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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------{ April 28, 2007 }
Visit number two
I moved! I am finally in my own house, above a colmado. It is sooo nice to be able to cook what I want and not have to go to bed at the same time as everyone else. I only have 'provisional' approval though, which means they can tell me I have to move later but hopefully I won't have a problem. Moving was interesting...I finally got approval the day before my parents came to visit but couldn't move anything that day because it rained, so the next morning some friends helped me move everything in and I organized as much as I could before heading off to Santiago to meet mom and dad at the airport.
It was a fun visit and we did a lot in a short amount of time. The first night we stayed in Santiago because they got in in the evening, then the next day we bought a bunch of things for my house and loaded up the SUV and headed to Juncalito. People in my town were really excited to meet them because family is so important here and everyone said they looked very young, which they appreciated. I stayed the first night in my new house when they were there. Apparently, however, they didn't sleep all that well due to the large quantity of roosters in the campo. I have been here so long I don't notice it at all, but both of them as well as Susan commented on it, especially because they do not only crow at dawn but also during the day and in the middle of the night.
The next day we went from Juncalito to Jarabacoa on the mountain road that goes in between them. Well, I hadn't been on it the whole way before and it was somewhat of an adventure. No car could make that trip and I am just grateful dad was driving instead of mom, although he definitely was ready for a few cervezas afterwards. When we were in Jarabacoa we went to a waterfall, where we met another volunteer who I hadn't met before, and her family who was visiting her. Our hotel was right by a river so when we ate at the restaurant you could look right down at the river.
From Jarabacoa we went to Santo Domingo, where we visited the Colonial Zone including the first cathedral of the Americas, the Larimar Musem (larimar is a precious stone only found in the DR), a memorial and a fort the first day. We had dinner with my friend David whos site is only about an hour and a half away from the capital and afterwards listened to some merengue at the Plaza Espana. The next day we went to Diego Colombus' house (Christopher Colombus' brother- Christopher left him in charge of the DR), had lunch with Sarah (the woman who works at the Embassy that I normally stay with in Santo Domingo) and had dinner with my host family from Santo Domingo.
On Sunday we went to Samana. This was an interesting trip. Mom and dad like the beach but none of us had wanted to sit at a resort all week, which is why we trucked around to so many places. I thought the Samana peninsula would be nice because it is on a bay and you can drive a little bit and go to the beach but could also take a boat ride on the bay. Options. Well, I had only been to Samana one other time for my site visit in September, so I had apparently forgotten how long it takes (those buses really fly too!). First, it took a super long time to get there. Then, when we finally got there, the hotel wasn't quite what it was described to be in the Lonely Planet and the only other decent option was a highly over price all-inclusive resort unless we drove further on to Las Galeras, another part on the peninsula. We went to Erica's house (the volunteer I visited) before going on to Las Galeras to see if there was anywhere else to stay but there wasn't. We ended up staying at a very nice hotel in Las Galeras...I am putting pictures up and there are a few with the view from the hotel. Part of the reason I had wanted to go to Samana was to go to Playa Rincon, supposedly one of the most beautiful beaches in the DR and the Caribbean. The following morning we went there and yes, it was beautiful, however, the experience was partially ruined by the mass quantity of trash on the beach. Mom and dad visited the week after Semana Santa (Holy Week), the only week of the year that almost all Dominicans have off and therefore go on vacation. Environmental damage between the trash, deforestation and other issues is high in this country. There is another sector of volunteers that works in environmental education. We stayed at Rincon in the morning and then hung around the hotel for the afternoon because there was a small beach and area for swimming. The next day we drove back to Samana and went on a boat tour to Parque Los Haitises, a national park on the other side of the bay that has cave drawings from the Taino Indians from as far back as 4,000 years ago. Unfortunately, it rained on the boat ride over and we had to duck under ponchos to avoid getting drenched. It calmed down when we got there and it was a really neat tour and interesting to go into the caves. There were also German and French people on the tour and our guide spoke to each of us in turn. The day tour also included a trip to Cayo Levantado, a little island off the coast of Samana that is pretty and has a nice beach, however, as soon as we got there, it rained again so we had to wait around for a while to get back to town. We drove part of the way back to Santiago and stayed in Las Terrenas for the evening. In the morning we headed back to Santiago because their flight left very early in the morning.
I'm sure I have forgotten something and that mom and dad will remind me, but I haven't had much time for the internet since their visit. I am in the capital now and will try and post again while I am here. I am in for medical right now (no worries) and then have my 6-month language training from Monday through Friday. David and Christina have theirs at the same time so it should be a good time, minus the class part.
Posted by katie at 06:38 PM | Permalink
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------{ April 04, 2007 }
I had a visitor!
I have had a busy but productive and fun month. The diagnostic period of my service is finally over- I did my report and gave the presentation at our 3 month IST (In service training) conference, which was March 21-23rd in the capital. I also got a great opportunity to work very hard on improving my patience while my project partner were elaborating the Annual Plan for the Association. It was fun, really. The conference went fairly well and is over at least. I need to work some more on my own Annual Plan but I feel like a weight has been lifted since the diagnostic is complete.
Also, we finally finished our big report at the association to send to CODOCAFE! That was a releif. Granted, we have still got a long way to go, but hopefully we will get our loan soon so that we can better support our socios as we are in the final few months of the coffee season. As I said, I am going to be working on my Annual Plan this week (especially because it is Holy Week and the office will be closed after noon tomorrow) but I am hoping to focus on 3 things in particular: the first, basic office organization and getting a lot of information about the association compiled on the computer such as how much coffee we have sold each month, ect; second, revising our statutes and establishing written rules for giving loans to our socios; and third, working on finding more outlets to sell the coffee. Accounting, which has been my biggest concern since I have been here, goes with the first category. I would like to get a program for the computer at the office so mom has been helping me look into it. Hopefully that will happen soon, and then I will have to teach them how to use it.
I just had my first visitor after the conference. SUSAN CAME TO SEE ME! I cant tell you how excited I was that she was able to come! Before starting her new job she came down for a week. We went to Bayahibe (in the south east) and then came to Juncalito. Another volunteer, David, and his mom were also there when we were so we met up with them some as well. Bayahibe is a cute little town with lots of boats and a small beach. We only had 2 days at the beach because the day we got there it was raining. One day Susan, David and I took a day tour to Isla Saona to go snorkeling. It was absolutely beautiful- think of those gorgeous brochures of crystal clear water and palm trees. Yes, that is where we went and we got to see a bunch of different kinds of fish. I would like to go snorkeling again sometime and maybe see some stingrays and other types of animals but it was still great, maybe minus getting rum poured down my snorkel by one of the guys leading the trip but hey, it is the Caribbean. David and his mom were staying at a resort while Susan and I, on the Peace Corps budget, were not, so we visited them one day. It was really beautiful and well kept, but the resort has nothing on the beauty of the beach itself. After Bayahibe we came up to Juncalito and went walking through the mountains a bit. I had a great time and hope she did too and am ready for my next visitors, my parents, who come on the 10th!
I still havent been able to move. My APCD did not approve my house yet because it only has one exit and it is above a colmado, so she has to come see it but cannot come for probably at least 3 weeks, but the owners of the house will rent it to someone else if they find someone else because even when she comes there is no guarantee that I will be able to get it, so I started looking again. It is frustrating because I really want to move and have started to buy stuff for a house because I thought I would be able to move this week. I found another house so I am sending pictures to my APCD now to see if she will approve this one. I want to jump on it because it took me forever to find the other one so I am afraid of waiting too long. I like my family, but I am ready to move.
I am gonig to try and put up more pictures on my Photobucket site so keep a look out for those. Oh, I also got to see Davids site for a day when his mom was here because it is not very far from the capital, so that was interesting. I like to see other peoples' sites because they are all so different.
Posted by katie at 04:56 PM | Permalink
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