Our DR Trip: Mountain life

 

My favorite day of our trip was Day 4. We weren't working this day, but we did get to visit a mountain community and see how the people there live. We drove about an hour and a half up some windy roads before stopping at Yassica. This was a bustling little town with lots of activity. It was also our last chance for a bathroom before the 4-hour hike up Mt. Brison.

We were hiking on the road so I thought it would be a piece of cake but it proved to be quite challenging. Of course their roads aren't like ours. There were lots of rocks and places where it had been washed out. On the way up, we were passed by several men and boys on donkeys hauling milk and other things down the mountain. We also saw several motorcycles, which Kyle was amazed by considering how steep the road was in places.

We actually saw a man on a donkey talking on his cell phone. That was unexpected! For some people to have modern conveniences like this but not proper bathrooms seemed very odd to us.

Dave had us stop in several places along the way to rest while we learned about the people who live on the mountain. No one was at the first home we visited. Dave thought there might be a funeral since several of the neighbors were gone as well. I think maybe they were at church since it was Ash Wednesday. I remember seeing people later with ashes on their foreheads so that seemed logical to me. Catholicism is the primary religion in the DR, which was very familiar to me. It was cool to see those similarities - like people dressing up for church on Sunday.

We walked around the yard of that first house and saw lots of farm animals - roosters, chickens, turkeys, hogs, etc. We also found a pile of carbon (aka charcoal) being made. This is illegal in the DR. The Haitians use the carbon for cooking but it's very bad for their health because they leave it burning all day and breathe it in. Dave assumes this family is making it to sell. He compared it to moonshine and said it's not uncommon for people to make but they typically don't leave it out in the open like this.

This is their version of a kitchen. 

The smoldering carbon. 

Dave, Terri, Giorgio, Meggi, Scott, Bill and Willie 

Here you can see the bald spot on the mountain, which is a result of poor farming practices and soil erosion. 

Everyone had a clothes line. 

We even passed a dairy farm. 

One of our next stops was at the elementary school. There are a few of these on the mountain but if kids want to attend middle school and high school they have to hike to the bottom. Dave said this probably takes them an hour or so - one way. That means they have to be pretty dedicated! We actually went into the elementary school this time and got to observe a teacher and his class.

This class had about 10 to 12 students - half in the 3rd grade and half in the 4th. It reminded me a little of the one room schoolhouses I've visited back home. He talked to us about how difficult it is to teach multiple classes at once. That day the kids were learning to read in Spanish. Later we learned that kids in the DR are probably about 2 grades behind kids in the US as far as their level of knowledge. This is primarily because in the DR it is rare for kids to go to school all day. They usually go either in the morning or afternoon and get a pretty lengthy recess. While their school year is pretty similar to ours, schools close randomly if, for example, a teacher has a death in the family or it rains too much. They are trying to lengthen the school day but that may be a challenge in communities like this where they depend on kids to help sustain the family.

The class rules. 

Our next stop was a family of four girls. Their mother was pregnant with her fifth baby but this time she was having a boy. Dave talked to her in Spanish and would translate for us. She is due in March and will have a C-section in a town about 2 hours away. With one of her girls, she went into labor at the top on the mountain and didn't have time to make it to the city so she was born at home. I can't imagine what that would be like. It did seem like she would have had lots of help, though. Like many families we visited, the extended family (grandmas, uncles, aunts, etc.) lived together - either in the same house or houses right next to each other.

This little boy was actually an uncle to the four girls.

He was a little shy but he and Kyle made fast friends playing tag.

This was the point of no return. Those who wanted a ride piled in the Jeep and the rest of us had to hike all the way to the top. 

After that the hike got really difficult. We were struggling, but we made it to the top. We just couldn't fathom how children (many of whom were either barefoot or in sandals) could do this every day. I guess it helps to have lots of practice. The view from the top was beautiful and Dave and Scott encouraged us to take pictures because in 7 years they had never been able to see the ocean like on this day.  

Flowers greeted us when we'd finally made it.

Then we got to look out on the beautiful land below. 

We stopped a Maxima's house for lunch. She is one of the locals. I was a little nervous for this meal because I wasn't sure what to expect. The food was similar to what we'd been eating at the lodge (chicken, rice, beans, potatoes and fruit) only better because it was so fresh. Well either that or because we were hungry from the climb.

There was a man who saw Dave's Jeep, put some ice cream bars in an ice chest and headed up after us. I guess this is a regular thing and he sells the ice cream to Dave for us to enjoy.We hadn't had any chocolate (other than the Girl Scout cookies Amanda sent with us and the M&M's in our trail mix) so this was a wonderful treat.

Giorgio was pretty good at telling us the names of all the flowers since he loves botany, but I forget what's what. They sure are pretty, though.

While at the top we hiked to a garden cared for by a 13-year-old girl. She is able to help feed several families with the food it produces. It was hard to get to and did not look like any garden here in the US. It seemed like a mess of plants that were overgrown to me, but she seemed to know where everything was and even told Dave a few of the plants she'd like to add to the garden. Dave said part of the reason why the garden is so hard to get to is because her family does not own the land, so they don't have permission to use it as a garden. 

On the way, we stopped at their old water supply.

Thanks to Dave and his team they were able to get a clean water source to replace this one. 

 Noki (I am certain that is spelled incorrectly) carried a machete in one hand and her baby sister in the other as she lead us to her garden. All that while wearing white slip-on sandals.

Our trek down the mountain was MUCH easier than going up. I did slip a few times but was able to catch myself before falling. It was a faster trip, too, so we just made one pit stop this time. This stop was to watch as a woman harvest a seed, which had a red dye inside. It was fascinating to watch. People here really do try to use every bit of the plants, animals and land around them so nothing goes to waste. The matriarch of this family was 73 years old and she seemed like a hoot. She had all kinds of things to tell us. She showed us her kitchen, which was filled with smoke. My eyes were watering and my throat tickled after about 5 seconds, so I can't imagine cooking there all day. No wonder so many women have lung issues.

Dave, Scott, Meggie, Giorgio and Bill 

This was the matriarch of the family showing Dave around the kitchen. 

There really aren't many animals in the DR aside from farm animals (that goes for fish in the ocean as well) but this family had some pet turtles. 

The cacoa trees that had been planted were starting to grow. 

This boy spent a lot of time getting his motorcycle clean. He was there at the start of our hike and the end of it. 

The trip down took us just over an hour, and after that, we were all exhausted. That night at dinner we talked about the day and how happy everyone on the mountain seemed. They don't have much, but they truly do care for one another and live as a community. That was hard for us to imagine since most of us don't really know our neighbors well and would feel unsafe leaving our doors unlocked.

Instead of feeling like an outsider during our hike, I felt like a friend. People greeted us with smiles and holas rather than strange stares. If the situation were reversed, I'm afraid they wouldn't have quite the same experience in the US. Sometimes we can become so reliant on ourselves that we forget to open our eyes and get to know the people around us. I think if we lived like they do on the mountain we would have no choice but to depend on one another.