Who has the time?

My deepest, deepest apologies faithful blog readers but here is a rundown of the reasons it's been a month and a half since I last posted:

It was christmas (the entire month of december is christmas). We didn't have internet for solidly 3 weeks in town and the next closest town's internet is unreliable at best. It's been raining torrentially which a)knocks down the internet signal and b)makes it nearly impossible to want to leave the house because it's so muddy and gross and cold. Yes, cold. So some of the things in this blog are xmas related but I'm certain you can look past my tardiness...

And before I get started with pre-written blog, I'd like to make a note about Haiti. It is no secret that the world rains black clouds on Haiti, and two days ago it happened again when a 7.3 earthquake hit just near the capital and pretty much crumbled any semblance of government they had left. People are dying in the streets, I know because the news here doesn't hide the bodies like the news there--and I'm not sure which is worse. Although I'm a fairly good distance from the epicenter, we felt the quake quite strong here probably around a 4.0 which is apparently stronger than a lot of the rest of the country felt, but everyone here is OK and life is getting more or less back to normal, if not dominated by earthquake Haiti talk. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to go to Haiti, though I wish I could (sorry Mom) to help. But I know there are a number of websites collecting donations and there is always Dr. Paul Farmer's Partners in Health that has been working in Haiti for over 20 years and will probably be working triple time now.

And on to the blog...
-Christmas caroling. Almost a rite of passage for kids around the world, going all over the neighborhood singing traditional Christmas songs, sometimes playing instruments or drums as an accompaniment. If I remember correctly it’s usually done in the evening time…after dinner? That’s almost the truth here. Every kid definitely gets involved and there are definitely drums. And it’s most certainly performed in the dark hours. But, one major difference I’ve noted is that it starts at roughly 5:30 in the morning until 7ish. It’s not even upsetting because it’s so weird.

-1km away from my house is what I am told is the most beautiful beach in the country (it’s one of only two beaches I’ve been to down here so that’s why I have to qualify with what I am told is the most beautiful). This however didn’t stop someone from having to build an Olympic sized swimming pool surrounded by a great wall overlooking the most beautiful beach with a gigantic sign that says (in Spanish): “Danger. Savage Dogs.” Savage? They really do have a flair for the dramatic here.

-I would like to describe what I will call “poor man’s razor wire” which is actually more aesthetically pleasing and looks to be a hell of a lot more painful than actual razor wire. First, you take glass Presidente and Brugal bottles and break off the bottoms a la a bar fight. Second you build a cinderblock wall around your house. Third you place the bottles neck down in the holes of the cinder blocks and mortar them down and voila you have what looks like green and clear glass flowers that will rip you to shreds faster than those savage dogs.

-I’m not particularly sparkly. I don’t really drift toward shiny things. Diamonds and sequins aren’t my thing. This is pretty obvious with my outward appearance and has been audibly noted by many of my friends. But whenever I get a gift from a Dominican it in some way incorporates some form of glitter as though they think I’ve just not yet discovered it as opposed to having preferences against. Oh well, a gift is a gift.

-Motorcycle riding pretty much the sole form of transportation in most of this country. Thus it’s no longer surprising to see motors packed with people, household appliances, babies, etc. So we PCV’s had to catch ourselves one day when someone asked “I don’t remember what they do in the states, do they have helmets for babies or what?” To which we pondered until we realized that until here none of us had actually seen anyone younger than probably 16 on the back of a motorcycle. Ever. Somewhat surprisingly (knock on wood) I haven’t heard of any terrible accidents involving small children. Just adults. And Cows.

-For those of you who have been keeping track, a new bar opened last week. That’s 6 drinking establishments for 400 people...and that doesn't include the Colmados that just sell the booze but don't actually have tables and chairs.

-I never thought of eco-consciousness or wanting to eat as healthy as possible as being bourgeois but it totally is.

-We don’t have a gas station. This isn’t really surprising since there are only 400 people in town. Estero Hondo doesn’t have a gas station either. This is slightly more surprising since they have around 2000 people. The closest real gas station is 22km away in Villa Isabela. So how do we get gas you ask? A local opportunistic entrepreneur goes to one of our bars or colmados and collects up the empty beer and rum bottles and then drives the empties in his truck to Isabela. Then he fills all of those bottles with gasoline. Then he brings them back here and sells them. It’s about 90 pesos for a half gallon of rum gasoline, and I think it’s about 40 or 50 pesos for the jumbo Presidente cerveza gasoline. Thus, we have a gas station-ish.

-Feel good moment: you don’t have to feel guilty for being an American anymore (not that you did, and that’s fine). Rich people the world over including from developing countries seem to think they pee gold and that everything their obnoxious brats do is the cutest thing in the world.