Just a quick note about politics. The Presidential elections happened on Friday, May 16, with the three candidates:
Leonel Fernandez - purple party
Amable Aristy - red party
Miguel Vargas - white party.
When discussing politics with a dominican, your best bet is to simply ask, "what color are you?". The political season has been quite entertaining, but I am glad that it is finished. Leonel won, so will serve another 4 years in office, time to finish is beloved Santo Domingo metro project. During the season I saw food thrown out of trucks, was handed a "mini pharmacy in a box" by a political party, saw representatives from one party purchasing the ID cards of voters that might not vote for their candidate, endured many, many loud rallies and trucks passing with music and political messages and danced to the Leonel song produced by the beloved group "Omega". I also managed to collect a few flags that hang proudly in my bathroom.
Peace Corps has us on "standfast", meaning we cannot travel right now due to post-election celebrations. Apparently they are known to get violent.
As far as voting goes, one must go to their birthplace to vote, hence election day was a holiday and people still tend to be traveling. Many do not vote due to the distance they must travel. Political parties sponsor transport, but only if you'll vote for their candidate...
ah politics...
Sunday, May 18, 2008
DMPs and threatened birds
When being interviewed for Peace Corps, I tried to justify my qualifications to work in environmental education. “I was a Girl Scout… I’ve camped, played in the woods, done arts & crafts with shells & leaves,” I said. Amazingly, that was enough for Peace Corps. In the infinite wisdom of developing countries and youth, they realized that as long as I could show kids to enjoy nature, I could teach them something, so therefore I became an environmental educator.
So I try to utilize what I learned in Girl Scouts (thanks mom!). The best strategy: take kids to somewhere natural and cool and let them enjoy it, while adding to their knowledge of their surroundings. I dreamed of a Peace Corps experience of living on the ocean—walking the beach and snorkeling, then trekking off into mangroves to explore. Instead, I am in a very crowded and trash-filled barrio. There are a couple trees… but mostly there are motorcycles and construction sites. However, it has recently drawn to my attention by some muchachos that “Hoyo Claro” (Clear Hole), a technically-nationally protected area is within walking distance of our barrio. One only has to trek about an hour on a rocky path/ road, with me sometimes jogging in my Chacos to keep up with muchachos in rubber flip-flops missing a heel. The thing is, muchachos pause along the way. To rest? No! To impress one another with their slingshot abilities. The craft of slingshot making is known to any real Dominican little boy. A piece of wittled wood, some innertube rubber and a little piece of leather and wallah, a weapon.
One day I came home to find Yelsi, an 11 year old crying and on his knees (a common punishment, like having to stand in the corner). His crime? His family hadn’t had meat for a few days due to money, so he took advantage of the many roaming chickens and killed one with his slingshot, defeathered it and brought it home to mom. Mom recognized that the chicken had an owner, so Yelsi was punished for stealing. They ate the chicken for dinner.
Back to the road to Hoyo Claro. Being mostly brush and some pastures, birds roam freely and frequently in the area, and the boys enjoy shooting them. Just to shoot. I’ve made a fuss about it when I go with them and try to teach reverence for life. Usually they respect me enough to stop shooting, although after leaving birds alone, they recently aimed for cows, stating that they couldn’t kill them, it was just fun.
On a recent trip to Santo Domingo I paid a visit to the Sub-Secretary of Protected Areas and Biodiversity in an attempt to locate some information and make contacts. A secretary gave me a posted of “Threatened Endemic Birds of Hispanola”. Great! I can add it to the environmental posters in my house and use it as a teaching tool. Day One of having the poster a muchacho came in to check it out. He named a few birds then shouted excitedly “I killed one of those the other day!” A few days later a few other kids were examining it – “Oo.. that one tastes really good.” “Fulano captured that birds and sold it for 100 pesos yesterday (USD$3)” Oye!
Hoyo Claro: So one arrives to this natural swimming pool. It’s beautiful and the water is cool. (The eastern part of the DR is covered in porous limestone rock. When it rains, the water is absorbed quickly, hence the lack of rivers in these parts. Instead, the water joins subterranean rivers which sometimes emerge into wonderful freshwater springs like Hoyo Claro).
The kids immediately strip down into their Dominican Man Panties.
There really is no better word for the underwear sported by your average Dominican male. They are tight, have no flap and come in a delightful rainbow of colors and designs. Little skinny boys to big fat hairy men all sport the same brand, though different colors and designs, of the Dominican Man Panty (DMP).
I tend to swim in shorts and a tank top, as Hoyo Claro has a general absence of women. Sometimes a family of ricos will show up in a jeepeta to make a sancocho for the afternoon and drink themselves silly with rum. In that case a woman or two will show, as will the fat hairy men. But the normal populace of Hoyo Claro tends to be the 10 year old muchachos I andar with and a group of 18-25 year old guys constructing elaborate dives from tree tops, showing off their DMPs. I usually swim until I get cold and then watch the muchachos catch crayfish, which they’ll eat raw with an orange that they will steal off of a tree on the way home. We play, eat the crackers we carried along, and then when we get hungry, head home.
So I try to utilize what I learned in Girl Scouts (thanks mom!). The best strategy: take kids to somewhere natural and cool and let them enjoy it, while adding to their knowledge of their surroundings. I dreamed of a Peace Corps experience of living on the ocean—walking the beach and snorkeling, then trekking off into mangroves to explore. Instead, I am in a very crowded and trash-filled barrio. There are a couple trees… but mostly there are motorcycles and construction sites. However, it has recently drawn to my attention by some muchachos that “Hoyo Claro” (Clear Hole), a technically-nationally protected area is within walking distance of our barrio. One only has to trek about an hour on a rocky path/ road, with me sometimes jogging in my Chacos to keep up with muchachos in rubber flip-flops missing a heel. The thing is, muchachos pause along the way. To rest? No! To impress one another with their slingshot abilities. The craft of slingshot making is known to any real Dominican little boy. A piece of wittled wood, some innertube rubber and a little piece of leather and wallah, a weapon.
One day I came home to find Yelsi, an 11 year old crying and on his knees (a common punishment, like having to stand in the corner). His crime? His family hadn’t had meat for a few days due to money, so he took advantage of the many roaming chickens and killed one with his slingshot, defeathered it and brought it home to mom. Mom recognized that the chicken had an owner, so Yelsi was punished for stealing. They ate the chicken for dinner.
Back to the road to Hoyo Claro. Being mostly brush and some pastures, birds roam freely and frequently in the area, and the boys enjoy shooting them. Just to shoot. I’ve made a fuss about it when I go with them and try to teach reverence for life. Usually they respect me enough to stop shooting, although after leaving birds alone, they recently aimed for cows, stating that they couldn’t kill them, it was just fun.
On a recent trip to Santo Domingo I paid a visit to the Sub-Secretary of Protected Areas and Biodiversity in an attempt to locate some information and make contacts. A secretary gave me a posted of “Threatened Endemic Birds of Hispanola”. Great! I can add it to the environmental posters in my house and use it as a teaching tool. Day One of having the poster a muchacho came in to check it out. He named a few birds then shouted excitedly “I killed one of those the other day!” A few days later a few other kids were examining it – “Oo.. that one tastes really good.” “Fulano captured that birds and sold it for 100 pesos yesterday (USD$3)” Oye!
Hoyo Claro: So one arrives to this natural swimming pool. It’s beautiful and the water is cool. (The eastern part of the DR is covered in porous limestone rock. When it rains, the water is absorbed quickly, hence the lack of rivers in these parts. Instead, the water joins subterranean rivers which sometimes emerge into wonderful freshwater springs like Hoyo Claro).
The kids immediately strip down into their Dominican Man Panties.
There really is no better word for the underwear sported by your average Dominican male. They are tight, have no flap and come in a delightful rainbow of colors and designs. Little skinny boys to big fat hairy men all sport the same brand, though different colors and designs, of the Dominican Man Panty (DMP).
I tend to swim in shorts and a tank top, as Hoyo Claro has a general absence of women. Sometimes a family of ricos will show up in a jeepeta to make a sancocho for the afternoon and drink themselves silly with rum. In that case a woman or two will show, as will the fat hairy men. But the normal populace of Hoyo Claro tends to be the 10 year old muchachos I andar with and a group of 18-25 year old guys constructing elaborate dives from tree tops, showing off their DMPs. I usually swim until I get cold and then watch the muchachos catch crayfish, which they’ll eat raw with an orange that they will steal off of a tree on the way home. We play, eat the crackers we carried along, and then when we get hungry, head home.
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