Elections!

May 20th was Election Sunday here in the Dominican Republic.  For the past year we have been seeing the campain efforts of the canditates in the form of posters, houses being painted in the parties' colors, street rallies, and flatbed trucks covered in speakers blasting speeches and music.  There were two clear front runners from the beginning: Hipolito (nick name, Papa) and Danilo.  The elections were held in schools across the country, including La Hoya and Bombita COPA schools.  Starting around 6:30 that morning people started showing up to vote, and it would have been much earlier had it not been raining.  From that time on, the street outside the La Hoya school was packed with people waiting to hear results.  Some were singing, dancing, debating, and rapping, but most were just haning around talking.  The energy was tangible and every once in a while some one would shout out the name of their favored candidate, spuring a new wave of yelling and cheering.  We were not permited to take pictures inside to see the poling, but here is a view of our street.  

Danilo won by the way....

Catching up

It has now been 6 months since my last post.  During this time, I spent 4 months in the States to have my baby girl, Mary.  The last two months I have been settling back in to life in the DR, every week with the intention of starting up this blog again.  This post will be a bit of a catch up of some events over this time period.  Also, I feel it is a bit of a lofty goal to post a new picture every day, but I will be posting pictures frequently.  Please feel free to contact me if there are any specific people or things here in the villages that you would like to see.

Maximo is a university student with COPA.  Patrick visited their home back in December just to spend some time and get to know them.  As you can see, their structure is very basic, with sheets for partitions, but they have a formal dinning set for eight.  We have seen this in many homes both in Bombita and La Hoya.

This is Maximo's little brother, who entertained Patrick all day by beating his pant off at dominoes.  Notice the clothes hangers on his ears which mark the score!

Patrick and Katie and some friends went to La Vega to celebrate Carnival .  They met a number of INTERESTING characters while there, as you can see below.  

In La Hoya, my group of cooking girls threw me a surprise baby shower upon my return.  They were so sweet and planned it all on their own.  They planned a few games, sang a baby shower song, and made pizza!  They also each brought a small gift and a prayer for Mary.  

About 45 minutes drive from La Hoya is a private area that houses a number of small waterfalls and pools.  It is called Casa Miriam, named for the private residence.  You can pay 100 pesos a person to go in and stay as long as you like, or if you want to reserve it for a group you pay 6000 pesos for the privacy.

On April 7th Marcelo, the Bombita librarian, married Soledad.  

This past weekend we went to a small hotel called Casa Bonita for my birthday.  I had received a gift card that covered a massage and was thrilled to see this blissful spot by the river, smelling of lavender and other wonderful smells!

The view from Casa Bonita in the morning is spectacular!

On a hike beyond Casa Bonita we spotted a few horses cuddling in the jungle.  

Mary gets a lot of hiccups, and her nanny, along with all the other women in the village, suggest that I put a piece of white string (it HAS to be white) wet with my spit on her forehead.  Then I am supposed to wet my finger with my saliva and make a cross over her diaphragm.  Caco, Mary's nanny, does this but it doesn't seem to help much...

October 18, 2011

My cooking group of girls came over to give empenadas another try (see Oct 11).  This time we bought the dough premade from a vendor in Barahona and they turned out MUCH better.  We had chicken, pepper, and onion empenadas, salami, ham, and cheese empenadas, egg empenadas, and taco seasoned ground beef empenadas.  We didn’t think to seperate them as we cooked, and the girls remarked it was like opening a Christmas present to find out what types they received!

October 14, 2011

At the Friday assembly in La Hoya, a group of boys and girls did a dance to the song “Mi amor es por Dios” (My love is for God).  It was great to see the boys getting invloved in the dance, as they are usually resistant to dancing at asemblies.  I think they were persuaded once they learned they could wear their sunglasses, and act cool.  At the end of the dance they dipped their dance partner, and I had them reenact the dip for a picture.

October 13, 2011

Can you find the hidden boy?  Two boys from La Hoya came to our house requesting we share the rulo, a type of plantain, that grows in abundance in our yard.  After so many months of having it stolen out from under our noses, we were thrilled that they asked permision instead of waiting for us to leave and sneaking in.  They brought their own machetes, and before Patrick could get his shoes on to help, the boys had already scaled the tree and were busy chopping.  They ended up cutting so much they had to work together to carry their harvest. 

October 11, 2011

One evening Patrick and I had some of the kids from church at our house to make empenadas.  One of the girls always brings her little brother, and he and Patrick had some male bonding time hunting the mosquitos that seemed to be covering the walls that night. The hunt went well, but the empenadas turned out to be a disaster! 

October 9, 2011

On a weekend trip to the capital, Patrick and I explored more in depth the colonial zone.  In this area you can turn down almost any street and find churches built in the 1500’s, the residence of Christopher Columbus, and ruins of palaces and government buildings.  I promised myself I would remember the name of this building and when it was built, but of course I forgot.  It was beautiful though, and we were able to go inside and explore a little, once we got past the flock of guard pigeons!