When we first pulled into Hato Viejo, everything was different. There was a significant lack of hills, mountains, pot holes, cacao, and my familia. The first day was pretty difficult for me; I was really missing the other campo. Nearly every aspect of Hato Viejo is different from Sabana De San Isidro. Like I mentioned in the last entry, it is s rice community (flat land) and it is a much, much larger community that has a very strong North American influence. I found myself judging way too quickly, associating myself more with the simpler life of San Isidro.
But of course, my bad mood didn’t stick for too long. After dinner I was quickly enthralled into a serious domino match with my mom, Elizabeth and her dad. And on top of the excitement of the game, I got to hold an adorable little girl in my lap. This was just the beginning of the little kids and the intense domino activity of Hato Viejo.
My family was a lot smaller this time around; just me, brother, mom and dad. I had 3 sisters who all lived in the capital, studying or raising families. My brother was hardly around, so it was pretty much just me and my parents. We played a TON of domino, I think I am getting pretty good – it’s amazing how much you can learn just by watching and trying it out. Let’s just say, my mom can throw a mean ficha (tile)!
The work in this campo was (of course) very different. Throughout the 10 days we split into 3 groups; baños (bathrooms), pisos (floors) and the casa (house.) One job was to build 10 latrines throughout the community; digging a hole, dropping a barrel down, filling the gaps with dirt/cement, laying a frame and putting up walls and a ceiling. We also built an entire house from digging a huge hole to putting up the walls and the roof for a family of 9 kids and a mom (my aunt) who is HIV positive. And then there was the project that I spent most of my time with; the floors. We went throughout the community and leveled the dirt floors, mixed a TON of cement, laid it down, and then smoothed and polished it. The theory was that everyone would rotate from job to job, but people were quick to fall in love with their sites, making the revolutions a little different than originally planned.
The most impactful task for me was with the 1st location of the pisos. 4 of us went off with 3 Dominican guys (conveniently our age and hysterical) to a small grouping of houses. We quickly learned that a large, extended family lived in the houses. We put in 7-8 floors over 4 days, learning and laughing a lot. After the 1st day we found out why this family was so deserving of our work. A month ago the mother of 5 kids (ranging in age from 4-25) was electrocuted while hanging wet clothes to dry on a power line. On the last day of the 2-week funeral memorial, the devastating rains that flooded Santiago completely wiped out some of their houses. We got very close to the family; providing us a great chance to speak Spanish and to tie some tight bonds with more beautiful Dominicans. Not to mention, we got very close to our “co-workers” and formed sort of brotherly relationships with them that lasted throughout the week and will, undeniably, go on to last for many years to come.
The crew; Tonio, Arnulfo, David. Tonio = the boss, 25 years old, married, 2 kids. Very funny, always pushing our buttons with a smirk on his face. He was great for challenging us to speak in Spanish; he was convinced that every time we spoke in English it was about him. Arnulfo = the polishing master, 20 years old, sweet, quiet, sturdy. He didn’t talk a ton, partly because his job isolated him – when all the cement is laid and flattened, the last step is to smooth and polish…aka walk carefully, keeping people off the floor. He was the go-to, do-it-all kind of guy. David = made us laugh everyday, 20 years old, dancing and cracking jokes left and right. He was really good about talking to us, but not in a stiff way but a humorous way. He did a good job of keeping the mood light and everyone feel involved and like a part of the family. Then there was Pimpa – my domino frente (partner.) We got to be really close, brother-sister close. He got my sense of humor, and to get my sense of humor through Spanish is saying something. We respected each other and confided in each other, learning and loving a little more each day.
A theme song for this campo was; “You’re Gonna Miss This.” Perhaps strikingly obvious, but also very encouraging and centering. We realized that this is our last campo, our last month in the DR. Every little thing that, at the time feels annoying will be missed. Splitting painful blisters open even before the lunch break, staggering under the weight of 4 kids jumping on you after a long day of work, waking up in the middle of the night to scratch your millions (not kidding) of mosquito bites, or holding your breath as you go to the bathroom and shower from a bucket inside a smelly latrine. These types of things can really ware you down, but we took them with a smile, remembering that soon we would be wishing we were scratching those Dominican mosquito bites.
Some of the highlights;
1) Water fight. On a ½ day of work on the pisos we decided it would be a great day to have a water fight. So that we did. We threw dirty, possibly pesticide infested water all over each other until our clothes were literally stretched two sizes bigger than when we began. It was truly a group of kids joking around and having a blast – a memory I will never forget.
2) The challenges. We saw a lot of things that were hard to accept and understand. One of the most prevalent for me was the married “men.” It is the culture to get married young and cheat on your wife in the DR. We were exposed to that, up close and personal this time around. Many of the guys that we worked with day in and day out were our age, but married with kids. I mentioned how I got especially close to a 17 year old named Pimpa who has an adorable little Chiquita, a spitting 1-year-old image of her dad. We had some conversations about fidelity and he (along with all of his friends) simply do not think that having a family is important, nor should it get in the way of dating around. I struggled a lot with drawing the line between holding that against them and letting it go. There were a couple times when I would tell one of them to stop dancing with me and go dance with his wife. I think that eventually it might have got through, for on the last night that guy was spinning his wife around the dance floor and rocking his baby to sleep in his arms.
3) Speaking of kids…There were a TON of little guys. Babies, toddlers, crazy 7 year old and then the guys our age. I fell in love with a little kid named Guillermo – perhaps one of the most adorable little 2 year olds I know. I was blessed with a ton of besitos (kisses) and gave a bunch of piggy back rides. One of the best moments was in one of the piso guy’s kitchens when he came around the corner and slid his 22-day-old nephew into my arms. It literally took my breath away, I was so at peace.
4) Holy Week. We experienced the Stations of the Cross and Palm Sunday in the campo. It was so interesting to go through these holidays from their points of view. We did Stations by walking along one of the roads, stopping at houses to read each station. It put it into the proper perspective as we walked along in the heat and dust, reading about JC’s final walk. Palm Sunday also included a procession into the church, HUGE palms raised in a similar way as to what JC might have come into. Both services were very active and mobile, giving the same old masses a little bit of Dominican flavor.
All in all, as hoped, the campo was an interesting, trying, fun and educational experience. I am very thankful that it was so different than San Isidro, for I was able to stop making comparisons and was able to experience an entirely different side of the DR. The mountains were replaced by vibrantly green rice fields, the magis bugs by pesty mosquitoes, the hills between homes by mere relationship-forming meters, the isolating roads by flat ones with guaguas, and the closeness of a big family with the tight bond of the brothers I never had. I am walking away knowing more about the DR, more about the world in general, more about people and more about myself. Another point to team Encuentro Dominicano. Well done.
