Dominican Republic

What could be bad about a country that has baseball as its national sport? There are stadiums everywhere and when you pass dirt fields there are kids playing all the time. As a bonus, there are lots of casinos, beautiful beaches and golf! As I was driving from Santiago, in the north, I drove up to the coast and saw these absolutely lush green hills or mountains that were so much greener than Costa Rica for some reason. I might also add that the roads were paved, unlike Costa Rica and when we had about ten yards of unpaved road, cars slowed down as if there was a dead body in the middle of the street. In Cosa Rica, all the roads are like that ten yards and cars just fly everywhere kicking gravel and rocks every which way.

For some inexplicable reason, my school has a week off so I went to the Dominican Republic via Panama. I think I saw the canal from the air but I will check it out the next time I have a long week-end in a few weeks from now, but at the moment, I am enjoying the life. Pura Vida, but for the wrong country.

Last night on the malecon, there was a huge meringue party with thousands of people, music so loud it could probably be heard in outer space and all kinds of hawkers selling their candy floss and drinks. Thousands of us stood in lines waiting for the security guard to check us for weapons, I guess. When it was my turn to get frisked, the security guard just rolled his eyes and waved me through. There are some advantages, I guess, to being old.

When I went to find a parking spot, I had to go about ten blocks away from the beach to get a spot, and as usual discovered something amazing. A barrio in downtown Puerto Plata where the people actually lived. There was literally one room shacks attached in one long block with open doors and people sitting on their stoops. The music was blaring, kids were running around all over the place and when I went to get a drink in a small shop it was packed with people tighter than sardines with two guys playing drums on the floor with some kind of make shift drums, others dancing on the spot and others buying stuff and carrying out their business.. They were making their own fiesta in the local corner store. When I see life like this, it makes me pause, as I have often said and re- evaluate my North American life with the big house, quiet neighbourhood and more ‘stuff’ in the house that is probably worth more than these Dominicans will make in their lifetimes. Are they happy? Who knows…but from the look of it, they seemed to be having a mean old time!

Poverty does suck and I know that, but in that poverty one can make the most of it. I do realize that workers in the hotel I am staying out probably make a few hundred dollars a month if that and work stupendously long hours . I also realize it destroys family life as the young men are scared off by responsibility and often leave their wives or girlfriends when they get pregnant leaving a nation of single mothers, which can’t be a good thing. Living on subsistence wages obviously is not a good thing and I do not want to romantize it, but I did witness people making the best of a bad situation. There were tens of thousands of people at the free concert, hundreds sitting in the town square with the church all lit up, hundreds more inside the church at some kind of prayer meeting that seemed to be really rocking and hundreds of others parading along the malecon or sea walk. Of course, driving home I also saw a fight break out in a dingy bar with dozens of people watching. Don’t know where all this leads in my blog or reflection but will write more over the course of the week.

Naturally I did visit schools, met the superintendent of all the schools in the area and will write about that in a few days. I will tell you though, that even though she was my age and not a beauty, she would not let me take a picture of her with her glasses on. I guess vanity has no age limit!