Back from the Mountains

Just got back from an interesting trip to El Firme, a little ¨town¨that balances on a ridge of the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range. I visited Dawn and Charles, 2 ecclectic volunteers in their 60s who are finishing up their two years of service in El Firme, and got to know a little about their projects. Charles taught me all about Cacao (the chocolate plant, which is the main source of income for this town), and we went to a government run tree nursery and picked up over 100 trees for him to distribute in El Firme. Erosion and deforrestation are real problems in this particular part of the mountains (and everywhere really) so Charles is doing his part to recreate biodiversity in and around El Firme. Other projects include a small library (two file cabinets filled with books), a new clinic, and Charles´beekeeping, which the local youth are very interested in.

To get to El Firme, I had to take a taxi, then a large bus, then a small van, then a motorcycle. Everyone stared at me like a benign alien all weekend, especially as I was riding up the mountain with my huge backpack, clinging for dear life to the motorcycle driver. Thank goodness for my Peace Corps issue helmet!

I came back with tons of chigger-bites and a wealth of knowledge about recipes, homemade pesticides, and Dominican flora and fauna, and most importantly, a better idea of what being in the Peace Corps is really all about. (They told us when we applied that it´s not like camping for two years, but the way Dawn and Charles live, it kinda is! An outhouse, rainwater as their only source, sporadic electricity, and chickens and hogs galore!) I´m eager to hear about the experiences that all the other trainees had at their sites, as we were spread all across the country to fend for ourselves this weekend.