Blogs from Dominican Republic, Central America Caribbean - page 13

Buenos Tardes, Well, I am back on the road again! Except this time I am responsible for eight 11th graders from The Compass School (the high school I attended.) After a slight travel mishap we arrived in Santiago, Dominican Republic last night. At this very moment, I am feeling incredibly refreshed. I just showered and changed my clothes for the first time in 72 hours. For future reference: DON'T FLY AMERICAN AIRLINES. When I say slight travel mishap, I mean there was a mechanical problem on our first flight which made us miss our flight to Santiago. It only took me singing two bars of West Side Story for the students to excitedly realize where we were headed. We decided to be re-routed to San Juan, Puerto Rico rather then spend the night in Miami. So ... read more

Heading back from Jarabocoa to ILAC for the third week in the DR brought a sense of home and comfort. We had all settled in quite nicely to our own double bunk beds, a workout routine of running around the sand track in the evenings, and our consistent 730AM, noon, and 6PM meals followed by reading and dominos. The weather was a tropical breeze with warm sunny days, cool evenings, and even chilly nights. Everyone found a routine at their clinic sites and shared their patient stories daily at meal times. Conveniences that are more often than not a necesity in the United States don't exist in developing countries. Most people have cell phones and some sort of motor vehicle usually a motorcycle. Never do people have machines to wash dishes and clothes. The social system ... read more

I believe that I have a day that encapsulates my life: El dia perfecto Alarm beeping, 7:20am. I grudgingly swivel my head around to turn off my alarm. While rubbing my eyes, I get out of bed and willing step through my door to sit down at the table for breakfast. Literally, 2 minutes later, my Dona, Dona Chede (its her nickname, very common here to use), puts in front of me a breakfast of avena, some kind of sweet bread, and a mixture of papaya, pineapple and mystery fruit #3 (lets just say I forgot the name and really I only know the name of this fruit in spanish, but it tastes so similar to me). First, lets talk about avena…Genus English….Oatmeal…..Genus Tal’s dictionary…Not fucking oatmeal. Oh don’t get me wrong, I like it, really ... read more

Week 2 proved to be the light at the end of the tunnel. We all were battling upset stomachs, struggling to learn the language, and learning about all of the bugs and the type of bites that left you looking as if you had contracted some sort of disease. This week was a shortened week as we only had 3 days in the clinic and then we would be off to an outdoor adventure resort called Rancho Baugiate in Jarabacoa where Jurassic Park was filmed. Hallelujah! We had all become familiar with the transportation by now and had ventured out a few times to try out the restaurants and enjoy the culture. The downtown area of Santiago was very nice and the food was delicious. It felt good to shower thoroughly and put on something other ... read more

Hello all! It's been a few weeks and a busy time in the office, but I snuck out for 4 days to go to the D.R. for their 2nd Intl. Bachata Festival the weekend before last. After an 8 hour busride I was in Santo Domingo for an incredible first trip to other country that shares this island. Not only was the contrast in city infrastructure striking between Haiti and the D.R., but even on the busride over there was a notable difference in the agriculture: organized fields, tools, tractors, irrigation systems for rice fields, etc. (another convo about international investment and country histories would be great to have here, but I can't do it justice now...). Anyways... It was the first time I've ever paid for a hotel in my adult life (granted I shared ... read more