The last two weekends have been full of fun as I’ve experienced some of the most-recommended things to do here in the DR. The biggest is Carnaval, a tradition that has been in the making for 500 years, the first recorded celebration of Carnaval in the Americas coming in the early 1500s in La Vega, Dominican Republic. Carnaval is a blend of African, Taino, and European customs and traditions that have more or less turned into an all-out party every weekend of February (As a local company advertises, “En Febrero, el país está de fiesta”, or “In February, the country parties”). African and Taino celebrations marking springtime were overlaid with Christian meaning and tied into the Lenten season (and not only here obviously as we hear about celebrations in Brazil, and of course New Orleans). Today, towns and cities around the DR have parades full of music, color, costumes, and the you-have-to-look-out-for-those “golpes” (hits) by those in costume carrying vejigas (vay-HEE-gas), something in between a club and a whip. The scary-looking masks are used as part of the tradition to “scare off” bad omens, angry ancestors, and bad luck. Carnaval is about having a good time and making fun of the craziness of life. Since Dominican Independence Day is February 27 (Happy Independence Day!), the craziness is just multiplied. I’ve gone to La Vega, the largest parade in the country, the last two weekends, and the blowout finale of Carnaval will be here in Santo Domingo this coming Sunday. Some pictures (Madeleine don’t worry, I’m fine!!):
Me with a diablo cojuelo ("lame devil")
Creepy. I hope these children aren't scarred for life.
Viking Diablo?
Nice teeth!
The cool one
This was one of my favorites
He WAS my favorite
Nobody is too young to join in
Or too old!
Another fun thing I had the opportunity to do were the 27 Charcos (Pools), a grouping of waterfalls in the hills of the central DR. You climb up a series of falls, pools, slides, and streams, then proceed to jump/slide/swim right back down them. In the past, you could jump from the first waterfall which was 40 feet high, but it was deemed too dangerous since the space was so tight. We had to settle instead for 25-30 foot jumps, still high enough to make you think twice. I tried to get some pictures, but unfortunately I didn’t seal the waterproof bag around my camera very well and only took a few before the camera stopped working. You get the idea though. It was pretty great, something I would highly recommend if you were to ever come to the DR.
My friend Lindsay making her way up one of the slides
Ladder to the top of one of the falls
It was hard to get any pictures through the waterproof bag, but you get the idea!
This is the only picture of me from the trip - my camera was doomed soon after this moment...
This past weekend I went back up to Cabarete (where I went surfing in the fall) for the Master of the Ocean event, a series of three competitions: surfing, windsurfing, and kitesurfing. You can compete in any combination of the events, but to be considered “Master of the Ocean” you have to do all three. Cabarete is one of the best places in the world for kitesurfing, and we saw some pretty great displays of why. Although I enjoyed the competition, I definitely felt a little out of place as I’m not an official member of the surf crowd haha! Kitesurfing looks like potentially the most enjoyable thing on the face of the planet, so maybe someday I’ll save up the money to learn how to do it.
Kitesurfing
Lots of competitors
Carving
Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome
So I’ve been having fun. I realized that my last several posts have only been about these fun things I’ve been doing & seeing around the country most weekends. No, I am not on vacation. I just happen to be living on a Caribbean island, so sue me:) The task that has been taking up the majority of my time is a research project about micro-insurance and its potential role for Esperanza. In short, as microfinance institutions (MFIs) seek to provide a broad range of financial products to their clients, insurance inevitably comes into the picture. Insurance brings a huge amount of risk to an MFI, and MFIs typically do not have the right knowledge to develop insurance products that will be useful to their clients and economically viable for the organization. Should we develop that knowledge ourselves, or should we partner with an organization that already has it? Those are the kinds of questions I have been looking at. I’ve also been working on enhancing a training booklet used by our loan officers to teach business basics to our associates, and I’ve been doing translating work for our database as well as publications and press releases (like those about our work with the recovery after the Haiti earthquake – note: not all of the editing was done by me haha…). So that is how my week looks. Although at this point I doubt these things will last the entire remainder of March, I’ll get them done now and hope something else comes up that I can work on for the rest of my time here. I only have a month left, which is split in two by my sister Sarah’s visit. In short, time is ticking. Please pray for me as I close up this experience. Pray that my work, my relationships, and my choices as to how I use my time will all be meaningful. And pray that I will begin to prepare myself for going back to Seattle while not forgetting where I am right now. No puedo esperar para ver a ustedes, para estar con ustedes, y para hablar con ustedes, pero mientras estoy aquí, necesito estar aquí. ¿Entienden?
