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David & Deborah

It's Hot.

Despite Delta Airlines’ best efforts, we arrived in Santo Domingo only 24 hours behind schedule. Santo Domingo was the first city founded by Europeans, and has remained one of the largest cities in the Caribbean region. Suprisingly however, as we flew over the northern shore, across the midsection of the country, and began descending upon Hispañola´s southern shore into Las Americas International Airport, all we could see was green, green, green. Beautiful. Stepping off the plane, however, all we could feel was heat, heat, heat. Not so beautiful (if you are Deborah).

[David: Maybe it was that hot. But then again, just a week ago we had been hiking in the upper reaches of Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The alpine terrain of Mt. Humboldt was blanketed in snow, and the fierce wind that blew along the ridge inspired Deborah to gasp, “When we’re in the DR, if I ever complain about the heat, just remind me of this.” Well my dear, it’s day one—¿Remember Mt. Humboldt?]

Once we cleared customs (without having our Chipotle Tabasco or Siracha sauce confiscated), we were whisked into the city by a friendly taxista. We were finally in the Dominican Republic!!!!—surrounded at last by lightning-fast Spanish, wild traffic, alluring smells, blaring merengue music, and tan, brown and black faces (a whole island of Purces??). We were ready for total immersion and the challenge of trying to blend in as much as possible. Therefore, hoping to avoid attracting attention to ourselves as out-of-towners we naturally checked ourselves into a subtle little guesthouse called, ”THE FOREIGNERS CLUB”.

[David: Deborah had booked the first night in a hotel ahead of time. Apparently, she is not a huge fan of my fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of travel when hauling a year’s worth of luggage... (Weird.)]

We liked how all of the art at the Foreigners Club

was of the Foreigners Club.

After one night in this interesting establishment we installed ourselves for the next week in a great little “apart-hotel” in the Zona Colonial. Here, David wrote, and I edited, several dozen essays for his secondary medical school applications. The Zona Colonial is a (or the only?) beautiful part of Santo Domingo. When we weren’t holed up in our air-conditioned “office” working, we walked through the Zona checking out historic sites, trying new restaurants, and getting oriented to the city.

Dominican corner stores, “colmados,” are social focal points for the community. These convenience stores sell milk, toilet paper, snacks, and other items, but also dispense rum, beer, and loud dance music in greater volumes. From the first night in the city, we adopted the local habit of grabbing a couple plastic chairs off of a stack and sitting around outside the colmado sipping on near-frozen beer, tapping our feet to the music and, above all, people-watching. Typically folks order a large bottle (“jumbo”) of Presidente beer to share. Though microbrews back home blow Presidente out of the water, Dominicans know how to serve a beer: “vestida de novia”—literally, “dressed as a bride,” in reference to the frost on the outside of the bottle. In fact, the refrigerators are maintained below freezing (-4^oC) in order to guarantee the pleasurable experience of drinking a very cold beer in a very warm place.

Old gate into Columbus' first city in the Americas - Santo Domingo

Escaping from medical school essays was a treat, as it afforded us the opportunity to go look for food. It didn’t take long to find that just a block away, “Moreno,” the owner of a small colmado and small barbeque grill parked on the curb, prepares mouth-watering chicken quarters and wings every afternoon. You can find him on this corner seven days a week, grilling by day and playing dominó deep into the night. Moreno’s chicken and a few good “comedores” helped to orient our pallets to the tasty starch and meat-heavy Dominican cuisine.

Rainy, gray Washington State could take a lesson in cheerful

house painting from the Dominican Republic.

Cafecito and a crossword in the Zona Colonial.

What the What.

Last fall David applied for a Fulbright Scholarship to study public health in the Dominican Republic. Several anxious months later he learned that he had been awarded the scholarship and for the past five months our thoughts and plans were aimed southeast from our home in Seattle toward the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispañola. We will be here for 10 months and are living in the small town of Monte Plata. (As a marine biologist, I was thrilled be going to an island country in the Caribbean. As a marine biologist, I was not so thrilled to learn that Monte Plata is in the middle of the country and about as far as you can get from any coast). David will be working with a local NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) on issues related to HIV/AIDS and public health, but more from him on that later. Many of my friends and family will remember that I studied abroad here in the city of Santiago 11 years ago. This time however, I will be getting involved in community initiatives around Monte Plata, while also connecting with marine biology-related projects throughout the country.

We are thrilled and so lucky to be here! We’ll try to keep you posted on our work and adventures. We will also be making an obscene number of requests for you to come join us! So save us the trouble and COME VISIT!!!!

Love,

D&D