Unas pregunats

My mom recently sent me an email with a few specific questions, and I thought it might be interesting to share my answers with the rest of you. And so here you have it at last, the answers to your most important daily-life questions, in the order asked:

How do you get food to prepare?

I buy certain staples at the chaotic, smallish supermarket in Barahona, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes and 80 pesos up the coast. I’ll buy wheat bread, canned goods (black beans, garbanzo beans, veggies, tomato paste to make pasta sauce), bags of dried soy ‘meat’, pancake mix, organic local coffee, pasta, cheese when I feel like splurging, dried nonfat milk powder, peanut butter, etc. There’s a decent market in Barahona too, where I try to buy veggies like broccoli and cauliflower and bell peppers that I can’s get here in Enriquillo. It’s your standard developing-world market, crowded in a web of tiny winding streets, covered by tarps huing by ropes and packed with Dominican and Haitian men and women selling bags of spices and grains, fruits and veggies, and lots of used clothing. I probably go there 2 times a month or so, and to the supermarket 3 or 4. Otherwise, I buy everything here in Enriquillo, mostly at one of the many colmadoes near my house. They have a varying supply of veggies, so I’ll buy what’s available—mostly tomatoes, potatos, onions, little green pepeers, and garlic, and sometimes carrots and little eggplants. There’s a daily market in the center of my town where I can go get any of the above-mentioned veggies, plus some fruits, lettuce, cabbage, beets, and fresh cilantro. The women selling there are mostly Haitian, and they tend to spread their produce out on tarps and sit on the ground next to them. They just started rebuilding the market, funded by some Dominican organization and an org from the EU, so it should be much nicer soon. There’s also a butcher there, but I try to avoid going near the cow’s heads and whatnot. Overall I have decent access to food, and I spend quite a bit of time cooking. You have to if you want to eat anything healthy—otherwise it’s just white bread, hot dog bun-style, or chips and cookies. It’s fun to invent meals, especially when I have guests to share them with! When Kimberly and Nate were here we had fettuccini with pesto sauce I made from the basil growing in my backyard (so good!) and a noodle dish I invented with broccoli and potatoes and a spicy peanut sauce. Today I’m making lentils with squash and garlic and peppers to eat with brown rice for lunch—a new invention! Melanie brought down all sorts of spices, so I have lots to work with.

What is your monthly allowance?

I get a little over 9,000 pesos a month, or about US $270. My rent is only 1,000 (US $33), and I had to pay the full amount for the year when I moved in, so I don’t have to worry about that. I’d say the bulk of my money goes to food and transportation, since I’m always taking guaguas up and down the coastal highway, to get to meetings and to visit Iosefa and to go shopping and to the bank in Barahona. Trips to the capital tend to suck my wallet dry, so I try not to go too often… perhaps once every other month or so. The next trip is scheduled for the first week of August, after a regional youth conference we have Aug 2^nd -5^th. The allowance is usually just enough to cover my monthly expenses, and the end of month is always a little tight—like right now!

How do you wash your clothes?

I take my clothes in a bag down to Berta’s house (my host mom here) and she washes them in her washing machine. I pay her 200 pesos each time I bring her clothes, which seems to be fairly standard among volunteers. It’s not super convenient since she lives sort of far, down the hill, but I know she needs the money and she’s been washing my clothes since I arrived in Enriquillo, so I think it’s the best situation. Sometimes I’ll hand wash clothes here, especially underwear and delicates, but I’m always running out of water and I never feel like clothes get very clean when I wash them here.

When you are alone, do your read often for personal entertainment?

Yes, I read a lot. Sometimes I get on kicks and read entire books in 2 or 3 days, and I read magazine articles everyday. I just finished “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents,” a book by Julia Alvarez, and am now reading “We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families,” about the ’94 genocide in Rwanda. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that lately I’ve been reading a lot of gossip magazines too, like People and US weekly—mostly pictures with little substance, which are extremely addicting—I blame Kimberly though, she brought them!

How do you cool yourself when it is really hot? (Kimberly told us that she would never go into the rivers because of pollution)

Forget the pollution, I go into the rivers!!! Actually, I only get a chance to go to the rivers occasionally, since the “river” here in Enriquillo is more of a tiny stream, and although they have a pool set up in a nice shaded setting along the river, the current’s weak and the walls are slimy, so I refuse to go in. There’s a beautiful river in Iosefa’s town Bahoruco, so we go up there sometimes, and there’s a little touristy spot called Los Patos about 10km from here, where a wide, clear, cool river meets the ocean and they have little food stands and restaurants set up. I’ve been there a couple times, too. Other than occasional dips in the river or the ocean (where I’ll swim about once a week), I mostly just sweat it out in the shade, praying for a breeze or the electricity to come back so I can sit in front of the fan. That’s what I’m doing right now—sitting at home in front of the fan, with my windows and back door open to let in the breeze. If I have extra water, I’ll throw a pitcher of water on myself to cool down—but that’s only if there’s enough water. Lately the water’s only been coming ever 2 or 3 days, and then only for an hour or so… worse than usual. It’s a struggle, I’ll tell you.

How to you get computer connections?

I usually go to the internet café in Barahona, about once a week. It’s 40 pesos per hour, which is sort of expensive, but the connection’s fast and good, and it’s usually pretty cool in there. The mobile computer lab at the primary school here in Enriquillo is shut down for the summer, and the connection there is usually pretty bad/slow anyways. They’re currently constructing a computer lab closer to my house, next door to city hall, and I’m excited for it to open up since it’s so close. Let’s hope the computers are decent!

What is your plan if there is a hurricane?

Haha… Our emergency action plan calls for everyone in our region to meet up at a hotel in Barahona—ON THE WATERFRONT! I think they’re going to change that so we’ll meet in San Juan, which is further inland. My part of the island usually doesn’t get hit as hard, so hopefully that won’t be a problem. Plus my house is high on a hill, with a good roof and cement block walls with iron bars on the doors and windows, Iosefa’s house, on the other hand, is right on the beach, with a rusty, hole-filled metal roof and palm-wood walls that don’t look like they’d survive much. So hopefully we won’t get hit by anything this year—I fear it would tear his place apart, not to mention most of the houses along the coast.

Do you nap when it is too warm?

I get really sleepy, yes, but it’s impossible to sleep when it’s so hot during the day. Like, really nasty, sticky, sweating-in-bed hot. When there’s no electricity, I sometimes struggle to sleep at night too—it’s just so hot! So I do nap occasionally, but not as often as I’d like to!

Do you document your activities from day to day for your information and for the Peace Corps?

I document all work-related activies, both for reporting to the Peace Corps and for the cooperative’s sake. I try to journal for my own personal sake, but I get sort of lazy sometimes… but I’m trying to be better, since this is something I’ll want in the future. Plus I think writing things down keeps me sane in an often less-than-sane environment.

How often do you ride the public transportation and where do you go?

Like I mentioned before, I take the guaguas a lot—perhaps 3 or 4 times a week. Many of our meetings are in Los Blancos, where the coffee coop office is, and sometimes I have meetings in Paraiso too. Plus Kat, the other volunteer, lives in Paraiso, and I go hang out/work there with her every other week or so. I go to Barahona about once a week, and probably go to Bahoruco about once a week too—I try to combine the two to cut down on costs and time spent in the guagua. There are motorcycle taxis here in town, and I take them rarely; I don’t always have my helmet, so it’s usually not an option.

How often is the power on or off?

I’d estimate we have power about 50% or the time, though we’re near the end of the line (the same line feeds all the towns along the coast), and if something happens to the line anywhere north of here we lose power. We have gone days at a time without power, which is difficult. Plus when the power’s bad, they can’t pump the water, so we don’t have water either. Enriquillo’s worse than any of the other coastal towns, both electricity and water-wise. But at least we have it sometimes, right? But boy do I envy Kimberly and Nate, who have power almost all the time, and Iosefa, who always has water running from the tap!

Do you have any shade for your huts?

First of all, I think “hut” is a little misleading…. Although it sounds more rustic and romantic, I’d definitely say I live in a “house.” Not a big one or a fancy one, but a house nonetheless. I have a little shade out front, under the anon tree (a funny-looking green fruit with big black seeds and mushy white meat), but only early in the day. There’s shade out back all day, either from the trees or the house itself. I have coconut trees, sour orange trees, a little lime tree, and some growing little banana and cherry trees. I’ve been trying to landscape a little back there with rocks and flowers and plants, and it’s looking much better. There was a ton of trash when I moved in, and it’s better now.

How is your Spanish now?

I’m very comfortable speaking and listening, though I’m still not 100%. It’s rural campo Spanish too, so it’s not exactly the most refined, vocabulary-rich form of the language. But yeah, it’s pretty good. I think I’m honing my campo Dominican accent pretty well too.

Are the people still treating you like celebraties?

I don’t know if I’d say celebrities, but I’m definitely the center of attention wherever I go still. And I don’t like it. I’ve never liked being the center of attention, and I really miss the anonymity of big-city life in the US, much more than I ever thought I would. Just thinking about getting on the subway in Boston, sitting down and reading, with nobody so much as looking at me… well, just the thought of it makes me homesick sometimes. I think some volunteers thrive with all the attention, but I just want to hide away sometimes. I guess it’s not as bad as before, since people here in Enriquillo are used to seeing my face and I’m used to seeing theirs, but it’s a big enough town that there are lots of people who I’ve never seen before, and plenty of new people to gawk and stare. The attention from men is particularly difficult for me. There’s so much machismo and cat-calling and whistling and all that, and sometimes I just want to scream at them or give them the finger or something—which is totally NOT like me. Up until now I’ve kept those urges in check, but I could see myself snapping sometime. It’s just so annoying, and is so rude in my eyes. The thing is, most Dominican women like that sort of attention, whereas I just see it as disrespectful maddening. I’m trying to have patience. And that’s usually in bigger places, like Barahona—here in Enriquillo it’s not so bad.

Ya, that’s all the questions for now. Here’s un chin more info, in case you’re interested…

This week is my town’s Patronales, a 10-day party celebrating Enriquillo’s patron saint Santa Ana. Originally they had lots of activites like horse races and competitions where they’d scramble up oil-covered posts and rice and beans eating contests, but now it’s mostly about dancing and drinking and music. They set up a big stage down by the waterfront, right on the main street where it splits into two, and there are stands selling drinks and food all along the street; they also set up a ferris wheel and merry-go-round, and it’s packed with people every night. The second half of the week they’ll bring in live music, some fairly well known Dominican musicians, and it should be really fun. Saturday night Jill, the volunteer from Oviedo (down the coast), Iosefa and some Dominican friends from his town, and perhaps a few other volunteers are coming to stay here and we’re all going to go down and dance the night away on the highway by the shore—should be fun! It’ll also be the most people sleeping in my house at one time, which may be interesting. Let’s hope we get water before then!

Oooh, speaking of, the water just came!!!! It rarely comes in the afternoon, this is exciting!!! Perfect timing too, I’lm almost out. Okay, I’ll be back soon, after I go fill up my tubs and buckets….

After filling the buckets I jumped in the shower, to take a rare, real shower with water actually coming out of the showerhead! Usually I have to use the buckets because there’s not enough time when the water comes, or I’m not at home and I leave the shower on to fill the empty buckets that I leave in the shower. But boy, a real shower feels good! And then, after showering and getting the lentils going, I chopped off my hair. I meant to just trim it, but it’s a particularly hot day and since I wear my hair up all the time anyway, I thought why not just get rid of it? So now it’s just past my shoulders, and much uglier than before, but hopefully it’ll be cooler. Oh, how I miss being able to wear my hair down! It’s just too hot here, way too hot.

Before I end this, let me give you a quick update on my projects:

• The women’s group is coming along slowly, but it’s good. Sometimes I feel like I’m in charge of the group, and nothing would get done if I don’t do it or lead it, which is frustrating because that’s not why I’m supposed to be there. The whole idea is to assist them, making sure that they’re self-sufficient without me. But we had a meeting to sign up new women two days ago, under the mango tree in Los Blancos, and the president and other members of the directiva really seemed to take charge. A good sign, I think. My project du jour with them is recycled paper—particularly, recycled paper made with old papers, plus coffee tree leaves and other natural fibers. It barely requires any initial capital investment (you just need a blender !), and the paper itself is quite easy—no real arts and crafts skills required. Making and decorating cards and envelopes, on the other hand, will require some training. Right now I’m giving workshops to the women to teach them how to do it, and researching possible marketing opportunities in the capital and with local groups here. I see a lot of promise in it, and the women are quite interested too. More to come!
• The coffee harvest is just around the corner, and farmers are starting to move up to the loma, to stay and work until December or January. We recently had some trouble with money: that is, an organization we’ve been working with initially promised a large sum of money so that the coop could build the infrastructure necessary to clean and process the members’ coffee this year (and thus be able to buy coffee from members and sell it as a cooperative as “certified organic” for the first time), but the funds kept diminishing and their demands kept growing, eventually leading the coop directiva to reject the funds and decide to mostly sever relations with said organization. It’s a setback, yes: the members are disappointed that most of them will not be able to sell as “organic” this year, but also feel a sort of empowerment, knowing that their group is strong enough to stand up to a bad situation and decide to go ahead on their own. It was messy, but they showed strengh and conviction to do it. So now we move forward, hopefully to a good harvest and good profits despite this setback.
• The past few months I’ve been tutoring two lower-level English students, which will soon grow to a group of 5 or more, it seems. We gather every week in my house for coffee and discussion; we go over their lesson for the week, focusing on prononciation and usage, and generally talk in English to practice. They’re good students, and they recently invited others from their weekly class to come to our conversation hour. It’s ideal for me: I don’t have to teach a formal class (which I’ve been trying to avoid, to be honest—there’s already a private teacher here in town, and I don’t want to steal his students), but I do get to help out by practicing and teaching my students more about the United States and the rest of the world. We do a lot of work with maps and geography, since few Dominicans here have any idea how to spot the DR on a map, let alone tell you what continent Italy is found in or where Venezuela is. I enjoy it.
• Next week we have a Peace Corps sponsored youth conference called “Celebrando El Sur”, in which each volunteer from the southern region brings two youth from their community and we spend three days giving talks and workshops on all sorts of subjects, and then the youth return to their communities and give at least two of the talks/workshops with their local youth groups. We have to raise funds for the conference (to give them a sense of ownerwhip of the conference, partially), and so my two high school kids, Richard and Eva, and I have been doing raffles in our town the past few weeks. We tried selling tickets at Patronales, but had less success with that than we expected. Going from business to business (colmados, hardware stores, etc.) has worked well, and we plan to do that this afternoon and tomorrow for what will hopefully be our last fundraising raffle. We also asked the mayor for funds, and he promised an as yet unspecified amount. It’s good experience for the kids, though I must admit, I’ve never liked fundraising!

Okay, that’s it for now. My hands hurt from typing! Take care, and thanks for checking in!

Paz,
Melissa