my site ... never in my wildest dreams!

At long last, I have received my site assignment, met my project partners, and have spent 5 days visiting where I will live for the next year. I am so excited, as the site is much more than I could have dreamt of!

I will be living, playing, and working with the people of Veron, a community 10 minutes outside of Punta Cana on the eastern coast of the country. The town of Veron sprung up quickly in the early 70’s, when the first resort was built in Punta Cana. Since that time, it has grown as more people have flocked to the area in search of work in the resorts, which now number over 50.

The second largest reef in the DR runs along this eastern coast. From the beach, I can see the waves breaking on the reef, as it is so close to shore. One of my project partners will be Reef Check www.reefcheck.org, an international organization dedicated to preserving coral reefs. I will strategize with them on community education projects and will be trained in reef monitoring, thus opening up diving opportunities to me!

In the past few days I have seen postcard-quality beaches of spotless white sand, hundreds of palms, and the unforgettable turquoise of the Caribbean. I’ve been inside amazing resorts and spas, seen the houses of Punta Cana, which include the residences of Oscar de la Renta, Julio Iglesias, and Shakira, and I ate some amazing grilled shrimp.

I also toured a lot of barrios in the area where one can see the worst of what tourism can do to area. Human trafficking, including that of children, is prevalent. The aforementioned of course, means a much higher rate of HIV/ AIDS than other parts of the country. Housing can be expensive, and many families live in one-room apartments without a bathroom. One barrio I visited has no trash service, no sewage, and no school. The people that live there are waiters, waitresses, and maids in the resorts. In this one particular area in Bavaro, outside of Punta Cana, the only school of two rooms is staffed by two women who voluntarily teach the children, 5 days a week. While touring this area we learned that there is currently an outbreak of dengue fever in the barrio.

Another project partner of mine will be the Punta Cana Foundation (www.puntacana.org). You can read the website to learn about the history of the Foundation and all of their ecological work in the area. What you will not read much about is their work in the community. The Punta Cana Foundation is committed to improving the quality of life of the people of Veron. They have facilitated the building of a Politecnico, or high school, have greatly improved the quality of the community clinic, including keeping it well staffed and supplied, and have built a sports facility in Veron. The Foundation aided a group of local community leaders in forming the Asociasion Pro-Desarrollo Sostenible (Association for Sustainable Development).

This Asociasion consists of a dedicated and amazingly passionate group of community leaders who care about their community—both its people and the environment. The Punta Cana Foundation wants to work with them to continue community development, leadership building, and community education about environmental and health issues. Hence, that’s where I come in. My role is to be a link between the two groups and to help implement projects in the coming two years. I will also most likely work to form a youth group of kids who want to protect and learn about the environment. I don’t think the next two years will be boring, as these folks have great ideas, tons of motivation, and a willingness to work.

So much of what I love about my site so far is the people. My project partners that came to welcome me in Santo Domingo are dynamic, fun and creative. This past week I spent with them was wonderful. I learned so much from them and heard their ideas on how to improve their community, I laughed really hard, and played a few great games of dominoes. They threw me a welcome party on Saturday night that included BBQ steak and chicken, yucca, and lots of bachata music. One of the group members painted me the most beautiful beach scene as a welcome gift. I couldn’t believe it!

Another fun note is this: my new host family used to live in Tampa and still has a few kids there! We joked that it’s just a kid swap—my folks can watch out for their daughters, and they’re my family here. Best of all, they share in my love for a tiny cafeteria called Ideal and think that Café Bustelo is great coffee.

Stay tuned, my life as a PCV is about to begin...

cigars

One of the coolest things I’ve done so far in this country is this:
My host sister Nuna in Los Cocos (near Santiago) obtained permission from the cigar factory in which she works for me to visit one afternoon. The factory is located in a Zona Franca.
(explanation of Zona Franca: a tax-free zone set up my the Dominican government. Both foreign and local companies may buy or rent space to set up factories. They can import materials at no additional cost, and then export it back out without paying taxes. Thus a Zona Franca creates a lot of jobs in an area, and provides businesses with relatively low-cost labor to make such things as cigars, purses, and dresses.)
I arrived around 2, and Nuna hadn’t yet completed her daily quota of 500, so I spent my time chatting with her while she worked and exploring the factory. Lucky for me, this culture tends to be VERY outgoing and loves to share. A supervisor told me that I could and should learn everything about cigar making and could explore any part of the factory I wanted. Therefore, I had no problem making friends. People showed me how they do their jobs and chatted with me about their life and why I was visiting. I told many of them that my interest in cigars was born in Tampa, and is due to the fact that my grandmother and many other family members once made a living rolling cigars in Ybor City. They loved that and wanted to teach me, but warned that it takes a really long time to learn, as cigar rolling is difficult.
I have time, I told them. So began my training. I started by learning to tear the center stem out of leaves without tearing the dried leaf, and then being sure to organize the leaves by size and in the proper direction.
Another man showed me the “really hard to roll” cigar that he makes. It’s called a Hemingway. “Do you know who Hemingway is?” he asked. No one in the factory knew. I taught him and those in his area who the man was that their work is named for.
A friend of Nuna’s first showed me how to roll the outside part of the cigar. With much trial and error, tobacco-stained hands, and a few torn leaves, I started to get the hang of it. It’s hard as the leaf is delicate and a natural resin is used to secure it in places. One wants this final wrapper to look perfect, but with his help, I wrapped the final part of several Don Antonio cigars that passed the quality control check!
Later on I learned to use a mechanism to tightly roll the inside part of the cigar. With the particular cigar that I was working on, four different types of tobacco are placed together to make up the cigar. After this part, the cigar is placed into a holding container that then presses the tobacco together for at least four hours, being sure to compress the cigar properly. From there, the outer tobacco leaf is rolled on.
Thus, most people work in teams. One person makes the inner part, one the outer. Daily cigar quotas for workers range from 400-500, depending on the difficulty of the cigar. The people working in the factory shared a few cigars with me, including one Hemingway, one that Nuna was working on, and I was able to keep one of the Don Antonio’s that I made. “Smoke them,” they told me, but I don’t actually like to smoke cigars, I just think they’re interesting. I’m saving my three for my brother.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/colleengatliff/CigarFactory

in lieu of jelly beans, an easter bunny and baby chicks

Here, Easter festivities take place for the whole week. It´s called Semana Santa. Kids have off school, all my host sisters workplaces closed, and we had a break from training beginning on Thursday, which is where my tale of Semana Santa shall begin.
In the afternoon, a few hours after lunch, I was served a very special treat. It´s a treat that I had heard a lot about, as it is always made during Semana Santa. Like women in the midwest with their pumpkin pies, the donas here have competitions as to who can make the best ... and recipes are kept secret. So what is this amazing treat? Habichuelas con dulce .. translation¨is SWEET BEANS. It is made with kidney beans, evaporated milk, raisins, coconut, sugar, cinnamon and a root vegetable called batata. Habichuelas con dulce can be served cold or hot and is eaten with a spoon. I must admit that it´s actually quite good. I can get over an Easter without jelly beans.
In the evening my host sister took me to a party where people ate, drank, and danced. It was not unlike other parties I´ve been to here. An interesting cultural note is this--the Taino indians that initially inhabited this island were entirely eliminated by the Spaniards. Hence, Dominicans´roots can be traced to Spain, and due to the Slave Trade, Africa. African roots are not embraced here, but a European Catholicism is. So, without African or Indigenous influence, Semana Santa passes without the large colorful celebrations that so many other Latin American countries have. Instead, we spent Maunday Thursday drinking Prsidente and dancing merengue.
For me, Easter is synonomous with getting an Easter bunny from my mom. I was ok with not having one this year, that is until I was visited by a Dominican subtitute for an Easter Bunny. After Thursday´s party, I was sitting and talking with my sister when a VERY large rat scurried across the rafters above my head. Later as I was preparing for bed, the terrible subsitute for an bunny visited my bedroom!
The rest of the weekend passed quickly. We spent a lot of time just sitting and talking. On Saturday, my sister took me and a few others to the river where people sat, swam, and drank --apparently the most popular tradition! A 10 year old took me to church one day. It lasted about 20 minutes. Later I spent 3 hours playing dominoes.
Sunday, Easter Day, a lot of businesses re-opened and I had my final Dominican substitution for an American Easter. What better replacement for a cute yellow baby chick than a Dominican cock fight?!? A few of us caught a bola, or free ride, up the mountain to meet up with one of our Spanish teachers who took us to the gallera. The ring was packed tight with all men, minus myself and another volunteer. Cigars were smoked, beer drank, and money passed through many hands. Spurs were attached to the cock´s feet and their legs were shaved bare, and then tobacco rubbed on their legs in order to irritate the skin. I made it through one and a half fights, which was maybe 10 minutes. I enjoyed watching and listening to the men as they were so passionate about the fight itself, but couldn´t quite stomach the aggression and gore. Cultural experience!... but not exactly a bright-eyed baby chick, eh?
habichuelas con dulce for jelly beans,
a giant rat for an easter bunny,
a cock fight for baby chicks,
whatever, I love it here!

waterfalls and language learning

At the present moment, most of my days are filled with technical training and Spanish classes. Although necessary and sometimes fun, there´s not much to say about them. I promise that tons of pictures will be posted once I have access to the Peace Corps computers, after swearing in, which is in about 3 weeks. We´re currently counting down to the end of CBT, as in less than 2 weeks we will receive our site assignments, i.e. where we´ll live for the next 2 years! To wrap up training, I am working with another aspirante, or trainee, to host a series of activities with a 5th grade class to celebrate Earth Day. We´ll be painting a large mural of the water cycle, creating masks, playing a game with the masks, and taking an interpretive and clean up hike along the river.
At times, exciting adventures break up the monotony of training. Take Sunday afternoon for example.
Two other aspirantes and I recruited Zoe´s host brother and friend, both 18, to take us to the local waterfall. As we walked, we picked up a few of their other friends and 2 bottles of rum... I brought water for myself, not knowing what I was getting into! The hike took us about 5 hours and included 2 waterfalls, one of which we couldn´t resist swimming in, so swam fully clothed. During the hike we came across a cainito tree, so one of the guys climbed over 20 feet into the tree to throw the fruit down to us. Although it looked like an apple, when we opened it, it appeared more custardy and was white and bright purple. The guys said we could eat it, but kept saying that it would do something to our lips. The only problem was that we didn´t understand the word they were using to describe what would happen to our lips! After much deliberation, we went for it and it was in fact delicious. Later we looked up the word... it just meant sticky! Ah, the joys of language learning. On our way back from the pretty falls, we took a different route to find sugar cane. With large pieces to naw on, we made our way home, cold and tired, but exhilarated by the fun.
On Monday, training consisted of a group excursion to learn more about eco-tourism. We visited 27 charcos http://www.27charcos.com/ to learn about the development of the site. Only in the past few years has it been declared a national park, thanks in part to the work of a PCV. The first part of our day consisted of a meeting with several of the guides and park administrators. They shared of their challenges in running the park and of the 50 to 100 tourists that visit each day, most through foreign-owned tours that charge upwards of USD$70, even though the tour costs less than USD$10. The guides were open and fun to talk to, and as the females in our group noticed---all in their 20´s and incredibly buff. We didn´t question the buffness, just appreciated it. Later, we would learn the reason for it.
We were instructed that for the tour we would wear a bathing suit, shoes, a life jacket and a helmet---a helmet?!?! You can check the website to learn more about 27 charcos, but basically it is a series of 27 breathtaking waterfalls that are situated in a canyon of sorts. To scale the waterfalls, we were thrown, pushed, pulled and carried by the incredible guides. I´d like to believe that my muscles did some of the work of swimming against the strong currents or climbing the slippery rocks, but I think most of my success was due to the buff guides! They had amazing techniques that included us stepping on their hands and shoulders and being propelled to the next guide who would catch us by an arm or life jacket and pull as we scrambled. Because it is rainy season here, the falls were especially strong, so we could only do 6. I have vowed to return for all 27. Once above the 6th, the guides reminded us that there was only one way to get down---the way we came up! So, they´d help us climb the rocks to the edge of each fall, then we had to jump. If we didn´t jump, we were nudged in the butt, as that was the only way. I made it up and down all 6 with minimal bruises and having swallowed a good amount of water. I was glad I had a helmet.