Fuerte en un Mundo Dificil

The Honda SUV was rocking back and forth as if we were living through Jurassic Park, except for that there were no raptors chasing after us. This rocking went on for 20 minutes of driving up the mountain to the lakehouse.

The lakehouse was beautiful, and situated comfortably in a rural area on top of a mountain. Looking out from the backyard I saw a canyon-esque scene with a river flowing in between our mountain and the opposing mountainside. Upon arriving there we met my group leader's girlfriend and friend who were to host and cook BBQ for us later on. The day was meant to be very tranquila. About an hour after relaxing and settling into our setting for the day, we were told that we could go tubing up the river through some rapids and have a relaxing ride while doing so. It sounded like a different river experience than we expected, but possibly even more exciting than anticipated! We left all of our belongings locked up in the kitchen, and trekked down the mountain to another home that had tubes for us to borrow. The home had no one there, but in the Dominican Republic when you know the person well you can usually just let yourself in (I'm not sure if that's the norm at home... usually not for me). We then hiked down the mountain for 20 minutes arriving at the river. The neighbor's dog, who we named Choco, followed us to the river and entered the water with  me. I am pretty sure he did not have fleas, because he looked cleaned and taken care of. The problem was that Choco had taken a liking to us... and so when I was situated in my tube he jumped on my lap, and shaking scared, situated his ass directly onto my chest. I was praying he wouldn't poop or pee on me. After about 10 minutes of floating along without the dog budging, I used my brazos (arms) to get to shore and I threw him off of me and into the water. I was afraid I was deserting him like some kind of Sea-Spot-Run or Homeward Bound type thing, but the dog ran away like he knew where he was going... so I didn't worry. It was a good thing that I left him too, because shortly thereafter we experienced some rapids, and I needed to move and kick and use a lot of muscles. Choco would have definitely pissed on me.

The river is called El Rio de Los Brazos, because when you are in the river tubing, you have to work your brazos to control where you're going. At least that was the explanation given to us from our group leader. He has certainly developed from the timid German, Dominican resident we met in New York. It's comforting to know that we can make jokes with one another and be open. Some of us have become kind of like a family in the way we are open with each other here. There's no choice when you're with the same five people every day, working and living.

I should have worn sunscreen. I knew it would wash off in the river, so there wasn't much of a point, but now my back is nearly maroon with a red and black tan.
I don't know how that happened either because I sat with my bum going through the donut hole of the tube, and my back hardly ever saw the sun.

Going through the rapids was exciting! I threw my hands in the air and shouted like a rollercoaster ride. Immediately after passing through the rapids there is a sharp turn in the river that the current makes you crash into, and get hurt on. It was my job to work my brazos and avoid the branches as best as possible. In front of me our leader's girlfriend had crashed and lost her tube, and I had no way to stop and help her because I had no control against the power of the current. Someone else was able to come to the rescue and everything worked out fine but sliding through the water passing her while she stood in the current holding onto a branch with a sad face was scary to see and I hoped that I wasn't next to crash. Thankfully I made it through fine. I would even pay to do it again. The ride was like a river rapids ride that I've seen in Disney World, except for my tube wasn't controlled by any kind of underwater track.

The day reminded me a lot of camp, and New Hampshire because we were in the middle of a rural forest, and adventuring into areas unknown. I felt like an explorer again! And, I don't know if anyone who is not from New England could relate, but there is always someone in the group who climbs to insane places and jumps in the water while everyone else watches and says "what the hell is he doing!" Our group leader's friend was that guy. He certainly made me feel at home, reminding me of adventures to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire climbing trees and bridges to jump off of them. On this particular day, unlike in New Hampshire, there was cow shit everywhere and it was old cow shit. It looked like piles of plastic poop that you might use to put in your friends bed to prank them... but it was definitely real poop we were tip toeing around.

Unfortunately, the poop-covered steep mountain that we came down was also the same one that we had to hike up at the end. Going up was a lot more difficult, not just because going down is easier in almost all situations, but also because we were going up a different part of the mountain that had almost no path and was extremely steep. It would have been easier with mountain climbing equipment, dry cloths, and sneakers instead of wet and muddy flip flops. But... we deal with what we have.

After returning to the lakehouse I almost immediately fell asleep while laying out on the only lawn chair, facing the house. I looked like I was part of the conversation because my sunglasses were on, and I don't think I typically snore. Very subtle. When i woke up, dinner was ready and I was SO ready to eat! A huge tray of homemade potato salad mixed with peas and eggs sat in front of me. I had a quick vision of me as a little kid taking handfuls of it and stuffing it into my pockets for later... too bad that is a really gross thing to do in real life, because I would have been all over that. We ate homemade chicken on scewers, German sausage, ribs and burgers. They thought of everything! And when I asked our leader how many people he was planning on feeding he apologized for not getting more of a selection. What a guy.

We laughed all day! It was an extremely homey and enjoyable experience. At the end of the day I realized that, as this is my last week in this beautiful country, I have become far more grateful of my experience than I was originally and I feel differently about living here than I had two weeks ago. Living with the same people and not having many others to interact with was difficult at first, and it remains difficult. However, the longer I've stayed here the more people I have found opening up to me. On my way to classes every morning I pass the one-legged amputee in his wheelchair outside of the bank, rattling his cup. He has learned to stop asking me for money, and instead I greet him with an "Hola, como esta caballero?" and he responds with a "muy bien, linda. Buen dia." The other day I stopped and told him that he has been patiently waiting for me to give him money, and he smiled and laughed. Even without speaking we had made a connection and he agreed with me through his chuckles. I threw a dollar in and said, "Dios te bendiga" and as I walked away he blessed himself.

On my way back from school I pass my Haitian-shopowner friend and I listen to him tell me about his troubles paying rent this month and how he is worried about child support since his ex wont let him see his kids. Then I continue home and stop in a shop where the woman has never asked me to come in, because she sees my face every day and I usually politely greet her and continue on my way. Finally when I do stop to look in, she hops out of her chair in the road to show me her cool things. While looking around, I asked her if she had children "tienes hijos?", and she said no. She asked me why i wanted to know, and I told her that it was just because I was interested in her life and who she is "eres interesante y quiero conocerte." At that moment I saw a key turn and the door to her heart opened. I asked her if she was married and she said no, because her husband died two years ago of pancreatic cancer. I apologized deeply for her loss, and oddly, she reacted by thanking me and telling me how surprisingly nice and kind I am. I don't take compliments well, so I responded by telling her "Yo pienso que eres muy fuerte. Eres una persona fuerte en un mundo dificil" (I think that you are a strong person in a difficult world.) She began to tear up, thanked me and hugged me, and we moved on to other things.

This has become my life here. Sales people do not bother me anymore, no one hits on me anymore as of recently, since I have become a little snappy. I hear "hey baby what you want" and I turn around in anger and say "I'm not you're baby!" When there is that one guy who doesn't know me, and I react like that, all of the other men around laugh because they have already had their turn at me and I have shut them down just as hard. Soy una puta fuerte!

Leaving a town of people who know me and know what I'm doing and what I'm about, even though they may not be a good friend of mine, its an experience I've never had before and I don't want to leave. I have built tons of little connections with people and their children, simply because I pass them every day and have greeted them warmly. Those connections have grown to be far more meaningful than I originally realized.

The waitress in the restaurant greets me and calls me "amor" and we talk about what we did this past weekend. Going out at night has become a different experience since I don't hesitate to dance with people, just because they might be sankies or putas (male and female prostitutes) doesn't mean I should separate myself from them. They're people just working to make money and get a visa, and I'm a person just working and having fun doing it.

Sufficed to say, I will certainly miss this experience when it ends, and I am going to try my best to keep in touch with some of the friends I've made here.
We're going zip-lining tomorrow! I'm making the most of my last 3 days here!

-Interested in Dominican music then google Dembow (form of reggaetone) and Bachata artists.