Scuba Diving in Miches

This past weekend, I traveled to the coastal town of Miches to help a Columbia University project conduct dive surveys. The surveys are designed by Reef Check to measure coral reef health. They count different species and record damage from things like anchors and/or contamination. The Columbia project is focused on creating low impact tourism in the area, in contrast to the mega resorts in nearby Punta Cana. You can read more about it at this recent New York Times article.

In other news, a development worker from Germany is going to be moving into my apartment next week. She works with the same coffee organization as me. Her agency’s term of service is only one year and it seems like most of their members are right out of high school. However, their maturity, professionalism and education seems to be on par with or exceed that of many of my American counterparts who are older and must have completed a four year university degree. It will be nice having someone to share expenses with and perhaps I’ll learn how to cook some German dishes.

The body of my former host dad’s brother who was murdered in Haiti last month was finally returned to our community yesterday. The legal process caused most of the delay. Given the dysfunctional governments on both sides of the border, I am surprised the body was recovered at all. I should also mention that the hospital here in town finally opened a few months ago, but it has limited functionality- especially considering its size.

Los Haitises National Park Saved (for now)

Image protesting the cement plant

I forgot to mention a positive development in my previous post. The Los Haitises National Park had been slated as the location for a new cement plant despite the obvious environmental concerns and widespread public opposition. Following a decision by the United Nations Development Program, the plan has been nixed. Their review found the project was not viable. It was a major victory for environmental groups here who struggled hard against a neoliberal goverment plagued by corruption that usually lets business have it’s way.

Thanksgiving Revival

I realize it has been a long time since I last posted an update to this blog. There are many reasons and excuses I could list, but why bother? I find it distracting to try and document my life here while living it fully. However, I also know there are friends and family that appreciate it and that I too will be glad I have something to look back on one day. That’s why I’m back.

Today there was a strike/protest planned to demand the expulsion of all Haitians from this area. Fortunately, at an emergency meeting last night hosted by the local nuns, the misguided and ignorant were persuaded to abandon their plan. However, Haitians have been harassed, beaten and expelled (many left of their own accord) over the last couple weeks. They are being blamed for a supposed spike in crime, among other things. Haitians have long been the favorite scapegoat of politicos here, a tradition passed down from dictators past. Everyone who doesn’t provide a solution must at least provide a distraction.

The event that triggered this latest wave of hatred was the murder of my former host dad’s brother. He was involved in one of the ubiquitous love triangles that end in tragedy one reads about constantly in the newspapers here. The mistress lured him to Haiti and once there he was killed by some Haitians she had hired (from outside the municipality). A local poet wrote and read an amazing poem based on the tragedy for the funeral that I will try to share here soon.

Aside from that, we had a Thanksgiving party with about 200 people at the Arroyo Hondo (rich sector of the capital) country club. There were soccer, dominoes and poker tournaments, along with a 10k race. We ate food you’d actually expect on Thanksgiving thanks to the smuggling efforts of several colleagues. I couldn’t believe how much I missed pecan pie.

My apartment is slowly coming together. I finally bought a refrigerator and stove this past month, so I have been able to cook a little. It’s not been a major issue because my landlord’s family and the neighbors love to have me over for meals. I still need to buy a special device to boost the voltage as the electricity is sometimes not strong enough to get the appliances going. Even my laptop doesn’t want to charge sometimes.

The view from my balcony

Despite the electrical issues, I’m pretty comfortable there. Most of my visitors have been blown away at how nice my apartment is compared to most homes of the people in our organization. Our national director even visited my site with some people from headquarters (DC) a couple weeks ago and they were quite impressed by my living conditions. The truth is that I’m paying the average, if not less, for someone in a community this size. I just got lucky, but some people get to live on the beach. It takes me almost an hour to get to the beach. Keep in mind the country is about the size of Vermont.

Living Arrangements & El Tigueraje

In order to facilitate our cultural integration, we are assigned to host families during training and for the first three months at our site. I’ve been pretty lucky with the families that were selected for me. In Santo Domingo, my Doña (host mom) has been accepting members of our organization for over 20 years, so she is very experienced. Her husband lives in New York. Most Dominicans have a family member living abroad. The only other person in the house was her 28 year old son. It is very common for people to live at their parents’ house until they are married. Singles living alone is a rare exception.

In El Seibo I was placed with a family headed by Don Garcia, a retired military officer who worked as a personal driver for various Dominican ambassadors. He would rattle off facts about other countries he had worked in when we played dominoes at night. Garcia also spent plenty of time in the DR, as he could tell you the precise distance between scores of towns. The family had hosted one other American before me. Their only son, who still lived with them, was very different from my host brother in Santo Domingo (despite having the same age). He was not very friendly and represented a prime example of what is referred to here as a “Tiguere”, which I will explain later.

The family I lived with in my actual site for the first four months is very well connected with the community. As I mentioned before, the father is running for his party’s nomination for mayor. Aside from his wife, two of his daughters (ages 2,6) and one of his sons (9) also live in the house. He also has children that live in other towns by a previous wife. It is not rare for Dominican men to have more than one family, but the hombres responsible for supporting them even if the legal system has not formally recognized the arrangement.

El Tigueraje

As with many Dominican expressions, there are two meanings (doble sentido) to the word Tiguere. It can be used to describe someone who is astute or clever, and that is sometimes applied to a man’s luck with the ladies. On the other hand, it is a negative term used for a man who is basically a leech. He usually does not have a job, at least not a “real” job. He doesn’t think much about the future, just lives for the day. A Tiguere tries to get the most benefit he can for himself with the least amount of effort.

The political and economic system of the Dominican Republic is often referred to as a “Tigueraje”, because public officials are seen as only trying to line their pockets. This country still lacks a cohesive sense of national identity. They are certainly nationalistic, especially when it comes to differentiating themselves from their neighbor to West, but they do not have a well-established concept of citizenship. The consequences can be seen everywhere. For example, education and infrastructure are severely underfunded. In fact, the DR has one of the worst rated education systems in the world.

Some newer Aventura…