La Romana and other news

So I've been a slacker blogger of late.  Here's a general update about a lot of things:

Last weekend we took a group trip to La Romana, a beautiful spot on the south east side of the island.  The drive took about 5 hours, literally cross-country, but I love looking at the country side here.  Half was spent going through the lush mountains, half traveling along the coast, getting to see the incredible Caribbean.

On Friday we visited the 'Caves of Wonder' which are these natural underground caves that contain drawings left from the Taina (the indigenous people who lived on the island before Columbus depopulated it).  Basically this means the drawings are well over 500 years old.  There was also tons of stalagmites and stalactites which, our guild explained, grew about 1 centimeter every century.

Next stop was a village that had been built only about 30 years ago, but was meant to look like an Italian town of old.  There was an amphitheater, a fountain, several gift shops and an amazing view.  The village is built on a bluff over looking a river that feeds into the sea.

The next morning is was off to the beach.  We took a boat to another, bigger boat and sailed about two hours to and island off the southern coast.  I cannot emphasis enough the spectacular beauty of the water, the palm trees and the sand.  Wow!  We swam, we ate, we lounged in the sun.  (The sun part, in retrospect, was a terrible idea as I and many others got horrible sun burns.  I need to just except I am not a person who has the ability to lay in the sun for hours on end.  A week later I still have red spots on my feet.)

This size pot makes six cups.

In other news, I love Dominican coffee!  My host mom makes me a cup every morning and this is quite a jump start to my day.  A cup is really more like a shot, it's less than half a normal mug, but whenever she adds the sugar for me I'm pretty sure she adds about a tablespoon.  Bitter-SWEET!

Today is a national holiday here, Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes.  Catholicism is the national religion of the Dominican Republic so many of the holidays are related to the Church.  Most people are off of work and there is no school, which is great, but doesn't actually affect the international students very much because we don't have class on Fridays anyway.  But as I was walking home from the university yesterday everyone one I passed looked really happy so that counts for something.

Concho City

The easiest, and cheapest, mode of transportation in Santiago is the conchos. Conchos are Toyota Corolla’s with stickers in their window marking them as public transportation.  The stickers are of different letters signify the different routs and different areas you may go.  For instance, PA will take you to the airport, while U and K will take you to the Calle de Sol (the big downtown shopping district.) 

One of the greatest things about conchos is you never have to wait long for one.  All you need to do is stand out on the curb and in less than 90 seconds a concho with the letter you want will pull up beside you and you can hop right in.  You don’t even need to be on a corner- if you want a ride, they want your business and will stop wherever you are.  Also, they cost RD$15 which is the equivalent to about US$.50. 

The drawback- Toyota Corolla’s are built for 5 people (everyone here uses stick) but the acknowledged holding capacity of a concho is 7.  This means there are 4 people in the back and 2 in the passengers seat.  I friend and I went exploring today and here’s a bit of what a concho ride is like:

We waited on the curb for longer than we needed to because we were hoping to get a concho that wasn’t quite so full.  Many passed us that had only 5 people in them- plenty of room for 2 more, but we declined.  After about 5 minutes though we caved.  Had we wanted a ‘K’ there would have been no problem, but we needed a ‘M’ and that seemed to be the popular letter this afternoon. 

The one we finally got into did have 5 people in it and these were not your average Dominicans.  No.  These were 5 of the biggest Dominicans I have seen since coming here.  She took the front and I took the back and imagine me and my three brothers cramming ourselves into a compact because that’s how big these guys were.  All of them were over six feet and none weighted less than 180.  But here’s another thing about conchos- everyone’s good-natured.  So I climbed in and the driver patiently waited for me to jam my door closed which took a few tries because my hip kept getting in the way.  Like I said, we were all really big and there wasn’t a whole lot of room.  I got there eventually and off we went. 

As I said before and will most certainly say again- the DR is hot!  So here we are, 7 people in a little car all crammed together.  The one saving grace is that the windows are always all the way down and so when you’re moving, there’s a nice cool breeze. 

Zoom, zoom through the city until you get where your going, then all you do is tap the drive on the shoulder and motion to the side of the road.  One quick swerve later and you are back on the sidewalk.  No problemo.  

Let's play guess that fruit!

The fruit here is incredible, delicious and I can’t get enough.  I found out this past weekend that we get lots of our food from the weekend house/small farm my host uncle owns.  So I guess I know it's local and organic.  What we don't get from there we buy at the Supermercado Nacional.  My host mom was showing me a bunch of fruit she had bought at the store and I’ll admit I had a hard time identifying some of them.     

It is avocado season here so I’ve eating avocado during at least one meal every day.  Yum!  But the avocado’s here are not like the ones at home- they’re ten times better!  The ones we buy in the US are about the size of your fist, bumpy to touch and brown.  Here, they are like softball size bowling pins, smooth and green.  (Everything here is green).  They are delicious in a salad, spread on bread, in guacamole or, my favorite, eating plain. 

The other fruits I am a little less familiar with as I don’t eat them off my plate.  My host mom makes the BEST homemade fruit juices ever.  Seriously.  But the little green balls (they sort of remind me of pears) are guava and the big ‘ol orange and green fruit is papaya.

The Sculpting Saga

All I wanted to do was visit a sculpting class to see if I liked it and wanted to add it to my schedule.  A simple plan.  But the best laid plans…

            

I was told, originally, to go to the student center, third floor.  If it wasn’t immediately obvious where my class was upon reaching this point, I should ask someone who would hopefully know.  So I set out.  I arrived about ten minutes early, in my American mind not excessively early (this would give me time to find the room and hopefully intercept the Prof before all the students arrived) but of course I am in the DR.  The only students who arrive early to any of my classes are other people from the US.  So basically the third floor was deserted.  And honestly there isn’t much up there.  A big room with lots of ping-pong tables, a few closed doors and a hallway full of old gym mats stacked haphazardly.  I poked my nose around a little to try and find something or someone and oops- turned a corner and there was a couple, taking a nap on one of the mats.  I backed away slowly, not wanting to wake them up and have this be awkward for everyone.  (I will add that in the back of my mind I have filed that napping spot away.  It’s quiet and out of the way and heck, there are mats to sleep on!) 

So to the second floor I ventured, to the office for foreign students and asked in there.  These are some of the same students who taught us to dance a couple weeks ago, and they’ve been going to school here for a lot longer.  But alas, they had no idea where my sculpture class might be.  Honestly I think they were surprised the school offered it.  “Go to the Dean’s office across the hall,” they advised me.

And that’s where I went.  But the office was closed for lunch break and I had to wait.  But I wasn’t alone for long.  Shortly after I sat down a Haitian guy came up and looked considerable bummed to see the office closed too.  So I asked him what he was waiting for (shuffling classes around) and he asked me what time my class was supposed to start.  Two.  “Don’t you think you’re kind of early?” he asked good-naturedly.  By this time there’s only about three minutes to class and I still had no idea where it was or if I was even in the right building.  Early?  I think not.

A few minutes later he had to leave and I thought I’d try my luck up on the third floor one more time.  Hey, maybe students have arrives and doors will be thrown open to reveal giant marble blocks with saints and heroes beginning to emerge.  In my dreams.  But this time the guy who was napping was awake and we made eye contact so I thought I’d ask him.  He didn’t know where the room might be either, but suggested I go ask in the office of fine arts- back on the second floor. 

Okay people, come on! 

So back down the stairs, down the hall, past the bookstore (per his directions) and into the office of fine arts.  Whew!  Might they know where my class was?  Yes!  But it’s across campus to a part I’ve never been in before.  After having the woman explain the directions to me about 4 times, I felt confident enough to set out. 

This is, by the way, about the hottest part of the day here.  So it was about 90 degrees and humid and by the time I get to the building (after having taken a wrong turn and had to bush whack through a stand of trees and only twenty five minutes late) I am super sweaty.  But I made it, alleluia, so the rest doesn’t matter. 

The Professor seems nice and inviting, he put me right to work sanding the paint off a block of wood, and the majority of the students are Dominican, which is a pleasant change from the rest of my classes.  Our (first?) project for the semester: making a lamp!

La iglesia de la altagracia

My host mom and I went to church this morning.  We caught a concho (aka Toyota Corola for seven public transit system) heading west into the center city.  Thankfully there was only one other passenger so we had the backseat to ourselves (less squishing = less wrinkles in my skirt.)  Bumpity, bump, bump we go, ducking and weaving through the streets until we get to an intersection, hop out and off speeds our ride.  The two of us walk the half block to the church entrance: La Iglesia de la Altagracia.  Before we enter though, everyone must pass through the gauntlet of homeless beggars.  Many have very visible physical deformities.  But, like the other churchgoers around us, we push passed and on into the building.  There is so much need here.  The only redeeming act is to put money in the maroon collection baskets as they float by, thus averting the guilt and hopefully helping those in who can use it. 

The church itself is big: high ceilings, three isles separating four generous rows of pews and (unlike the church I visited two weeks ago) padded kneelers.  Score!

Even though I’ve gone to Catholic Mass almost every Sunday for my whole life, and even though I am able to follow the prayers and readings a little more closely this week, I still get all my cues from my host mom.  Always one beat behind her, I stand when she stands, sit when she sits and make a mad dash to stay behind her when it’s time for communion. 

           

Note: Taking communion here is not the same as in the US.  Lines do still form, but instead of the orderly, single file, front to back system, everyone just gets up as they feel called.  This means that someone sitting in the middle could be one of the first people in line, while someone in the second row could be in the middle.  My host mom is one of the sit-in-the-middle-get-there-quick types.  Thus, the dash up the isle. 

           

When it was all said and done, we headed out the back to catch a guagua that would take us to her brother’s weekend home outside the city.  It was raining, which has been happening quite a lot here lately.  I hear it may have something to do with this hurricane Earl, but I’ll admit I’ve been pretty checked out of world news since coming.  Plus, we’re pretty far form the coast.  The worst we’ll get is rain.  

Things I see at night

            When I first got here, I fell into bed about 5pm, got up once to brush my teeth, and didn’t move again until 8 the next morning.  And this, my friends, is no exaggeration.   So, it is no surprise that that first night I didn’t notice all the little glow in the dark stars sticky tacked onto my ceiling.  There are about three-dozen, of varying sizes and ranging in color from neon yellow to pink. 

            It’s funny because even though they make me feel like a kid again, it’s comforting to see them glowing away as I fall asleep.  When I turn out my bedside lamp, the ones directly above shed more light than those in the far corner of my room.  I wonder if it counts to wish upon a star that is stuck to your ceiling?  Maybe I’ll save them for emergencies. 

            There is a fish tank in our living room that I use as a nightlight (I’m sensing a theme here) when everyone else is asleep and I need to move about.  There are three kinds of fish and usually they just slowly swim around their little environment, not to concerned with anything.  But this morning as I was eating breakfast, I looked over and this little goldfish, about the size of my thumb, was doing back flips.  He’d wiggled back and forth, then one, two three, around and around he’d go.  At first I thought he was just amusing himself (and me) but then he started to just float, barely moving his fins.  I thought: maybe this is some sort of fish seizure and he is about to die.  But two seconds later he was doing back flips again, and because he was still up to these shenanigans at lunch, I think it’s just his way to play.  

Santo Domingo

The drive to Santo Domingo is beautiful.  There is every bit as much color as the drive north to Puerto Plata, but just more of it.  The freeway we took was a major one, connecting the two largest cities in the country, and well maintained.  Although there wasn’t paint marking the lanes, there was very little trash on the sides of the road and the ditches were clear.  The drains for rainwater are different here.  Instead of being underground, they are visible on the sides of the roads, being rock lined ditches water flows into.  When it rains, little rivers and creeks follow you as you drive.

Santo Domingo is divided into three parts: the Colonial, the New and the Modern.  Our hotel was in the Colonial section, where emphasis has been placed on preserving the historical architecture.  We took a walking tour and saw the second church (and the oldest still standing) build in the western world.  A little further down is the oldest Cathedral and past that is the castle Diego Colon, the son of Cristobel Colon, live in. 

And what an amazing castle is was!  Most of the original furniture is still there and the detail is incredible.  In one room, the ceiling beams had been stenciled with all these little flowers and swirls and designs.  Very cool.  There was the original kitchen and bed rooms- of which there were two, one for Diego and one for his wife.  Our guild joked that he didn’t know how they had had 7 children if they slept in different rooms. 

Los Tres Ojos National Park.  The first of three lakes.

We also visited a National Park called ‘Los Tres Ojos.’  The three eyes are three underground lakes and legend says that if you touch the water, you’re going to have twins.  Of course, we didn’t find this out until most of us had dipped our hands in, so I guess there’s going to be a lot of babies in our futures.  The water was this deep aqua blue with little turtles swimming around in it. 

On the second day of our trip we visited a zoo.  We all got onto this bus/train car to take a quick tour of the entire site, them they let of off to further explore.  The engine quit out on us once and the guild was speaking in rapid fire Spanish- “this animal is a vegetarian and this animal is found in South America” – that by the time we stopped it was nice to walk around and take pictures.  The big cats were my favorite, then the alligators.