FYI/ I wrote this a few days ago, and hav only just now gotten internet!
We have arrived!!! We flew out from Atlanta on Friday morning with about 300 pounds of luggage, not including our two dogs. The emotions during that flight ranged from child like jittery excitement to full on, adult like apprehension of all that lies ahead. It sometimes felt like another trip, just another vacation, until I looked around the plane and saw the actual tourists near us. They were excited and carefree, with light bags and sun tan lotion, looking forward to a week of relaxation, some interesting food, and pretty beaches. After making this comparison, I no longer felt like this was just another trip, and that’s probably when my emotions evened out and I accepted that I had little idea of what to expect,, and there was nothing I could do about it at that time.
Anyway, we got the dogs through customs alarmingly easily, we didn’t even have to use the bribe money we had tucked away just in case. We found our taxi driver with just as much ease and all our things fit well into the cab of his truck.
The drive from Santo Domingo to our little village, La Hoya took about four hours. To say there are no traffic law is an understatement. Its almost as if there are in fact plenty of laws, and people try their darndest to break every single one of them. It didn’t help that everyone was so interested in our dogs that as they passed us, they would see the dogs and slam on their brakes to get a better look, try to ask their breeds, names and ages. Others would try to flick their noses! Luckily, our normally sweet puppies snapped right back. There has been an increase of dog-napping recently as dog fighting has become a lucrative job, so I was worried that the dogs would be too nice for their own good, but they have been just aggressive enough to put off any bad intentions.
When we arrived in La Hoya it seemed that no one new where we were supposed to go at first, but we got it figured out eventually. A few guys were still working in our house building a new kitchen cabinet and a small parade of children had formed, not to welcome us, but to inquire about the dogs. The taxi driver unloaded the bags, and the guys finished up their work and we were left on our own for the remained of the night, with no dishes, no food, and no electricity. Awesome. We were feeling a little bit down but we rallied and went in search of food. You have to understand that there are no stores here. People have “colmados” or little shops run out of the front room of their homes. These are not clearly marked, the hours are random at best, and they sell out of anything fresh in the morning. We really wanted some fruit or vegetables or something not fried, but there was nothing. We met our first friend at that point, Marilin. She called out to us and introduced herself. She is friends with some of the other volunteers, and when we asked here were to find some oranges or mangos, she invited us in her house and gave us each a mango. We met her kids and the neighborhood baby(yes, the neighborhood baby. He gets passed around from one house to another, I still do not know who his mother actually is.) Then we got some bread and some juice from a colomado, and with lifted spirits, returned home to find the electricity back on. Lesson one: welcome new volunteers better than we were welcomed.
On day two we woke up to about 10 boys sitting on top of our fence, waiting for the dogs to come out. Eventually we got up and went out with the dogs and put on a little show, McKinley impressed them all with her Frisbee skills, and Tosh impressed when one of the boys jumped into the yard and she growled her meanest growl and started advancing on him. Nobody else tried to do that again. After 20 minutes or so we had to make up some excuse to go inside because these kids, and a few adults by this time, were just not going to leave! We also had to tell them that when we are here with the dogs they are nice, but if we are not here, they will protect the house so please, do not ever climb the fence again. Later, we went with a few of the other volunteers to the city, Barahona. We did some grocery shopping in a store and a little in the market and then had lunch with the whole group. The trip wasn’t to remarkable, but it was good to see what sort of resources a bigger city would provide us. When we got back we had some down time and then two of the girls showed us around town a little more. The showed us their favorite colmado, the church, a few short cuts, and the little park in the middle of town. And that’s pretty much all there is to La Hoya. Later the some two girls came over with some crepes, and we sat and talked a while. Some of the students also came over and played with the dogs, played with Patrick’s Ukulele, and we played pass the pigs. They stayed for quite a while, and we had no idea how to tell them it was time to go home, until, thankfully, they said they had to go to youth group. Lesson two: Always have an excuse ready to give guests when we want them to leave, i.e., I have to wash my hair….
Yesterday we went to church. It is a pretty good sized church, but people only sit on one side because so few people come. I was wondering why this was, until the music started. The musicians are pretty talented, but the singing! Oh the horrors! No tune, no rhythm, everybody singing as loud as they can, even the folks with microphones, I mean, their joy was apparent and wonderful, but it was seriously painful. After church five of the little girls from the school came over and showed me how to make tostones, which are cut up plantains, fried, smashed, fried again, and salted. They were delicious. They girls were a little crazy over everyting in the house. They were fighting over the ukulele, my camera, the ipod, the ipod stereo, the dogs’ toys, the dogs, the cooking responsibilities, the cleaning up(they washed the dishes!) the rules of tag, the rules of pass the pigs, it was about 4 hours of them fighting, and nothing I could do about it. They were fun, and helpful, but I will have to set some guideline for the next time they are in our house. Later, two volunteer cooked us dinner, we played Cranium, and finally, after a long day of socializing, bed time! However, we are so covered in bug bites of all sorts, we seriously have no room left on our bodies for more bites, that we could barely sleep. That combined with the heat, the emotional and physical exhaustion, and the motor bikes roaring by, last night there was not nearly enough sleep happening. Lesson three: Know when enough is enough, and when to say no, or it will get the best of me.
Anyway, tomorrow we are going to the beach with a few other volunteers and a bunch of Dominicans from the village. This should provide for some interesting tid bits!
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