Fruit Paradise

Friday October 22, 2010

Day 49

Today I worked on some things for my upcoming tour with the visitors.  I prepared a guide and a summary of the important points that I need to include.  I got a bit distracted when I found about the Cholera outbreak in Haiti.  I ended up researching and reading articles for a lot of the day.  Disease knows no borders and it is quite scary to think what can happen in the next few days.  As of today it hadn’t hit Port-au- Prince yet and I am just hoping it doesn’t go there because that could be disastrous. 

At night we went out to dinner for Nanita’s birthday.  We were trying to keep the location a surprise but I wasn’t entirely in on the surprise so I was a bit confused and frustrated.  We were trying to go to a restaurant next to a hotel where they were having a big, fancy fashion show.  Needless to say there were absolutely no parking spots and a ton of people trying to go where we were going.  Eventually, Teresa worked her magic and the chef from the restaurant snuck is in to a VIP spot next to the restaurant.  She knew this guy already and it was somewhat part of the plan I think.  The restaurant was an Argentinian place and we had two big platters with a variety of different types of meat.  It was delicious but I had no idea what half of the things were that I was eating.

Saturday October 23, 2010

Day 50

I woke up early today to get ready for our trip to Ruben’s.  The kids were supposed to have music lessons this morning but the power went out so they had to cancel because Juan Carlos plays the keyboard and that requires electricity.  We all went to the grocery store to buy some things to take with us to Ruben’s and I had to also stock up on my yogurt and cereal. 

We ended up leaving a lot later than planned but eventually we began our journey to Ruben’s.   The trip is about two hours and the first hour and a half or so is on a highway.  The final 30 minutes is where the adventure is.  The roads are unpaved, narrow, bumpy, curvy or hilly.  I actually enjoy those kinds of trips but I was glad I wasn’t driving because I would be afraid to hit something or worse, someone.  We had to ask for directions a few times but people here are so kind and helpful.

When we arrived at Ruben’s they were waiting for us and had sancocho (stew with meat, cassava, and potatoes, etc) and freshly caught river crabs all prepared.  Ruben is married and has two daughters and a son and plenty of other kids and friends who frequent his house so there were a bunch of people there too.  We had a big meal outside and after the meal everyone was telling riddles and jokes until late in to the night.  It was a lot of fun and the best part was that there weren’t any mosquitoes! (Can you believe that, Grace?) 

Sunday October 24, 2010

Day 51

I woke up to ducks and chickens and the sun streaming through my window.  Not a bad way to wake up.  Teresa helped Ruben’s wife and another woman prepare the breakfast in their outdoor kitchen.  I love the smell of fire so I was glad they were using that instead of the regular kitchen they have inside.  They made some type of stew with salami and onions and served it with yuca (cassava) for breakfast.  At every meal we also had avocados because they grow them on his property and they were just delicious.  While they were preparing the breakfast, Ruben showed me the chicken coop that my 13 year old cousin, Grace raised funds for and helped to build.  I was expecting something a lot smaller and basic but this thing was huge.  It is more like a chicken house than a coop. I was so proud!

After breakfast Ruben gave us a tour of his property.  This tour was the most delicious tour I ever went on.  He has so many different types of fruit on his property and I will try to remember everything: mandarin oranges, avocados, something that looks like a cherry (I do not know the name), Chinese grapes, coffee, cocoa, cashews, macadamias , star fruit, mango, limes, pineapple, passion fruit and probably more that I am forgetting. I should have kept a list! It was fun walking through the property and tasting things. The cocoa tastes nothing like chocolate and I felt like I was in the Kashi commercial when the lady tries it and goes “ooo, slippery!” In the 24 hours that I was at Ruben’s house I consumed so much fruit and it was delicious.

After the fruit tour we went to go check out the rest of the surrounding communities.  We visited some of the people Ruben helped recently and they were all so grateful to see Ruben.  Ruben lives in an extremely poor area and is always doing some sort of project to help his neighbors.  One area that we went to was La Lomita.  This community is very poor and they were suffering greatly before Ruben and GRACE Cares got involved. http://gracecares.com/home.html My brother, Aunt and Uncle founded this organization and they have been working in La Lomita for a few years now.  Ruben showed us the well that they helped build as well as the community center they constructed.  As soon as we got out of the car to walk around, a ton of little kids joined us.  They were all happy to see Ruben and it was so nice.  It was as if Ruben had 20 something little nieces and nephews who all ran to meet him and welcome him.  In the community center (it is a covered pavilion area that the kids can play in it when it rains, have classes, eat, etc.) Teresa got all of the kids to sing a song.  It was cute and of course I took a video.  She also was teaching them how to properly pray.  She told them it was a game and they HAD to keep their eyes closed until we were done.  I hope to do more personally with the kids of La Lomita because I can see how much they need the help and how much they are benefiting from what GRACE and Ruben have already done.

After La Lomita we went to visit a friend who lived on the top of this hill.  He had built a beautiful house and it was so comfortable and fancy (as hilltop houses in the countryside of the Dominican Republic go) on the inside.  Teresa and the kids rode the horse for a little while and they really enjoyed that.  I took a bunch of pictures because the view was so wonderful. 

When we finished our community tour we returned to the house for lunch.  We had rice, meat, habichuelos (bean stew to put on rice) and a side salad.  It was very tasty and I ate way too much.  After lunch I played with Ruben’s daughters (ages 7 & 8) and I think I have made two new friends now. They are very outgoing and LOVE being models for pictures and photographers with my camera.  The last thing we did before we left was go to church with Ruben and his family.  The church was very small and there were probably only about 30 people there (10 of which were Ruben’s family/friends and Teresa and her kids) but it was a nice service.

When church was over we headed back to Santo Domingo and made two stops along the way.  The first place we stopped at was a roadside place to buy freshly cooked chicken.  I elected not to have any later because it didn’t meet my food safety standards. It was out of refrigeration for too long and I am a bit obsessed with food safety.  The other place we stopped was this famous grocery store.  They sell fresh yogurt, cheese and a bunch of different types of desserts.   Even though I was so full from eating way too much this weekend I purchased some interesting looking candy.  One was sesame candy and the other was some sort of sweet milk concoction.  To sum up this weekend: fruit, food, adventures.

Fun Facts:

1.       I tried a sweet lime and it tasted like margarita mix.

2.       Sugar cane is amazing and surprisingly high in iron.

3.       Ruben’s daughters know a bunch of words in English and it is so cute when they randomly blurt out something in English. 

4.       On Sunday morning some people were walking down the street in front of Ruben’s and stopped to chat.  He obviously knew them and then I realized that they were from New Hampshire.  They were doing some community service here and they were very nice.  Ruben told them “oh look, one of your species” implying that there was another person from the US here (me).

5.       Even though I am afraid of machetes, they are quite useful in the country.  Everyone seems to have one so maybe I should invest in one? Not.

6.       I tried a piece of a hardboiled egg that came from a duck and it tasted like a regular egg.  The only difference was that it was bigger. 

7.       The streets were so narrow and it was often nearly impossible for two cars to pass each other.

Peace,

Jaclyn



My two new friends, Noami and Rosie (spelling on both?) in front of Grace's chicken coop




Teresa leading the kids in a song




Bad expression, nice view