Dos and don’ts of being a tourist in a non touristy location-

Don’t go where there aren’t very many people. Isolation is deceivingly beautiful.
We arrived to Barahona after more than 6 hours of public transportation. Immediately after checking into our hotel we head to the beach. We are clearly the only tourists in the town. Which on is neat not being in a touristy area, but when there is no hope of blending in, all the stares are just awkward. We found the beach practically deserted. There were a few fisherman and workers at a local hotel. Not quite the idyllic beach we were all hoping for but we walked around a little with some little boys looking for shells. We had been sitting down talking when one of the oldest boys in the group stole Lynnea’s back pack. No one had a quick response and he easily got away. Damn, that sucks. We all felt so stupid for putting ourselves in that situation. We were completely isolated, it was so easy. It then turned into this big ordeal. A bunch of the boys tried to go off and catch the kid we spend several hours waiting and talking about what to do. The kids found us in the super market, (creepy but how hard is it to find 6 North American girls in a little town) and tried to get us to come with them and confront the kid. Quickly the whole town knew. Later that evening we were sitting on a corner and this guys come up on his motoconcho and asks if we were the girls who got robbed and scolded us for going that far on the beach by ourselves. It was a very unsatisfactory ending of a long day traveling. We felt so vulnerable and stupid. The town just didn’t feel comfortable or safe.

Don’t always trust the guide book.
The next morning we got up early and were ready to get out of that town. We book a hotel recommended by my guide book in a town about 30 km south and got on our way. When we got close to the town and asked the driver to drop us off at this hotel. Turns out it was back in Barahona, the town we were running from. Great we have all of our stuff and don’t know where we going.

Do make ask for help when you need it.

The guagua driver and the guy who takes the money (there’s an assistant who runs the door) made it their mission to find us a place to stay. We went to three little towns looking for a room, more difficult than you would think. Finally we ended up in this little town called Ojeda. It couldn’t have had more than 40 houses. They had this little colmado, a hotel and a bar, right on the beach. Perfect!

Don’t let what one person did to you dictate how you interact with others. You could miss out on what others have to give.
We couldn’t understand why they went to all of this trouble to help complete strangers. At one point they made us all get out so that we could go look at this amazing view of Los Platos, a fresh water river meeting the ocean. I think it took all of us a little while to let it happen but we were being taken care of for no reason. They had know idea how much what they were did meant to us.

Do make friends with people who are willing.
Next thing we knew they were going to come back and visit us that night. We played dominos and hung out at our hotel. It was great, safe and comfortable. A couple other people from the town and who worked at the little hotel joined.
The next morning Pio, the guagua driver, and Arismende, the door man, picked us up at the hotel to give a couple of the girls a ride to the next town so they could catch a bus because they wanted to head home early. We all decided to go a little ways to find a place to eat breakfast. I guess a fresh fruit market is hard to come by in that area, so Pio just takes us to his house. He says we don’t have much but come, my wife with make you breakfast. How wonderful. We spent the morning sitting in front of his house playing with his kids and neighbors too.

Do find the cultural way to say thank you.
Pio’s wife and Arismende took us to San Rafeal that day and bought us beer and snacks. It was really cool to get to talk and hang out for the day. The took care of us in every way they could. They wouldn’t let us buy them anything. We continued to say thank you thank you, but it just made them uncomfortable. We couldn’t do anything for them. After a little while it got a little frustrating. We didn’t have anything to offer them. The one thing we did have was money, but they wouldn’t let us get them anything. A cultural barrier we couldn’t understand.
That night their whole family came over to our hotel, we hung out on the porch and played games and talked. We had gone to the colmado and bought juice and chocolates. They felt no guilt to let us serve them. We had finally figured out how to play the game. When one person is hosting, the other is always the guest. The idea of dutch, where you go somewhere and each person pays for them selves, or first person buys the first round of drinks and the other buys the second, doesn’t work here. One person completely hosts everything, and the guest reciprocates by hosting another time. It was an interesting lesson to learn. We got so frustrated when they wouldn’t let us buy anything, but we didn’t understand the pride that comes with hosting.

Do take advantage of wherever you are.
This trip we saw other beautiful parts of this country. Besides being basically adopted by a Dominican family, we went to two gorgeous beaches on the south west coast, very different than the north. Bleached white pebbled beaches, lined with palm trees. The two beaches we spend days at had fresh water streams that were made into little swimming holes right next to the beach. The water was cool but refreshing...not like the ocean. The water had good waves to play in too.
Both Sunday and Monday morning we got up early and watched the sunrise over the Caribbean Sea. After we would go and get coffee from this lady who basically feed the entire village from her little colmado. The sweetest coffee I’ve every tasted. It was wonderful!

Adjusting

I had top-ramen soup for breakfast this morning. My host mom prepared the whole bag plus toasted bread and fruit and juice. Yesterday I had a ham and grilled cheese sandwich and cookies. She always seems surprised when I don’t eat everything I am given, but when I finish something that means that I must want more. They say that portion sized are huge in the US but I can’t believe how much my family eats here. It is incredible. Plus the concept of healthy is so different here. I would die for fresh raw vegetables, or a mixed green salad. Oh yumm. I’m going to be dreaming about my raw carrots. One night for dinner I had pasta, mashed potatoes and bread, oh and rice, rice goes with everything.

I am finally feeling comfortable here. There are still a couple cultural things that I have a hard time getting over. One, the concept of first come first serve, or wait you turn does no exist here. If you think you are in line people will just walk right in front of you. You have to be aggressive to get anything done. That does not work for me. Emily, pushing people out of the way to get to a bathroom stall? I so content to patiently wait my turn, but here I will not get a turn unless I’m aggressive about it. Watch out when I come back, if I actually get adjusted to this one over the next 3 months.

Another is that no one is on time for anything. School is one thing but everything else in this country runs without a hurry. If a program is suppose to start at 7:00 and you show up at 6:59 you will be the only one there. Likely the speaker won’t even be there yet and people will still be setting up the stage for the next 10-15 min. Say my family is going over to someone’s house for dinner. My host mom might tell me we are leaving about 6:30 ‘más o menos.’ So I get home at 6, change and am ready to go. I don’t like being rushed and hate the feeling when other people are waiting for me. So around 7, someone says ok let’s go, let’s go. No one moves from in front of the TV. We won’t get out of the house until after 8. Ahh take it all with a sense of humor : )
Adjusting has been longer and harder than I had thought, but I finally believe that I am in the right place. As hard as it is at times I don’t think that I would want to be anywhere else right now. Funny how sometimes you need a change from everything you know. I’m not sure what I would do if I was at LC this semester. This is going to be a growing experience many more ways than one. And has already been, just having more time really by myself to get some thoughts and feelings organized. It sounds so cliché but I’m learning but in ways that I didn’t expect to. My eyes have open to things that my life and heart have been missing the last several months. Not easy but I have been happier here than I have been in a long time.

Weekend exertion

Saturday 4 friends and I set out on an adventure with limited directions to get to a river and swimming hole below some taino ruins. Take a guagua to Moa than another in the direction of Los Pinos but ask if the driving knows where Dona Micha lives. Knock three times on the door than go around back and the mango tree with cast a shadow towards a wire cage and inside will be a chicken that when let loose will show you the trail head. Ok it wasn’t that bizarre, but we felt like we were on a treasure hunt.

We showed up at the house of a woman who is friends with the director of our program. She did not know we were coming but insisted that she make us lunch and let her sons show us the way up the hike. The house had an incredible view of a lush green valley. It was absolutely breath taking. We sat outside in rocking chairs talking as we gazed at the beautiful view. This family owns a casaba factory. Casaba is made from yuka, a potato like root. It is one of those things that don’t necessarily taste good but once you start eating it you just can’t stop. We got a tour of the factory, and ate plenty of casaba before lunch even started. Everything turned out just as perfectly as possible. We got a ride in the back of someone’s pick up to the trail head, walked up for about 30 min along a stream/in the stream. We ended up at this series of really deep swimming holes connected by a stream of waterfalls. The backdrop was a tropical rain forest fitted with cacti and palm trees, and a huge rock carved face. Well to be honest the face was a bit of a stretch. I guess half of it fell off at some point.

It was such a perfect day. I wish that hiking was easier to do. I defiantly miss that. I was so glad that we actually found one. And swimming is always wonderful here. It was raining when we got there actually but the water still felt amazing. It was one of those days that you have to appreciate God’s beauty. I felt so blessed by so many different things, the area, the company, hospitality, and how everything just fell into line. Very refreshing. I need to keep worshiping Him for this.

Next weekend is a 4day weekend. As of now the plan is to climb Pico Duarte, the tallest peak in the caribbean. I guess it takes a couple of days but backpacking it sort of unheard of here. It sounds like we have to go with a tour guide and will likely have mules carry our stuff up. So not really backpacking but I hope it will be rewarding just the same.

Casarme

So two dominicans asked me to marry them today.

First of all there is this ‘classic’ Dominican movie titled Hanky Panky. It is about this Dominican guy named Sanky Panky who really wants to marry an American girl, basically so he can get a green card and move to the US. He gets a job at a resort to meet girls. The thing truth is not far behind.

My community service class was cancelled so I thought I would wonder downtown. The first I was walking toward Calle del Sol after volunteering at the hospital and this guy, at least 6 inches shorter than me, started walking along side me and we start talking. Where are you from? What do you study? Oh you are beautiful and speak really good spainsh!! The normal… When he found out he was only 10 years older than me he said I should marry him so he can be like Sanky Panky. I said no I’m sorry I’m not ready to marry anyone right now. He was sad but asked me if he could call me sometime. I lied and said I didn’t have a cell phone, and walked into the next store I saw. (where I bought some earrings for about $1.50, I was excited about that). So then to head back to the university I got in an M concho. I guess I took it the wrong way because it took forever to get there. All the other passengers had gotten out of the car and the driver stated talking to me. The first thing he asked was if I like the country and the second thing he asked was if I would marry him. Oh no not again. This guy would not let it go. For the next 15 min I he kept making me explain why I didn’t love him and why I didn’t want to marry him. I kept trying to change the subject but whenever there was a lull in conversation he would bring it up again. Talk about guys being forward. I thought I was use to the priopos and guys coming up and talking to you, but two marriage proposals in a day through me off.

Some basics

I am sitting in my room sweating and it is 9:30 at night. At this point in the day it is much cooler outside than in. The fan and my music tuck me into bed every night. Well by into bed I mean on to it. The only reason to use even the sheet is if you are worried about mosquitoes, who have found fresh blood in my legs. Oh the joys of living in a tropical climate.

So some basics. I’m living with a host family. I have my own bedroom and bathroom. I have a host mom, dad and three siblings, Angelo, Antony and Angelica. My mom works in the home and is taking some classes. My dad works a ways from Santiago and so is sometimes gone for days at a time. I’m not exactly clear on what he does. I know that it has to do with education; I think he is on some board of education, overseeing stuff. Almost everything is a guess these days. I can understand the basic ideas in a conversation but I often miss the details. Angelo plays baseball in the U.S. When his minor league finished he came back here. Antony goes to school with me at PUCMM studying engineering. They are both my age. Angelica is 14 and goes to the high school on the same campus as the university. Living with another family has been a little strange. I defiantly feel like a guest and I don’t really like that. I’m not use to people fondling over me, but it is getting better with time. I don’t do my own laundry, or ever cook, or clean, weird for me. As I get use to them they get use to me. I do what I can, but there is defiantly already a routine. This is defiantly a family who doesn’t live without, although might be considered part of the Dominican Republics small middle class. I have learned almost more about wealth as I have about poverty. Turns out the school I go to is considered pretty snobby by the rest of the city. Lots of rich kids who still live at home. Sometimes it feels like an extension of high school in a way.

I really like the city and the people. It is defiantly really different but at the same time a lot the same. Riding in conchos, (basically a public car that they fit as many people in as possible and costs about 33 cents to go as far as you want), the lack of traffic laws are defiantly new experiences but over all big city life seems to be about the same. The people are so very nice and willing to help with information or anything. They might tell you the wrong directions but they are more than willing to help you. I’m not quite sure yet if that is mostly because of my skin color, even so it seems to be a Dominican characteristic. As nice as the people are friends are a little harder to make. We always seem to find people to talk to but it mostly depends on who is willing to struggle through the Spanish a little.

I have had the chance to go up into the mountains and also to the beach. Both were just as perfect as you can imagine. It is hard to blend in and take in the sights though. I guess being 6’1 I never really ‘blend in,’ but I am also so clearly ‘americana’ here. The people will never let you forget it. The best Dominican experiences I’ve had have been with my family. We go over to relatives houses for various occasions. I also got to go out to the county to visit the grandma of my family. I think that is as close to living the life as I am going to get.

I defiantly have a lot to think about and ponder as I am adjusting to the culture here and some of the opinions and stereotypes of North Americans. Thought I would start with a rough list of facts about life, as it might be hard to recreate past observations.

Saludos

Welcome to my blog. I'm not sure how I feel about blogging in gerneral. Although I don't have anything profound to say when I write I tend to get pretty personal. However, being out of the country, I am writting the same events over and over in e-mails. Sorry to those who don't recieve the frequent ones. Hopefully this will be a way for those who care to, to know a little more about the ongoings of my life. Please respond and let me know how you are doing too.