I am really sorry I have not been posting more often, but training is CRAZY and I haven't really had too much time...
Last weekend I went to visit a current health volunteer in Santiago Rodriguez. The point of the trip was to get to see what day to day life is like for volunteers. I absolutely loved her site. She lives in a very small campo, and almost everyone works in agriculture. Everything was so wide open and beautiful (wayyyyy different than Santo Domingo). She didn't have electricity or running water, but she did have a latrine in the backyard. Also, the nearest colmado (store) was a 30 min walk from her home. While I was there I learned to build a stove (most dominicans use open fires in a small cooking hut, and this is realllllly bad for the women and children so she was building stoves with small chimneys), I learned about all of the things she has done (womens empowerment groups, HIV/AIDS groups, etc), we went to the beach in Monte Cristi, I saw the Haitian border, I saw a chicken go from running around the yard to on my plate, and I got to meet a lot of the people in her community. The beach we went to was on the Atlantic side of the island, and it was completely isolated/private. Oh one very funny thing was that she had a latrine... which is fine during the day, but at night it was COVERED in creepy crawlies (giant cockroaches, spiders, tarantulas, and centipedes). Needless to say if we had to pee at night we popped a squat in the yard. I also had a very interesting experience with a tarantula. I was showering in her kitchen (she showers there because there is light and the water can drain out of the corner... oh and it is bucket showering of course). Anyways, back to my story. There was a giant tarantula chilling in the corner while I was showering. The problem is if you try to kill them and miss they stand up on their back to legs and make a hissing/screeching noise. Oh and did I mention that they can jump. yeah. awesome. Anyways, I opted for the shower with it present option because we all know how bad my hand eye coordination is and I dont think it would end well if I attempted to kill it... it was the fastest shower I have ever taken.
On Transportation:
Ok so public transportation here is interesting. There are carro publicos which look like old hondas from the 80s with doors and bumpers falling off. etc. Anyways, they drive up and down streets but i can never really figure out the routes. You have to fit four people in the back seat and two people in the front seat plus the driver. its cozy. There are also gua guas which are small bus type vehicles. You basically just shove as many people as possible into the guaguas and the cobrador is usually hanging out the side. You can also take taxis but we usually dont do that. Oh and there are moto conchos which are motorcycle taxis. You usually have to take these to the rural areas so I had to take one to my volunteer visit.
OK. So this weekend we are headed to Community Based Training. I will be living in Las Tablas de Bani for 5 weeks with all of the health volunteers. I am not sure what the internet situation will be, but I will do my best to keep yall in the loop.
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