14. Welcome to my life.

Here I am. Sitting at my laptop while three little heads look into my window, fingertips hanging over the edge of the shutters. They look in, curious to see my every move. I ask them "¿Que lo que? (A Dominican saying translating to "What's the what?"). They smile. "Libya, what are you doing?" "Libya, want to play soccer?" "Libya, take a picture of us".

Buddies

Me, Florinda and Hericon on my front porch

It is hard to get things done in my house. There is a group of about 12 muchachos who are regular visitors - by regular I mean sunup to sundown, every moment I am in my house. If/when I close my door, they sit on my front porch and slip their little fingers under my door instigating my cat to pounce on them. They giggle and continue on. Every once in a while I will hear them closing the big iron lock on the outside of my house, attempting to lock me in. I hate this game. It is an automatic way to get my attention and they know it. Tricksters.

My neighbor with a broken arm.

Take a picture of me!!!

There is one little boy, Hericon, who lives two doors down from my house. His parents left the community so he is living alone with his grandmother, he is three years old and 9 out of 10 times, he is naked. There is something about him that makes me smile (other than his nudity of course). He is the first one to my house every morning, arriving at about 7:00-7:30am "Libya, open your door? Take a photo of me." He is very soft spoken but I can always hear him. Many people in the community call him a "tiguere", a very common and much used word in the Dominican Republic. The word literally translates to "tiger" but they use it to reference men (and sometimes women) that are street savvy, slick, good with women and confident.
Hericon is a bit of a tiguere, he is great with the ladies - just kidding - but he is already a leader and has a group of four other little boys who follow him around like crazy. About five times a day I can hear his grandmother calling his name because he has wandered too far from his house, out of sight, often visiting me. He ignores her and after a few screams, I have to remind him he is being called for. He runs off and returns a bit later. He is in his own world, always entertaining himself and others. He loves playing with my cat. The cat is scared of him and immediately runs when she sees Hericon but he always wants to play with her. I will hand him the cat, he will toss it over his shoulder, walk it to the side of my house and watch it freak out for a minute. It will then run off in a direction looking for the fastest way to enter my house and go straight under my bed, away from Hericon.

Hericon with my cat. 

Trying to escape Hericon. 

Hericon rolling in the dirt. 

Speaking of my cat, I got a cat. Well, I was given a cat, I guess it came with my house. This is the first cat I have ever had. We have a love-hate relationship, it loves me and I hate it. Just kidding (kinda). I have always been an animal lover but it just different in the Dominican Republic. Animals aren't the same here. They aren't fluffy, friendly and plump. They flinch at every move, are covered in scars and you can see their rib cages. They sleep outside and fight with each other throughout the night, keeping me awake. Anyways, every morning I would wake up to the smell of cat poop. It had claimed under my bed as its designated latrine. Not good and not the best thing to wake up to. I would find myself losing my temper, (which doesn't happen often) every morning, and throughout the day because of this. I would have to move my bed from against the wall (It's scary under there) and clean it up. Whenever I walked, it would be at my feet, almost tripping me. It was constantly meowing for who knows what. I tried locking it our but it would crawl under the door, I even barricaded it out sometimes.  It still doesn't have a name but some of the boys in the community call it Libby/Libya because it is white and has blue eyes so they automatically think we look alike. I don't feel comfortable calling the cat Libby so it remains nameless for the time being. Like everyone else, I always like a happy ending so you all will be glad to know that we are friends now - 100% due to the kitty litter I bought for it and the rats that it eats.

The cat. 

Me w/ some of the girls, and the cat. 

A few weeks ago, my friend Colby came to visit. Hi Colby! I have had a few visitors but she was the first to see life outside of the beautiful beaches. Looking back, it probably wasn't the most relaxing "vacation" for her but she sure was a trooper.

YAY!!! 

Here is our story.
Colby arrives and I am waiting for her at the airport. Hi Colby, welcome to the Dominican Republic, lets go!! We get in a cab and get dropped off on the side of the highway. Cars and GuaGuas (buses) zoom by, one is slowing down, lets get in. Here, take a beer. Thirty minutes later, ok, we are here, lets get off. We walk to a hostel in Juan Dolio, put on our bathing suits and head down to the beach, grabbing a beer on the way. Another volunteer, Tina arrives bringing a bottle of rum. A local offers us some coconuts so we have a nice drink on the beach and decide to grab some dinner at one of the three available options. We order way too much food and return to our hotel room.

Cerveza on the beach.

Colby with the remains. 

Fish. 

Chopping us some coconut. 

Up and at em'! 7:30am We walk to the side of the highway, get on a bus to the capital in order to catch a bus to my community. We sit through some traffic and get off and look for the next bus we need to take, but wait, I don't know where it is. Lets just wander around the hottest, loudest, dirtiest part of the city asking people. Found it, Hop on! What the heck is that noise, oh, its just the rooster sitting right next to us, for the next FOUR hours. Luckily the bus wasn't too crowded. We pull up to our stop around 2.

"There he is. This is our ride, Colby."
"Yes, that motorcycle."
"Yes, we going on the same one."
"Yes, all three of us with all of our bags."

We get to my house and peel ourselves off the motorcycle. A few kids that saw us drive through come over. I give Colby a 15 second tour of my house, here it is.... my room, my kitchen, my shower. A bit later I give Colby a tour of my community. I show her the landmarks. Here is my Doña's house, the soccer field, the church, some cows. We return to my house and the kids watch us, everyone asking if we are sisters. We were planning on having a soccer practice but it begins to rain. We sit on my front porch for a bit and watch the rain fall and accumulate in large puddles. The electricity goes out and never returns for our short stay in my community.

"Are you hungry Colby, because I don't have any food. Hang on, lets send this little boy to find some avocados for us."
"No avocados. Well, I have these platanos, lets fry them...and I have this 3 month old Cacoa wine."
"We can have a nice romantic dinner in the pitch dark...I hope you like mosquitos."
"Shower? Here, take this bucket and stand in here and just dump it over your head."
 "Oh, and let me show you where my bathroom is."

My latrine. 

My shower. 

Eventually, the mosquitos got to be a little much so we retreated to my mosquito net and watch a movie on my computer while the rain falls against my tin roof. Quite relaxing really.


The next morning we get up early because I have a meeting in the capital. When we arrive, we meet some volunteers at the embassy for lunch. We hang out at the office, I attend my meeting and Colby goes shopping for some treats for the next bus ride. After my meeting, we all rush to the bus stop to catch our 5:00 bus. They oversold the tickets so we push and shove to make sure we get on. Good thing we brought some rum. Four hours later we arrive in Puerto Plata. We cram into cabs and make our way to Andrew's apartment, another volunteer that was nice enough to let us stay over. The night is spent singing, dancing, playing beer pong and hanging out on the roof. It was a late night.

Add caption

After a few, short hours of rest on an overcrowded bed, we get up because we are going to visit 27 charcos. We were all moving a little slow but we eventually get there. They give us our life jackets but ran out of helmets for just our group. hmm. We hike up for about an hour until we get there and start our adventure. We jump of cliffs and slide down rocks into little pools of water, 27 of them to be exact! A few hours later, we finish and sit down for a big, Dominican lunch - rice, two kinds of pasta, bread, potatoes and a little bit of meat. I hope you like carbs Colby.

Walking to the 27 charcos.

Waiting to go. 

The beginning of the hike. 

Colby jumping off one of the cliffs. 

We were going to make our way up to Cabarete but last minute we decided to stick with the rest of the crew and go visit another volunteer that lives close to the waterfalls, Jose. We hitchhike to the main road and jump on another bus. Once we get off, we all get on motorcycles and take a 30 minute moto ride to Jose's house. When Colby gets off, she tells me her arms are sore from holding on so tight to the back of the motorcycle. We have a few beers in the park and wait for Jose to arrive. Once he comes, we all cross a sketchy bridge to get to the other side of the river, where we bath, all 9 of us together. After bathing, we spend some time on Jose's roof, cook dinner and watch TV in the clinic waiting room (Jose lives above a medical clinic) and Colby and the boys head out for a night of dancing bachata (I bailed bc I was so exhausted and my toe was infected with what I later found out was staff infection). The next day, we pack up and head out one last time for the capital.

Beers in the park. 

The bridge to bathe. 

Getting clean in the dirty river. 

Cooking pasta. 

Colby and I go back to Juan Dolio because it is on the beach and near the airport. We have a nice dinner out and go back to the hotel. We get up early, spend a little time on the beach and then pack up to leave.
I drop Colby on the side of the road and talk to moto driver and off she goes to the airport. Like I said, I am not sure how much of a "vacation" it was BUT I can't tell you how appreciative and happy I am to have shared my life here with such a great friend. Thanks again Colbs, I had a ball and I will never forget it!!

Below are some more of Colby's photos (I hope you don't mind I stole some of them from you!)

Off to bathe in that bucket of mine! Until next time!!

Representing the STL.

Batey Cuchilla.

Cooling off on a hot day. 

Resting.

Barracks in my community. 

13. A Whole New World

Good Afternoon, it's been a while right? I fell off the wagon but I am in the process of getting my life back together. 


Where have I been the past three months? Did I fall off the face of the earth?


The past three months have been a whirlwind. A lot has happened and I will try to briefly explain where I disappeared to. 


Most Volunteers spend their entire two years of service in one community. Sometimes Volunteers are removed for security purposes or their projects aren't working out but either way, I was removed from my community in June for security purposes. I then spent some time in the capital visiting a few communities that were potential sites for the remainder of my service. I visited four different communities and after leaving Batey Cuchilla, I knew that is where I wanted to complete my service. 


Batey Cuchilla is located in the SW region of the Dominican Republic. It is very different from my old community. A Batey is a community that was once centered around the sugar cane industry. In the past, Haitian workers (seasonal immigrants) would come into the area during sugar cane season and live in these communities. They consisted of barracks and a few homes. They would work hard days cropping the sugar cane. Over the years, the bateyes have grown into larger communities and since the sugar cane industry is no longer competitive, finding work is difficult for the people living in Bateyes. 


Many people living in the Bateyes are of Haitian decent. Children of Haitian immigrants, although born and raised in the Dominican Republic, are often stateless and denied services as their parents are denied Dominican nationality due to their undocumented status. The lack of work, low wages and the education system make Bateyes some of the poorest communities in the Dominican Republic. 

My buddies in the sugar cane fields.

Batey Cuchilla is a small Batey located in an area that houses a large number of Bateyes. It is a dry, dusty area North of Barahona. There are close to 600 people and about 120 houses. There is a primary school that goes up to fifth grade and only has four teachers, one who also serves as the director of the school. Once you are beyond fifth grade, you go to a neighboring community. It is a trek. The kids get up early and walk to the side of the highway where they hitchhike and wait for someone who is nice enough to pick them up, if they are lucky. They do this everyday. There is a makeshift baseball field where they also play soccer. Electricity changes but usually is on for about half of the day. Twice per day, there are pumps that give water, once in the morning and once in the evening. These pumps are shared between two or three houses. 


So here I am, living in Batey Cuchilla. I have almost 2 months under my belt here. I lived with another Doña for about two months, and this week, I moved into my own house. 

The front of my house.

I will be doing similar projects in Batey Cuchilla - Gender initiatives, sports teams, HIV/AIDS awareness, maybe/possibly building a basketball court and as a second project, working on documenting youth whom remain stateless. 


So there you have it!


In other news:


I visited the United States for a week. It was short but sweet! It was a great time though and definitely bittersweet to be home, it almost felt as if I never left. I was able to see some of my friends, hang out with my family and play with my dogs. That being said, I think it was a successful trip and thanks to all of those who made it special. 
When my mom picked me up from the airport, she told me I smelt like a "grandma" (whatever that means). The next few hours, both my mom and dad followed me around the house smelling everything I had brought with me - which wasn't much, just a book-bag with a change of clothes and my computer. They made me change and I believe washed my belongings more than twice. My dad washed my backpack three times, bleached it and it hung outside for the remainder of my trip. I would like to believe it is because my backpack has been through hell and back - tossed here & there, been through rain storms, thrown in dirt, stored under a bed, probably had rats and tarantulas crawling through it and sat on the floor of one too many over-crowded guagua rides. BUT, who knows, maybe it is my new scent - "grandma".


And last but not least, I have been in the Dominican Republic for one year. Happy one year anniversary to my blog as well (although I have been quite neglectful lately - I promise to shape up)!


There are some exciting things happening in September so I promise to write soon. It's good to be back!

Trouble!

Hermanos.

Out on an adventure. 

Batey Cuchilla!

12. Cariño

If I had to describe Cariño's family in one word, it would be tough. Ever since my first day in Los Vasquez I have been intimidated by this family. All four of his older brothers strut down the dirt road, shirtless, winking at me and/or blowing me kisses. My first month here, I played game after game of Dominoes with these boys while they laughed, made fun of my Spanish and God only knows what else they said. I tried earning their respect by beating them in Dominoes only to find out that they would always win but after re-checking the score a few times, it was only because the points didn't seem to add up correctly. I have played a Dominican card game, Casino, with their father to find out that he too, would cheat. How do I tell a 70 year old man that I know he is cheating? I didn't, I played stupid. After four months, I finally figured out who all was part of this family.

They are a family of 9, Six boys and one girl. Their father is a bit older, their mother is younger and their primary source of income is agriculture. I have witnessed the only girl in the family get into two fights, both defending her rambunctious, sometimes hard to handle, nephew, Rafeline, who also lives with them (Rafeline's father does not live in Los Vasquez but he has lived here all his life, with his grandparents). There is also a two year old living with them along with his mother, the fiance of one of the young boys and she is 6 months pregnant. The only daughter's fiance also frequently stays in their house when he is not working at an all inclusive resort a few hours away. They have 13 people staying in a 3 bedroom home, they all share beds which is common for people to do in the Dominican Republic.

As you know, after my first three months in Los Vasquez, I moved into my own house. I started seeing more of Cariño (usually with a friend or two in tow). He would come over and just sit and laugh at/with me. We became friends especially when I mentioned that I wanted to buy a horse. Cariño is the boy that helped me find and buy my horse and he now helps me take care of it, doing most of the dirty work. He is 16 years old and still attends the local elementary school in Los Vasquez. He has proven to me that he is responsible by taking Señor Eduardo (my horse) to feed in his land three times per week. He has ridden Eduardo with me and walked alongside me as I have ridden him solo talking me through what to do. He has brought me lists of items to pick up at the vet when I leave the community in order to clear up his parasites or to clean out his ears. Cariño now comes over everyday to hang out, listen to music or just to talk.

Cariño is a natural leader. He has a small group of friends that follow him around. He can be a smart alack sometimes, but what 16 year old boy isn't? He teases the girls in the community & I have had to kick him out of a meeting or two for flicking people's ears while they are reading or throwing balls of paper at other kids. He loves animals and you will always find him on a horse or with a dog running behind him. Cariño reminds me a little of myself.

Over the past month, I have been asking Cariño when and if he was going to come over to study. He explains to me that he does not like school, he can't pass 7th grade and he will probably just cheat on his exams. Over the course of the month, we have had numerous discussions and I have explained to him that most kids his age don't like school and I understand that it can be boring, but it is very important. He would blow me off whenever I mentioned studying for his exams saying he would come by later just to get me off his back. This past week the local elementary school had their final exams.

Last Monday, Cariño came by after his first exam, Science, and he told me he failed. Once again, I told him to come over and we could study for Tuesday's exam, Spanish. He comes over, after his exam on Tuesday to tell me he failed. Later in the day, Cariño sees me working on Math with a younger girl, in Sixth grade. I tell him to come by later and we can work on Math and he says ok and sits and watches me help her. He never comes by. On Wednesday, after his final, he comes over and when I ask him why he didn't come over to study, he tells me he did but I wasn't there. Liar. Later in the evening, in walks Cariño, no shoes, his shirt tied around his head, his pants sliding off his skinny body and smelling of rum. I shake my head and lecture him, "Listen Cariño, I know you can pass these. If you do, you will be able to move onto Eight grade, you don't want to redo seventh grade for a third time, do you?"He just looks at me with his glossy eyes and I tell him to go home. Thursday afternoon, Cariño is at my doorstep with his notebook, a broken pencil and his stack of exams that he had not passed. He will be given another chance to retake all of them on Friday.

As I am going through the exams, I ask Cariño for his notes so we can fill the tests out correctly. He doesn't have any. We spend the next two hours going through each exam and googling the answers - What is a verb? What is a pronoun? When was the Dominican Republic founded? What is an earthquake? We get all of the answers and I tell him it is up to him to study and memorize these, I cannot help.

We move onto Math. I look at his old exam, 40%. It is a 20 question test, 5 true and false, 5 problems on less than, greater than or equal to, 5 problems on whether a given number was positive or negative and 5 math problems, 3 multiplication and 2 division. While looking at his test, I see that he needs the most help on >,< and = and the multiplication and division problems. I look a little closer and notice that a few of the problems were incorrectly marked by the teacher. I question him on who corrected it and he told me his Math teacher did. This is what I see; -1000>900, -300>200, 90<100, 50=50 and -20=20. I was stunned. I tried calling a few other volunteers and couldn't get ahold of anyone. I then call a friend in the states (thanks Teri!) to make sure I am not losing my mind and she confirms that I am not. I then try to explain to Cariño that some of these answers are incorrect. He has a tough time wrapping his head around this and tells me, no, the teacher said it is wrong, it is wrong. I explain to him that if I have $0 but I owe my neighbor $1,000, I have $-1,000. If he has $900, who has more money? He understands but continues to tell me that it is wrong because the teacher said so. After ten minutes of explaining/arguing, I tell him to forget about it but make sure to bring me his test when he gets it back.

We move onto multiplication and division. After working with a few other students, I have come to realize that they were not taught how to multiply correctly. They were all missing a few MAJOR steps to multiplying. I start from scratch with Cariño and tell him to be very careful because one little mistake will give him an incorrect answer. I watch him struggle through simple multiplication tables, doing them in his head, guessing random numbers but too ashamed to write them down. We use Dominoes and count. We move on to harder problems. After working through many problems together, I let him try on his own. I correct his Math problems and they were all correct. I see him hiding a smile, he says thank you, we give each other a fist bump and I tell him I know he is going to do great.

Cariño passed all of his exams. He turns 17 in two days and will be able to start Eighth grade next year.
In Spanish, the word Cariño is often used as a term of endearment such "honey" or "sweetheart".

The Education System in the Dominican Republic is of great concern. The government is spending less than 4% on education and the Dominican Republic has one of the highest illiteracy rates in all of South/Central America. It is common to see 16, 17 and 18 year olds in Sixth and Seventh grade and the classrooms are often overcrowded. Students go to school for four hours per day and much of this time is wasted. Classes start late and a chunk of the day is spent copying straight from the board. For homework, I watch children copy pages straight from the book, tracing pictures and copying the Math problems, but not solving them. Teachers often pass students in order to move them along even though they are not prepared. They begin a school year behind and have a hard time catching up. Rather than going through the embarrassment of repeating a grade, students often choose to leave school all together.

Sometimes as I sit under my mosquito net, listening to rats crawl through my walls, or itching mosquito bites and I wonder "what I am doing here?". I could be back home with my family and friends in the states, celebrating holidays, going to bachelorette parties, watching my brother and his wife start a family etc. etc. But then little things happen, such as Cariño passing Seventh grade, and I realize it is the little things and the relationships I am making and that is what I am doing here.

Love you all and I will send another update soon enough! xoxo

11. Yee-Haw

It is about that time again! Here is the latest and the greatest. I am going to separate this into four parts...

1. My work
2. My Community
3. My new friend
4. Other news

1. My work. I feel a little behind because I was in the capital for 2 weeks with pneumonia. During that two weeks, I did nothing other than learn how to spell the word pneumonia, watch KU lose and make many trips to the hospital. That good ol' tax $$$ did put me up in an air-conditioned room though, so thank you! Now that I am back & healthy, I am in the process of re-motivating.
One of my youth and I went to talk to the teachers at the school about doing the HIV/AIDS sports program (Deportes Para la Vida) during gym class or during free time. I thought it would be no sweat, 60% of their school day is free time anyways. They all said it sounded wonderful but I needed to ask and receive permission from the director of all of the schools in the region. That director is located in Hato Mayor so we decided I would make the trip the following morning to go talk to him. We put together a letter describing the program and asking permission, I chat with the moto driver and tell him I need to go to the city early, no later than 8am. I wake up, get ready, go find him & he is not there. He shows up at nine like nothing has happened although I have called him 12 times. Oh well, lets go! We get about 3/4ths the way there and the motorcycle stops, we get off (there were three of us on it) and he tips the moto hoping the gas moves around, get back on & go. About two miles later, we run out of gas for real. I walk to the office of education and wait to talk to the director, nice and sweaty. I give him the letter and explain the program and let him check out the manual. He says it looks great but I need permission from the other director who is not here because he leaves at 10am and it is now 10:30, he is also going to be out of the office for a while. I then get to hear my project partner tell me that I should have come earlier....OH REALLY??? Thank you. We left it at "ok, your number is on here, he will call you next week". I haven't heard from him. The other thing, this past Tuesday the kids came over to my house after school and told me that they have vacation until April 25th. I knew a holiday was coming up but I did not know they would be off school for over a week. Well, this program contains at least 10 classes so even if I got permission tomorrow and did it twice a week in the school, I still wouldn't have enough time. Back to square one. Now, we are in the process of organizing a group BUT it is Samana Santa (holy week) so basically everything is on hold other than drinking and dancing.
My chica's group is going strong. We are on our sixth week and last week we learned about the female reproductive system. I started another group for younger girls ages 7-11. It is not going to be as formal and we are just going to do art activities and play.

Chica's Brillantes

Some of my younger chicas!

Me with a few of my Chica's

English classes are on & off. I worked with three youth in hopes of making it a little more formal and we were supposed to start this week but I don't think it is didn't to go over too well considering it is a holiday weekend.
Lastly, as part of my project, my community has communicated that they would like to build a basketball/volleyball court for the youth to have a place to play. We have discussed it many times and had finally decided on the land that would be used. This week I come to find out that there is this money already available and an engineer is coming to survey the land (he was supposed to come on Friday but didn't show). Now I hear they are going to start this Tuesday, I am still confused and will be curious to see what happens. I am a little skeptical but it would be great if it really happens.

2. My Community. It is crazy to think about, but I have been in my community for about 6 months and I am still learning new things everyday - Who sells milk, who is related to who, who is "medio loco" and of course, who I can trust and work with.
Sometimes I feel like I have opened my own little tienda (store) in Los Vasquez. Here is why:

I wake up around 7:30-8:00 and make myself coffee or tea. I have to do this with my door shut or else I will be providing for the entire community. I read a little and prepare for the day. Come 9:00, I start opening up shop. I first brush my teeth (I need to open my doors for this so I can spit out my front door) and then start opening my windows. The shop is now open. I do a little sweeping and now the customers start coming. If for some reason, my shop isn't open by 10:00, they start banging on my doors or wait outside. They file in, some sit in my plastic chairs and some just stand. They notice my stove is dirty because my greka (thing I use to make coffee) leaks. They monitor me and tell me I am don't know how to sweep and I need to clean my stove. Good thing I have them! Once my daily routine is done, I now have about 4-6 kids in my house and there is dust/mud all over my floor again, we color or talk. They ask if I have water, mentas or lollipops. They stare at my book shelf and visually browse my things. They aren't allowed to touch though! They ask questions about all of the things they see "¿Que es esto?"and just stare. Sometimes I get the occasional customer who is too nervous to enter and just stares through my door, window browsing. I then close up shop for lunch time and after lunch I take an hour or so to relax. Shop opens back up around 1:30. Any later, they start calling. Of course, I have those days where I am not home for longer periods of time, visiting families, going to the river, getting water or meeting with my youth groups. On these days, I get questioned about where I was and what I was doing. I try to close up by 9:30 but sometimes I stay open later. My clientele is a wide range of people but the majority are young boys ages 5-15, the girls visit often but they only stay for a few minutes and stop in on their way to the colmado to buy oil, eggs or other ingredients they need as they are preparing lunch.

 I always wanted to open my own boutique!

Muchachos coloring in my shop.

3. My new friend. As some of you know, I finally bought myself a pet. This has been a lengthy process but the damage is done. I bought a horse. I had spent a lot of time thinking about whether I wanted a horse or donkey. I had made lists of pros and cons and talked with many people in my community about it. I FINALLY decided I wanted to buy a donkey. The main reason I wanted a donkey was because I do not know the first thing about caring for horses and they seem to be a lot more work. Donkeys can eat trash, they are smaller and when I would try them out here, my feet would drag on the floor...nothing to be afraid of, I could just step off if I needed to. They could help me carry my water (the main reason I was in the market for a pet anyways) and they don't really run. I have never seen a Donkey kick someone off its back nor wear a saddle. Sounded like just what I was in the market for. There are donkeys everywhere around here but I couldn't find one to buy. So I got a horse.

I bought him from Tibo who lives down the street. He cost me RD $2,000. That is USD $53.29 to be exact.
I have a 14 year old boy, Cariño, helping me out. He has two horses of his own so he knows how to care for him. Good thing. My Doña doesn't want him staying at my house because he will eat everything, including the Papaya, mangoes etc. that they sell for their income. He usually spends a few hours at my house grazing but we tie him up in places where he can reach the valuable things. Three times a week, Cariño takes him to his land (they have a lot) with the other horses to graze, he usually sleeps at Cariño's yard which is just around the corner from me.
I have named him Señor Eduardo (Mr. Ed).

Señor Eduardo

Giving rides. 

Cariño & Señor Ed helping me w/ water

I have only ridden horses a few times in my life so Cariño is teaching me. It is a little nerve-wracking especially because he does not wear a saddle, just a pretty grass skirt! Yesterday the both of us rode Señor Eduardo, Cariño was driving and I was on back. I have seen Cariño fly down my street on many different horses so I had to constantly remind him that I didn't want Señor Eduardo to run with me yet. We did trot a little and it was fun. Once we reached the river, we switched and I drove (I don't know the lingo yet, sorry). Señor Eduardo went SOOO slow when I was driving. I would make the same noises Cariño makes, kick him but he wouldn't do anything but a SLOW walk. Cariño thought it was a riot.
I did a little internet research and read that horses like carrots and apples. I told Cariño that I was going to buy him some and he looked at me like I was insane. I didn't fully catch what he said but something about how carrots and apples are expensive and I should feed them to him, not the horse.

Isn't he cute?

4. Other News.
CampSuperman. Next weekend, I am going to Camp Superman. It is a regional camp so about 10 volunteers are bringing two boys and we are going into the mountains in El Seibo. We are going to camp out, play in the river and teach these muchachos a thing or two.
One of the boys I had in mind, whom I do not know too well, always waves to me and is really shy when I talk to him. I thought he would be the perfect little guy to bring, he is always helping his grandfather with their horses (He lives with them, I am not sure where his parents are), working in their land and always seems rather polite. So while talking with some women in my community I mentioned I wanted to bring him. They said "No, you can't bring him. He is bad. They call him gasolino because he is always going." Sounds good to me, don't all 11 year boys go and go? Then walks up his grandfather. They call him over and I explain the camp and how I want to bring his grandson. He said "thank you but this boy is dangerous". I couldn't help but laugh. Dangerous? Really? He said "he moves around too much and puts his hands on everything" I explained that it could be a good opportunity and explained more about that camp but the final answer was no. Off to ask more boys!

Bola Race. Bola Race is a Peace Corps, Dominican Republic, tradition. A bola is an unpaid ride, similar to hitch-hiking in the states. You basically flag down a car and jump in, tell them where you are headed and they let you off when they are no longer headed in your direction. Many times they are in the back of a truck. Anyways, all the willing volunteers meet in a given location, this year, Santiago. Some of the rules of the Bola Race are:
Teams of at least two, one needs to be a male.
You can not say you are a Peace Corps Volunteer.
You can not pay for a ride.
Be in costume. This is supposed to help you get a ride and gives you a story as to why you need a Bola.
The following morning, we all meet up and are told the surprise location and the race begins. This year, the ending location was Las Terrenas (the same place I went for my family vacation).

The group before take off. 

Sarita & I!

We set off at 9am. Las Terrrenas is at least four hours away from Santiago if driving straight there. I believe the winning team got there in just over four hours and the losing team did not show up until about 7pm that night. My team took 11 bolas and it took us just over 6 hours. Most of our Bolas were in the back of empty fruit trucks but one was sitting on bags and bags of flour and another was a cozy ride in an air conditioned Mercedes. It was a gorgeous drive to Las Terrenas and really is fascinating the amount of people that are willing to stop and pick up gringos.

My Bola Team!

Back of a truck! 

Below is Frailin. They now call him my hijo (son). He is gone for Semana Santa and I miss the little guy so much!

I think that about wraps it up! I keep telling myself that I am going to write more often so they are more frequent and shorter. I'll see what I can do! I miss you all as always! xoxo

Frailin w/ Caña (Sugar Cane)