I feel a little sheepish submitting this post as I haven’t exactly been ‘on the ball’ when it comes to the blog, however I will say my absence has not been because of lack of experiences. Reflecting on my time spent here in the Dominican Republic thus far I realize that I have definitely had my highs and lows.
Life in Santo Domingo has been interesting to say the least. We have scored a pretty decent apartment in a safe area of the city, about a 10 minute taxi ride from the zona colonial, the old part of the city where there is actually character. Our guagua rides home from work sound familiar to what Terry and Melissa experience everyday as well. Painfully slow traffic, deafening noise, and a myriad of flashing lights. Of my travels thus far, Santo Domingo has to be the most Americanized city in Latin America. Generally, people really seem obsessed with status of which they attach to things like Burger King, brand names and expensive cars (SD has the highest BMW ratio per capital in the world). Not much different than back home. We know a woman who is pretty much paying a mortgage on a couch that she couldn’t afford but yet still complains in the same breath about not having enough money. Sometimes I like to romanticize developing countries in that they haven’t bought into capitalism like more developed countries… Santo Domingo has shown me another reality, especially in contrast to the campos we work with.
Work wise we spent the first month or so preparing for the IAFN conference that we hosted here in the Dominican Republic. The weeklong conference itself was incredibly inspiring, spent with some really interesting people. A definite highlight was learning from Ranil Senanayake. Incredible doesn’t quite describe him. For the Cuba cats they will know what I’m talking about when I say that I’ve never met someone who is so passionate, knows so much, who at the same time is just a really cool person. Good times.
Now that we are all fired up from the conference we’ve developed a new work plan. I’m on board to instigate an Analog Forestry demonstration parcela in the city’s Jardin Botanico. We’re really excited about the potential this project has to spread the good word about AF.
On a personal note, I’m proud to say that Jenny and I received our PADI open water diving certification about a month ago. Now we are pretty much mermaids!
Well, that’s about all I have to report at the moment. Miss you all back at Falls Brook and of course my fellow interns!

Pura Vida,

Jess