey.

After a morning of meetings we headed out with all my bags in tow, which I'm relieved to say I shouldn't have to deal with again for the next two years. The trip out was beautiful, although I did notice it seemed to get drier and drier as we headed west. We arrived in El Batey around 5:00 pm. The road out there leaves a little to be desired. The part that's paved is not in good condition and the last 10 km is just a dirt road which is not in good condition either as there are low areas where the water rushes through when it rains, which it does most days this time of year.

I had a tough first night, but after seeing more of the area and meeting more people I think I'll like it there and be successful. I have a ton more to write about but I'm feeling worn out right now. We've been having tests all day so I'll write more later. In the meantime, here's some pictures of my site.


The view of my community. It's spread out over this whole valley, it's hot as heck but it's beautiful.


The view from the backyard of my house.


My house from the road. My room is going to be the room on the left of the patio.


My latrine. The hole is quite small. I was telling some of my friends today that there's no multi-tasking in this letrine if you get my drift.


My living room.


My dining room.


My host mom Francisco throwing some maize around!


Francisca feeding our mixture of chickens, pigs, and goats!


My blind aunt Estela shelling Guandules (a type of beans)


A flower from the Framboyan tree. The tree itself isn't that pretty but the flowers are gorgeous.


An old, old, mangled guatepanal tree in my backyard.

Caving

On Friday we went caving in the afternoon. It was dark and damp but pretty cool overall. We learned that one of the local traditional crafts that they do is to take the stalactites and stalagmites and carve them to sell. However, this is not a particularly environmentally friendly activity because stalactites and stalagmites take an extremely long time to form. So people who do this work have had to keep going farther and farther away to find them to carve because they’ve exhausted the caves that are near where they live. In the cave we were in you could see the areas where they had been broken off to be used. We also spent the night at a nearby farm that had a bazillion pigs. We slept in tents out in the yard. The farmer let the pigs out about 5:00 a.m. which was pretty early for the group of us girls that stayed up giggling until almost 2:00 a.m. And we had to take a test later on that morning when we got back to the training center in Santo Domingo. Here’s the pictures from the caves.


Leeann checking out some cool formations in the cave.

Walking through the cave.

So pretty!

Kiri, Jaron, me, and Andrea

Claribel posing.

A pretty, sparkling formation.

Sarah and Malia

Sunset near where the caves were and where we camped.