Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving, and what better time of year than now to reflect on what I am thankful for.  Here’s a list of 10 things I am grateful for this season:

1. My family in the United States.

2. My family here in the Dominican Republic.

3. This opportunity to live and study in another country.

4. My health (knock on wood).

5. ISA- a great, supportive program.

6. The AMAZING Thanksgiving lunch we had today.

7. My computer, the Internet and my camera.

8. Spanish/English dictionaries. 

9. Cool nights (as opposed to scorching days).

10. Fresh sheets, like mine that just got changed this morning.

So that’s what comes to mind right now.  There’s more, believe it, but these are at the forefront.  Have a great weekend everyone!  

The weekend...

It was a busy weekend here.  Friday morning a group of us visited an art fair to buy gifts and see some cool crafts.  As I was heading out the door, Alba, my host mom, told me to ask for Lourdes at the fair.  "She's my goddaughter and she'll give you a good price."  So with that in mind I headed out to meet friends at the Shell station up the road.

The best picture I could find... this is the type of van used,
driving down the highway with the door open.

We planned to take a guagua (guagua means bus, but in this case they're more like vans) to this art fair.  It's about 15 minutes of out town and none of us were sure if the conchos (Toyota Corollas used as public transit) went that far.  So we wandered up the road/highway until one came by.  Usually they cruse by every 3 minutes but for some reason on Friday we had to wait.  It didn't help that there were 8 of us and the two we did see were already full.

Finally one pulls up next to us and a guy jumps out the side to help us in/take our fare.  I figured since it was already half full maybe a few would fit and the other half could take the next guagua.  Nope- he assured us we would all fit and of course, after some shuffling, we did.  I think I counted 16 people in a 9-10 passenger van.  It was actually more comfortable than a concho where my hips are usually smashed  between the door and a bulky 60 year old woman.

We got to the art fair, made our selections and headed up to the counter to pay.  There were three women behind the counter and when my turn came, I asked the one ringing up my stuff if she knew Lourdes.  She smiled and pointed to the woman next to her.  So I asked that woman if she knew Doña Alba who lives in Santiago and she was like, "Yeah!  She's my godmother."  And then she not only gave me a discount, she gave everyone in the group a discount.  She even called back one person who had already paid and gave her a refund.  So nice!

Memorial for the sisters and one of their husbands.

On Saturday we finally got to visit the Hermanas Mirabal museum.  We were supposed to go a few weeks ago but the trip got canceled because of rain.  The museum is in the house the sisters lived in their last 10 months and has everything from the clothes they wore and pots in the kitchen, to the hand bags and books they had with them when they were killed.  (For further info on these women I wrote a post a few weeks ago...)

And Sunday I went to another Aguilas game.  This one was with my program so there was a big section of gringos in the crowd.  The stadium was almost full, actually, which was really cool because everyone got really into the spirit of the game and was yelling and cheering and jumping up to look if something exciting was happening.  And we WON!  The whole thing was fun to watch because los Tigres were ahead in the first couple inning but then we took a 5-4 lead and held on to it the rest of the game.  But being that close kept the tension high.  And at one point a runner coming into home completely crashed into our catcher trying to score a run.  But our guy held onto the ball.

This week is busy too: final essay due this afternoon for a class, Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow and final project due for another class, service project on Friday and who knows about the weekend...

Take me out to the ball game

Last night I got my first taste of Dominican baseball.  Las Aguilas (the Eagles) are the team from Santiago, and from what I understand, they are doing terribly this season.  There are 6 national teams here, all with their own stadiums and loyal fan base. 

The ticket prices range from about 50 – 700 pesos (US$1.50-20), the 50 peso seats being bleachers in the outfield and 700 getting you behind the plate.  We went with the intention of sitting as cheaply as possible but ended up paying RD$400.  The woman at the ticket booth told us that or higher was all that was left.  LIES!  The stadium was less than half full.  Oh, well, they did end up being really good seats between home and first. 

A word on the crowd: LOUD.  Remember those vuvuzelas they sold at the World Cup.  Yep, they have them here too.  Oh, and snacks are great.  Pretty much anything you can think of gets carried around: popcorn (in the microwave popcorn bags- which, when you think about it is probably way easier than boxes), pizza, empanadas, peanuts and fruit.  Wait- fruit?  Yep, a guy walked up and down the isles selling apples, grapes, bananas and raisins.  Gotta love it!

As far as refreshments went, there were 3 women assigned to every section.  There were 3 small bins holding ice and beer, and stacked to the side were bottles of pop.  If you wanted something, you just flagged them down.  These women also danced the Macarena a couple times during the game.  A friend and I agreed the dancing would be a deal breaker for this job.  No way could you get me to do that in front of thousands of people- most of them leering men. 

Security, like in most places in this country, was everywhere.  I mean seriously everywhere.  And not only did you have people in black clothes, utility belt on and ‘Seguridad’ printed on their backs- there were several dozen people in army fatigues.  And I’m pretty sure they weren’t there as spectators.  And let’s just say the guns on their hips were not used to stun.  Does it make us feel safer?  Well, kinda yes, kinda no.  Mostly I think everyone just wishes it wasn’t necessary. 

The game itself was fun to watch.  The last game I went to was at the new Twins stadium, so it was fun to see a game played outdoors with a little less pomp.  When we left in the top of the ninth, Las Aguilas were ahead 3-1.  Yeah!  

Samana

This past weekend was spent in Samana on the northeastern peninsula of this lovely little island.  After getting up at 5:30 AM to be on the road by 6:15, munching on pineapple and a pb&j on the bus, and trying to snooze, we finally arrived.

First stop was an old neighborhood, settled over 150 years ago by former US slaves.  That's right, freed slaves from the US were promised land if they'd be willing to move to the DR.  We got to speak with Doña Leticia, a descendent of these settlers.  According to her, about 30 families moved to this part of the island, most of them part of an African Protestant denomination.  She spoke almost perfect English which she said was her first language.  It was all pretty interesting and at the end we got to snack on Jonny&Kate cakes and coconut biscuits so a success all around.

Image compliments of the Los Haitises website.

Next stop was Los Haitises National Park.  We took an hour boat ride off the southern end of the peninsula and ended up amid these amazing tree covered islands.  Our guide explained that the islands had been formed hundreds of thousands of years ago by coral that eventually was compacted together, and then through earthquakes got pushed up out of the ocean.  We were divided into two groups, one to go kayaking through mangroves and the other to explore a giant cave.

  

The kayaking was so cool!  There were little crabs everywhere, (which at first kind of freaked me out because I thought they were spiders) and giants trees with tangled roots.  Our guide had us all be quiet for a minute so we could just listen to the bird calls and ocean sounds.  

The cave was pretty impressive too.  There were stalactites and stalagmites, giant mangrove roots reaching down 30+ feet to find more soil and rock paintings/carvings done by the Tainos.  The cave was named San Gabriel by fishermen after the conquest because one of the stalagmites looks like the figure of a saint.

That night we went to a hotel on the other side of the peninsula.  After a yummy buffet supper, I went to my room and discovered I could see the ocean from just outside the door.  Awesome!  The next morning we explored and the beach.  It was one of the most impressive so far.  I've been to beaches on all sides of the island, and while this one would probably be the worst for swimming, it was also the best for wave watching.  There were tons of rocks under the water that the waves break on at various times on their ride into shore.  And the sound!  The waves are so loud, it was hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that this sound is never turned off.  Day and night, always these waves are coming in.

The return journey

This weekend we took our last overnight excursion to Samana, a peninsula on the northeastern coast.  The trip itself will get its own post, but the ride back was note worthy enough to be a story in itself. 

We left Samana about 2pm.  The peninsula its on is very mountainous and the roads are potholed at best, dirt roads with deep ruts at worst.  And STEEP!  So we’re driving up a very steep, very curvy, bumpy road in a stick shift bus.  And of course I had a cup of coffee at lunch right before we left so I really had to go to the bathroom. 

A view from the top.

Well we finally reached the summit and some of us got out to see the view.  By now I really, really had to go to the bathroom, but we were on the top of this mountain with nothing but the bushes.  Luckily one of the other women had to too, so out came the beach towel and we hiked up the road a ways.  Now I consider myself a pretty experienced bathroom-in-the-woods user, but here’s some advice: it’s better to have 2 people holding the towel (so you don’t have to choose between people coming up the road seeing you or people on your bus seeing you) and have your TP ready first (less juggling of your camera and TP role later on).  We were eventually joined by a third woman, and then headed back to the bus.

By this time I was feeling 100% better about the road trip in front of us.  And the ride down the mountain was smoother because we just needed to use the brakes, not surge-and-stop up.  Well we got about half a mile down the road when, uh-oh, we realized amid all the juggling during out restroom escapade, one woman had left her camera hanging on a fence post.  So we pulled over (this time with the view on the other side of the peninsula) and she and Jonathan, one of the ISA leaders, started running back up the road.  Have I mentioned that it was STEEP!  It was so funny watching them jog more and more slowly the further they got until they passed a bend in the road. 

It doesn't really do it justice but
this is the steep mountain road. 

A few minutes later, a motorcycle comes roaring down and off hops the woman with her camera.  Some very nice guy gave her a ride.  No such luck for Jonathan, he had to run back to applause and high-fives.  Honestly, we were so lucky we realized the camera was missing only half a mile down the road and not when we were back in the city.  It worked out nicely.

So back on the bus and smooth sailing almost the whole rest of the trip.  But then, about 10 miles outside Santiago, our tire blew out.  We’d all been feeling a funny pull from the side of the bus for a few miles, but POP, there it went.  Conveniently we were about 20 feet from a roadside colmado (they’re corner stores with snacks. Every neighborhood has one) so we all had the opportunity to buy something to munch on.  Bring on the chocolate cookies!

The tire got changed way faster than I expected and off we drove.  Probably the most amazing thing about all this is that we got back to the city earlier than expected.  We must have been in some sort of time warp because that almost never happens here.  I give lots of props to Wilson, our amazing bus driver who did an incredible job getting us home and keeping us safe!

'Tis the season

I'm always a little disappointed in the US about how short the Christmas season is.  Lucky for me, in the DR it starts a whole lot sooner.  Without the constraints of Thanksgiving, or even really Halloween, the preparations have hit the ground running.  Christmas lights have gone up in several balconies in my neighborhood.  Santa Claus door hangers and nativity images can be seen walking up the stairs.  Restaurants have artificial trees, fully decorated with lights, tinsel and ornaments by the door when you walk in.  

And the house cleaning has begun too.  My host mom has broken the house into sections and tackles one at a time.  First it was the floor- deep scrubbing the tile.  Next washing the curtains.  Our living room furniture is currently being reupholstered and the walls have been painted.  Our kitchen has been sterilized and now it is on to the bed rooms.  She even mentioned maybe rearranging my furniture, so I guess we'll see.

She explained this cleaning kick to me earlier this week.  Christmas is a time for renewal- emphasis on the new.  It's less about the presents on the actual day and more about family, so everyone makes sure their house is in tip-top shape for when the relatives arrive.  If nothing else it's one time a year where you know your whole house will get clean, clean, clean.

Also, these pictures where taken on October 29th.  Just saying.

Movie Review

Someone from back home recently pointed out to me that I haven’t talked much (read- at all) about my classes here.  So I thought: where better to start than the movies?

I’ve watched a LOT of movies since coming here.  I am taking a Cine y Sociedad (film and society of Latin America) class that is basically all movies with brief discussions before and after about their reflection on the culture they came from.  I am also taking Afro-Caribbean Culture and we’ve watched our fair share of films in that class as well.  So, with that in mind, here’s my review:

La Ley de Herodes (Herod’s Law): This is also a Mexican film, a dark comedy centering on the corruption of politics (a worthy mention considering the resent election in the US).   Following the rise to power of an idiot with good intentions, there is one very clear message: power corrupts.  Ridiculous and at times exasperating, this one is good for a laugh and to feel a little bit better about our own political situation.  8 Bells

Como Agua para Chocolate (Like Water from Chocolate): The story centers around a dysfunctional Mexican family of women.  The book it’s based off of (by Laura Esquivel) is written in a style called magical realism, meaning strange things happen but there aren’t seen as so strange.  The acting is fabulous and the plot unbelievable- but that’s why you want to keep watching, to see how it ends.  (And since all rating systems are arbitrary) I give it 10 Bells (out of 12, of course).

La Historia Oficial (The Official Story): An Argentinean film about one aspect of the after math of the Guerra suicia (the Dirty War in which tens of thousands of Argentines disappeared under the dictatorship of Juan Domingo Perón).  Many of the women who were taken to secret prisons and never seen again had been pregnant when arrested.  What happened to their children?  The story follows the political awakening of a high school history teacher who slowly learns that the winners write the facts.  She is put in an even more difficult position as the wife of a powerful businessman and as the adoptive mother of a five year old.  I highly recommend this film.  11 Bells

Estación Central (Central Station): A Brazil film about a bitter old woman and a spunky boy.  The two clearly consider themselves self sufficient while considering the other to be incapable of making it down to the street corner and back.  Beginning in the central train station in Rio de Janeiro, the two embark on a journey in search of family.  There are lots of moments when you just want so badly for everything to work out just right for the two, but they hit several roadblocks before the closing credits.  The characters grown on you throughout the film and the story is renewing in the end.  9 Bells