I finally made it to a little agricultural town outside of Moca, in the northern part of the DR. It is so much quieter and even more green than the capital. I love it. Even the people are friendlier. My new family is interesting, where the men spend most of their time playing dominos. This is not the same type of dominos that we are used to. This is an intense game, where the other players have calculated what fichas you have. It is hard to explain, and I am barely catching on. The first few times I kept winning, and they were impressed with my skills, but it was all beginners luck - seriously. I never have had the patience to play or learn how to play cards, but in the campo there is always time to play dominos. I have gotten better at it, practice makes perfect, but I can´t play all day like they do. My host dad is 68 and my host mom is 45 so there is an interesting dynamic in their relationship. I keep getting compared to my host dad in that we have similar looking traits. Which I think is totally funny because he is tall, skinny and has short hair with these super thick round glasses. I have been told that I am a true Bencosme - which is his last name. I have also gotten confused with being Dominican, although my tattoos pretty much give me away that I don´t belong. Most of the people in this area are lighter skinned, so I guess I can see where I might get confused. Although I still don´t see many girls with short hair- unless they are old. Which reminds me, when I get back to the States, I am going to make sure my place has a porch so that I can sit on my rocking chair, drinking my coffee, and waving to everyone that walks by. That is how I spend my afternoons, if I have some time and the mosquitos aren´t eating me. Its what they do around here, which can be tiring sometimes. Especially when I am trying to get somewhere. I go by to pick up my friend (I live farthest out on the two main road town) where her host mom invites me to sit on the rocker, chat a bit, maybe get some coffee or jugo, then walk over to my other friends house and repeat the same idea until we are all together. So by dominican time, it is usually half and hour to an hour later than what is originally said. A lot of sitting and rocking and compartiendo.
My new family has a mama pig and 6 piglets with random chickens walking around. Not to mention the occasionaly rat I see eating the chicken food or carambolas or starfruit from the tree. The pig smell is fun. But it really doesnt bother me much. I actually like to walk over and visit them, watch them and take their pictures. Although it is tricky to get over there in that there are TONS of flies. No joke. The floor near their pen is covered in flies so when you walk all the flies fly up and into your face. The trick is to walk slowly and with your mouth closed so that they don´t all come up at once and in your face. Thats not so pretty. I am lucky I wear glasses, so I don´t have to worry about my eyes, but I do keep my mouth closed. My family thinks I´m weird for visiting the pigs. My host brother is 20 and is expecting with his wife. They are both pretty friendly. He shows me around the canuco and points out the hummingbird nests, the rat holes, the different types of plants, and once we went looking for toads. The toads are so loud, like loud burps in the night. They are pretty funny. He also likes to make the rooster crow and then close down on the neck to make it sound funny. It kinda freaks me out, but he does it anyways. He also showed me how his rooster and his friends rooster fight. Cock fights are a sport here, but I have yet to go to an arena. Maybe some day, just for the experience. But don´t worry I will not support it (Tony!!!) I do have to admit that I tried salami because my host mom kepting feeding me it, even when I told her I didn´t eat meat. She didnt get it. I ate it once and and it didnt settle well in my stomach, so I had to remind her that salami is included in the whole meat thing. So she hasn´t served me since. Yay. I felt so guilty afterwards.
There are so many flies around here that you seriously have to eat fast and with the other arm swinging the flies away. Pretty gross. But I can deal with flies more than the mosquitos. My blood is just too sweet. I think I get bit more than anyone. My body is going to come back with all these scars. Yuck. Oh well. The other day I woke up to a cockroach crawling up my arm. And then when I picked up the curtain to my closet I saw a rat. So is the campo life. Still sleep with my mosquito net though, so I don´t know how the roach got in.
My host dad is funny in that he repeats his stories and he keeps telling me about his coin collection, but I have yet to see it. My host mom likes to listen to this radio station that plays a lot of Mexican music, so it is a bit nostalgic. Especially when she sings Alejandro - Vicente Fernandez or Ana Gabriel songs. So weird.
All in all, the campo life is good. I just hate having class and getting up to do presentations. So annoying! But I might as well get used to it, because that will be all that I will be doing once I have my own community. Sorry it has taken me so long to write, its just that the internet is not as close as it was in Santo Domingo, and the few times I have come the internet site doesn´t work for me. I still have lots to write, but I have about a 30 minute walk home in the hot sun. Good thing I brought an umbrella. And it is way past my dinner time, so I am hungry!!
