Summertime

Summer is bounding by and I have been too busy (and too much of a procrastinator) to update my blog for a while. Here’s what we’ve been up to in the last two months. As far as work goes we’re still working on building a few more latrines, as well as waiting to see if we get more funds donated. I am also in the process of trying to organize a group of coffee farmers in my community to get together and start a large coffee nursery, but that project is still formulating so it makes for rather boring talk and even more boring photos.

In June we started painting a map mural on the wall of the local school. That has been great fun and the some of the neighborhood kids have really enjoyed practicing their drawing and painting skills. Check out the photos. The only real problem has been that the night watchman of the school leaves to work in his fields early in the morning. This in itself is not a problem because he can leave the keys at a neighbor’s house. And he sometimes does, but other times we’ll walk the 20 minutes to school only to find out that the watchman carried off the keys so we have no other choice but to walk back home. I have talked to him many times about this and in typical Dominican fashion he is very agreeable and promises to leave the keys the following morning. But as so many of us volunteers have learned, there is often a big difference here between what you say and what you do. People mean well, but they often have a mindset like the man who recently chided me when I was in a hurry, “Life is short, slow down and enjoy it.” This, I’ve recently realized, is one of the reasons the DR is such a wonderful place in which to play and travel. But when it comes to organizing work projects, expect your share of setbacks and headaches.

Early July was a rather difficult time as our wonderful cat Schnickelfritz died of apparent poisoning. I know that various neighbors put out rat poison and he must have found something contaminated. It was a sad day. On a brighter note, about a week before this a starved little kitty showed up at our house one morning and, after we gave it some food, moved in with us. We christened him Clunkers because the name seemed to suit his ratty condition. The neighbor kids called him ratoncito (little mouse) for a few days.

Over the fourth of July we went hiking in the Cordillera Central and then spent a day in the beautiful valley of Constanza. Enjoy the photos.

Also Anna’s parents came to visit the past two weeks. We had a wonderful time introducing them to our communities and then spent a few fabulous days at a beautiful beach. Just check out the pictures.