Noel hits hard

Alright folks, in case you heard we´re getting pretty wet in the DR, and I thought I´d send out an update since I´m stranded in the north and have little to do but watch the news and now check my email....

I was just up in Jarabacoa visiting my old host family from last year´s community based training, and left yesterday morning; it was pouring and on the windy, steep road down the mountain we ran into three downed power lines, two pine trees lying across the road, and a landslide.... the truck made it past all obstacles until the landslide, where we all got out with our umbrellas and watched the rocks and boulders tumbling down. There were some periods of inaction too, during which crazies like me ran through the rubble to the other side, where there were vehicles waiting to take us down. I sort of felt like i was in an action movie, darting across the piles of rocks in the rain, franticly glancing up the cliff to make sure I wouldn´t be killed. And that was just to get down to the town of Jarabacoa!!

Once I got there (in time for my bus, I might add), I found out that the bus co. wasn´t running because there was a bridge washed out and the weather was worsening... And here I thought it was just rainy as usual. I did manage a guagua down to La Vega, a big city about 45 min. from Jarabacoa, but I arrived to find no buses were leaving for the capital due to multiple bridges washed out and flooding. To come so far only to get stuck in La Vega! And then Peace Corps called and said I couldn´t go anywhere, that we are on ¨standfast¨ and can´t leave our current locations til Thurs. at the earliest. There´s a volunteer here so I´m staying with him (actually, with his host family) for now; I´m hoping to get going, either to Santiago or at least to a hotel--but I´m still waiting pc approval. But I´m fine and apparently my house is fine, so that´s good. Iosefa´s roof was partly blown off, and their fighting to keep the rest of it on... There´s massive flooding all over the country and so far over 20 people have been killed... far worse that Hurricane Dean back in August--and we didn´t even know this one was coming. Looks like it may be a while before I can get back to my site because the roads are so bad. Kimberly was in the capital (we were going to meet up for a night since it´s been a couple of months since we´d seen each other--sad!) and she´s doing fine. Nate´s holding down the fort in Vicentillo, together with their cat Ichiro, and apparently everything´s okay there too.

Alright, that´s it for now. I´ll be in La Vega until the water receeds.... Hope all is a bit drier where you are!!!

Love,
Melissa