These two pics are from the volunteer visit last weekend. This little beach was only a fifteen minute walk from the volunteer’s house. Though the beach was rocky and the water not as clear as others it was still a nice addition to her site. I love the food here, but I must say I was beyond pleased by our first non-Dominican meal. Peanut butter and bananas, yogurt, and a coca cola zero.

My Dona´s grandbabies and me

My Dona and her gandbabies

One of the potential projects we can undertake during our service is chickens. I never realized how complicated it is to care for and keep chickens producing yummy, nutritious eggs. These pictures are of us building a chicken coop for the local chicken man. It was more of a team building exercise than anything, but hopefully the hens will get to use it a bit. Outside of the gallos (roosters/cocks) that have good fighting potential, most chickens here roam free.

Cock fighting is extremely popular in the DR. Cocks that have good fighting potential are often the only ones kept in coops and are just let out for training. Cocks fight naturally. There can only be one rooster in a a little herd of chickens (I realize I am not using the correct chicken word here) or they will fight till one dies or is seriously injured. Above is a picture of two cocks from different houses. They put them down and they just went after one another.

Last weekend we were able to make up the volunteer visit that the rains and hurricanes canceled the week before last. Another volunteer and I went to Nizoa, about an hour and a half from where I am currently located. As much as I have enjoyed my Doña´s cooking, it was really nice to give my tummy a break from Dominican food. It was also helpful to see how a volunteer lives and know that at somepoint I will be able to chose and prepare my own food and create my own little home.

Last week in training we were learning about the community diagnostic. The first three months of service are devoted to conducting a community diagnostic. This entails going house to house, drinking lots of coffee, sitting on porches, and compartiendo with your vecinos in order to gather information (a baseline) of your community through informal interviews. Also this week for my Spanish classes I did a little mini investigation of home remedies. Some were somewhat boring (teas, aloe vera, etc), but there were plenty that did not fail to disappoint and proved to be quite......creative! It was a fun project. This week were are going through the nutrition curriculum and learning how to start community gardens and build chiken coops.

A few of my favorites or highlights from the week.........

Realizing that when my Doña says the milk is leche de la vaca, that she doesn´t just mean it is cow´s milk, but that it is milk straight from the cow next door! It´s actually not too bad.

Going for a walk and having little kids accompany me along the way. Returning to my house drenched from the rain storm that caught me and my Doña reprimanding me for forgetting my umbrella. Then eating warm arapa with fresh cow´s milk with the rain still beating on the roof.

Going running at 6 am before the bachata gets going and there is quiet in the campo.

Pausing on my runs and walks to climb up to the sanctuario (Pictured in the last entry) to get a good eyeful of the sunrise over the mountains.

Sitting with my host family and them getting a thrill out of teaching me to talk like a Dominicana.

Helping the kids in my house with their homework and seeing their eagerness to learn.

All the lechosa (papaya) that my Doña gives me!

The joy of getting to the internet.

Dancing on the porch to the bachata and merengue that is faithfully playing from the colmados with the kids


Sorry for the lack of fotos. I forgot to save them to my disk at home. Next time!

There is a little sanctuary in our little pueblo. It took roughly 20 years to build and is all of stone. It sits on top of a little hill and has a beautiful view of the mountains and ocean. The little sanctuary in itself is pretty remarkable particularly considering it is in the middle of no where.

Beach trip last Sunday

El Campo

am really enjoying the campo. Thus far it has been such a breath of fresh air.My family here is more than wonderful with me and the living conditions are higher than I expected. I have a toilet that flushes and sometimes a shower that flows!

My Dona has 2 adult daughters who live in little and unfinished houses behind hers. Between the two of them there are 3 kids, who for one reason or another seem to love me. It’s nice to be loved. I constantly hear “kati, Kati”. Though its nice to be loved, I sometimes wish it came with a bit more personal time.

The water situation is much different here, for whatever reason. I am not sure if it is the time of year or if we are just here at a good time and were in SD at a bad time, but unlike Santo Domingo, we have water every day. It seems to be abundant and its amazing what a difference it makes in all areas of life. Every thing from taking as many baths as you want, flushing the toilet, cooking, and drinking water

Our group has lost three people. We have gone from 11 to 8 volunteers. Each left for different reasons. The eight ofus are in good spirits though. We are all encouraged by the warmth and beauty of the campo. Our little visit to the beach on Sunday was also uplifting!

September 9, 2008

This has been my Spanish class for these first three weeks. Los Tigures! Once we leave for Community Based Training (CBT), we are just with our technical groups so our Spanish groups change.

Last night when I arrived home my family was setting up for a birthday party for my Dona’s (we call our host moms “Dona”) four year old granddaughter. There were so many kids and so much noise! Wowzers!

So our volunteer visit has been cancelled. We all showed up packed and ready to go visit a volunteer in the field only to find out that it has been canceled. Many of the sites are inaccessible due to flooding. It has been raining ALOT. At night the thunder is unlike any I have ever heard. It honestly sounds Jurassic Park or thunder that one would expect for the end of the world. Kind of cool! So, we are all just sort of hanging out here at the training center. Today and tomorrow we will just be doing a good bit of hanging out. Hopefully we will leave for CBT on Thursday.

September 4,2008

These are the other volunteers that live with either a sister or daugther of my Dona. I guess we are sort of cousins by adoption. The rocking chairs here are incredible!

Me with a few of the family members.

From what the Peace Corps staff has told us, this is an unusual hurricane season for the DR. Not that there are necessarily more hurricanes than usual, but that it is rare to have so many hurricanes heading for the DR so close together. Though often very wet, I have been safe and sound. Hopefully Ike will veer away from Hispanola all together.

We were planning to visit a volunteer in the field this weekend, but it was cancelled due to all of the storms. Such a bummer! We have really been looking forward to getting out of the city and seeing a good tangible picture of what we may be doing. Hopefully, we will be able to do it next week. I believe our Spanish teacher felt bad for us, because we were able to convince him to take us to the store to buy groceries for rice crispy treats. And guess who was nominated to be the principle chef ……ME! I love to bake, but my experience isn’t too extensive and I loved that I was entrusted with this very important task. All came out well.

I definitely came in to the DR ignorant of the water and electricity situation. The electricity goes out daily and usually multiple times a day. In lower middle class barrios like the one I am living in, water would normally run once every 3 to 5 days. However, for some reason there have been more difficulties lately. My house did not receive water for nine days last week. The people have learned to adapt to this and on the days that water comes lots of buckets and barrels are filled. They also use barrels to catch the rain water, which we have had plenty of lately. While I such expected conditions in rural areas, I did not expect things to be so in the capital city. There are plenty of theories of why it is so bad and I would imagine that there is truth in each of them. The infrastructure is unable to keep up with the rapid growth in Santo Domingo, only about 35% of people actually pay for electricity or water, companies that sell generators would lose a lot of money if things worked as they should, and political neglect are among the top theories.

I really appreciate your emails and updates! Until next time!