Events and Day-trips - they call it work

This week might have been the longest one that I've had so far, and that's mostly because of how much I managed to pack into it.  Tuesday I went to the launch of a new partner of ours, the Consorcio Dominicano de Competividad Turistica (CDCT) - I think it sounds better in Spanish.  They are the product of the different tourism clusters that we work with. So, I met about 50 people on Tuesday night, all with something or other to do with the tourism industry here. Not too shabby for a work night.  I think my favorite new acquaintance is this older gentlemen who runs The Nature Conservancy (his day job) and is one of the main singers in the Cuban salsa band that plays every Sunday at the Rinconcito in the Colonial Zone - one of my absolute favorite cultural events. (If you come to visit, I'll take you there.)

On Wednesday I took our summer hire out with me on a day long site visit. We went to be the representatives at a workshop run by Plan International on the Role of Journalism in Disaster Risk Reduction and Response.  It was an incredibly long day (like 12hrs clocked on the job), but rather interesting to see the press here.  They are very passive, in my impression. There is very little in the way of investigative journalism, and since so many of the major papers are tied to business interests, they are very reluctant to cover controversial topics or get too critical.  The press that attended this workshop learned more about their role and responsibility as community members and as a crucial part of any national emergency response effort. They seemed to really be pleased with the workshop - I hope that was genuine interest and not the fact that we fed them breakfast and lunch.  (The role of food in ensuring attendance sound familiar to you SIPA folk?)

Tonight I had my first set of dinner guests over.  I made a variety of Indian dishes, which turned out not too shabby for not having recipes or any prior experience (not that I would have relied on either one). My scuba group came over for our theory session. I was so happy to have a dinner party again :)  just like old times...

Tomorrow I am off to the beach for the weekend with a handful of friends. Since I finally got my car today (a fabulously old school '98 Mercedes Benz Jeepeta), I will be getting to take it for it's first road trip - at least under my ownership.  It's going to be an awesome trip to a place called Las Terrenas, and since I have had an incredibly busy, long week...I am totally ready to collapse in the sand.

Road trip!

When I woke up yesterday morning, I thought I would be spending the day in a not-so-very-clean pool, having a scuba lesson. I was bummed to find out that our instructor was sick - no class! so what on earth was I going to do all day?  I didn't want to stay at home all day.  Luckily, neither did a friend of mine. We deliberated for maybe 15 minutes over which direction to head toward - mountains or beach - and 30 minutes later, we were off.

Since we are going to the beach next weekend with friends, we decided to head toward the mountains. We read about a small town named Constanza, nestled in a valley between the island's cordilleras (the Caribbean Alps, as they call them). Constanza has one of the sustainable tourism clusters that we work with, and they have loads to offer in the way of outdoor activties - plenty of waterfalls, hiking, mountain biking, rafting, etc. all in the region.  We had a map of the country, and a general sense of the direction...the rest we left up to the wind.

The drive was absolutely beautiful! After we got outside of Santo Domingo (it's own challenge, for sure), no one was on the roads, and they were so nice and clean. This country is insanely green right now. We took the major highway toward the northwest, then turned off onto one of the mountain roads, leading through a pass to Constanza.  The grade was steep and the switchbacks were hairpin, but I think the most dangerous thing about the trip was the constant urge to crane your head to the side to see the view!  We just had to stop a few times for pictures. 

Getting to Constanza took a bit longer than we had estimated, so we only had enough time to get lunch and look around before it was time to head back...but now we know where to go for a weekend's worth of outdoor mountain fun.  All in all, it was a gloriously serenely, fresh, cool (only 65 degrees up there!), lush day. It leaves me with only one conclusion - impromptu road trips might just be the best thing ever.

NOAA, You're a Real Buzz-kill

I would absolutely love the rainy season here...if I never had to leave my apartment. Waking up every morning to see the sunrise, and the daily storm roll in from the ocean, has been beautiful. Unfortunately, after it happens for a week straight ...when it means flooded streets (and flooded apartments), slippery sidewalks, soaked feet, and not a cab to be found in all of Sto. Domingo...well, let's just say the novelty wears off.

Friday I was tempted to just call in sick. It was to be a half-day for me anyway, and all I had planned was to attend the emergency action committee's briefing on our hurricane plan.  - reason enough to abandon my flooded laundry room in favor of work. By 10am, though, we received early dismissal due to the rains (except for those attending the meeting, of course).

I learned several very nerdy things in that EAC meeting. For starters, the average hurricane season (June 1-Nov 30, officially) produces approx. up to 11 named storms, with maybe up to 3-5 of those reaching full hurricane status.  This year, NOAA had been predicting an especially 'long and active' season.  That prediction has since turned into:  14-23 named storms, with 7-14 becoming full blown hurricanes.  Apparently La Niña is at it again, raising temperatures in the Atlantic Basin and ready to wreak havoc while she's at it. The peak of the season is August - October, with the ultimate hurricane-making day falling on September 10th. (who knew you could predict such a thing?!) Not to be outdone by NOAA's numbers, our disaster relief people reminded us that it only takes a tropical storm to cause severe damage. A tropical storm that hit Gonaive, Haiti in 2004 killed 3,000 people. Yesterday's rain put Sto. Domingo in the red alert category for flash floods and mudslides. (Don't worry, from my perch on the 8th floor of a very nice apt bldg, I am no where near a flood or mudslide). And Tropical Storm Bonnie?  That's only #2 of the season - 12 to 21 left to go...

So, NOAA, thanks for the buzz kill.  Your sobering predictions have me crossing all fingers and toes that we won't have another natural disaster strike this island this year.  BUT, as I left the meeting yesterday, ready for the worst, I was greeted by blue skies and city streets already sizzling from the Caribbean sun...so here's to a glimmer of hope that the predictions of weathermen don't come true

Blame it on the Bossa Nova...

I went to a free concert last night, sponsored by the Brazilian embassy.  The concert was put on at the National Theater (a surprisingly nice, fancy place) and featured 2 Brazilian cellists (twins) and a percussionist.  Although it was billed (to us anyway) as Bossa Nova, I think only 1or 2 songs actually fell under that genre.  It was, shall we say, an interesting experience.  I'm very glad it was free...but I'm also glad I went. I realized all over again last night just how much I enjoy seeing live performances - particularly musicians (but singers as well).  It honestly makes my heart sing to see how passionate people become when they become engulfed in their music.  - Their facial expressions, toe taps, total body sways, playful tête-à-têtes with other musicians....I just love it.   So, even if the music itself was maybe a B-, I count the night as a success.  (and getting dressed up to go do something cultural is always fun, right?)

Pirates of the Caribbean, part 2 - National Geographic

This past week I was invited by the same IU crew that found Captain Kidd's ship to watch them excavate another wreckage site on the norhern coast of the island.  The wreck(s) at Bahia Isabela, wasn't that of a pirate, however, but that of the lost fleet of Christopher Colombus.  National Geographic had sent a film crew to cover IU's excavation efforts for a documentary they are producing on Columbus's first settlement and his lost fleet.  I always dreamed of working for National Geographic, so you can imagine my excitement over getting to tag along for a day!

A little bit about Columbus and La Isabela...When Columbus first sailed to the New World, he passed through the Bahamas and made landfall at a point on what is now Haiti's northern coast. There the Santa Maria sank, and the crew took its timber to create a fort called Navidad.  Columbus left a small group of his crew there to hold down the fort, then he left to return to Spain and make his claim of greatness. When he returned to Navidad several months later, he found the fort burned down and all of his men killed. So, he took his larger fleet of 17 ships, and continued east along the coast until he got to Isabela.  There he created a new settlement, which lasted for several years.  The bay, however, was not very good (it's shallow and not protected enough to make a good harbor) and in a relatively short period of time, Columbus lost several of his ships to hurricanes and other storms. That lost fleet is somewhere in the bottom of the bay, under a few meters of thick, gelatinous silt. Because of the poor quality of the bay, Columbus and his settlers eventually relocated to the southern coast of the island, to establish Santo Domingo.

Now back to my trip to La Isabela....Our day consisted of touring the ruins of the first settlement, which includes the first council building, the first church, the Admiral's house, and a graveyard for 44 Spaniards who were part of Colombus's crew. These ruins were originally excavated in the 1980s, and a museum was created on the site. Previous searches in the bay also yielded a collection of artifacts from one of Columbus's ships.  This collection of artifacts, the only of its kind, is being guarded under lock and key at the Isabela museum.  In addition to touring the ruins of the settlement, we joined the IU and Nat.Geo crews out on their boat as they filmed a group of underwater archeologists begin dredging the bay to uncover what they call "hot spots".  I'll forgo going into detail about how they search for these ship wrecks, but I find it all fascinating. There was also quite a bit of intrigue that made the day a bit surreal.

For example, when my colleagues and I got to the site in the morning, a group of local community members were there, arguing with the caretaker and the IU crew over authorization. The community was under the impression that the crew intended to excavate and remove artifacts from the wreckage site without their knowledge or approval.  Why would they think this? Well, because apparently the last foreign person/group that came to study the site TOOK one of the remains of a Spaniard with them. That's right, someone essentially grave-robbed from the first settlement in the New World.  Since the story kept changing, I won't go into further detail or speculate, but bottom line...the only completely in-tact skeleton of Columbus's crew is no longer lying in his grave.  R.I.P.   After a good 30 minutes of discussion, we finally convinced the community group that 1.) IU and Nat.Geo were authorized and had gov't reps and the Dominican navy with them, and 2.) nothing would be removed from the site, certainly not without their knowledge or consent.

As if that weren't enough excitement for the day...I soon learned that UNESCO had had a meeting a few years ago to make the Isabela site a World Heritage site, but the various entities within the DR who have a finger in this pie (so to speak) have to speak with one voice in order for that to happen.  A few years later, and that remains a challenge. In the meantime, the artifacts and the ruins, as well as the museum itself, all need to be better taken care of.  Hopefully the situation will improve, and soon.

And there's more....Were you aware of treasure hunting as a perfectly legit business? That's right. For a cut of the profit, a private company will go find that sunken pirate ship for you, since they've got the equipment and the expertise to do so.  On the one hand, that sounds like a pretty exciting job to have, but on the other...it brings up the question of who really owns these sunken ships, and who has the right to benefit from them?  Approaching the excavation and preservation of a wreck like IU did with Captain Kidd (and is doing with La Isabela's lost fleet), means that there is local expertise and buy-in, efforts are taken to protect the environment, and a scenario is created for a country to profit from sustainable, eco-tourism.  I don't know how the private companies do it, so I'm not trying to insinuate that they pillage the environment or anything, but they do take a cut of the profit, which could go to that country instead.  With all the wrecks that remain waiting to be found (like Captain Morgan's HMS Oxford, off of Isle de Vache in Haiti), it will be very interesting indeed to see which approach gathers more support. But considering how much the local, regional and national economies could be helped by successful, sustainable eco-tourism and the fabulous diving that goes with it, I sincerely hope we see more living museums of the sea. 


(PHOTOS: top - sunrise at the beach at Luperon, near La Isabela; second - film crew out on the water; third - La Isabela Museum; bottom - view of Bahia Isabela, and the little blue launch they used to dredge up the silt)

Pirates of the Caribbean, part 1

I suppose when people think of pirates these days, they either think of Disney movies or they think of Somalia. Well, here in the Caribbean, pirates are alive and well - both historically and in present day.

The coastline of Hispaniola (for those of you geographically-impaired, that is the name of the island that contains the DR and Haiti) is littered with the legends of shipwrecks.  From Captain Morgan to Captain Kidd, some of the most famous and notorious pirates hung out in these waters, and they lost many ships along the way.  Only a handful have been found and excavated. Most have been honed in on through historical record and limited underwater surveillance, but have yet to be excavated or their existence proved beyond a doubt.

In 2007, a group of underwater archeologists from Indiana University discovered Captain Kidd's ship, the Quedagh Merchant, sunken in only 13ft. of water off Catalina Island, DR. What remains of the ship may seem unexciting - only a dozen or so cannons and a few anchors - but the story that goes with it is the stuff legends are made of (quite literally, in fact).  As the story goes, Captain Kidd was a privateer for the British (meaning his piracy was sanctioned as long as it went against the Brit's enemies). His crew was growing restless after 2 yrs at sea, when they came across the Quedagh Merchant, full of commerce, in the Indian Ocean.  They took over the ship and headed for the Caribbean to sell its wares. Unfortunately for Captain Kidd, the Brits had investments in the Q.Merchant, so instead of welcoming his efforts, they branded him a pirate.  So, Captain Kidd had 2 choices - embrace piracy and make a run for it, or fight for his honor and try to clear his name.  He tried the latter, and failed miserably.  Kidd hid his new ship in a salt water lagoon on Catalina Island, and headed north to New York to try to clear his name.  When he got to Long Island, he buried some treasure on he beach as a safeguard - an act which, along with hiding the Q.Merchant, gave rise to the belief that all pirates bury/hide their treasure.  His efforts to clear his name failed. He was arrested and sent back to England, where he was tried, convicted and hanged for piracy.  After his demise, the Q. Merchant was set on fire and scuttled at Catalina Island. (where it took over 300 yrs for someone to find again).

I'm telling this little tail, not only because I find the history fascinating, but because (lucky me!) it is actually related to my job.  After finding Captain Kidd's ship, the IU crew had the fabulous idea of turning it into a "living museum of the sea". We gave them a grant to help them out, and the idea is slowly being replicated at other wrecks around the country.  Creating a living museum means extra environmental protection for the wreckage site as well as for the sensitive coral/underwater environment in its vicinity.  Museum-like displays with the history of the site can be found nearby on the beach area, encouraging visitors to learn about AND experience this history. People can snorkel, scuba or just learn about it on land.  For a country that relies so heavily on tourism, but has so much farther to go with its environmental efforts, this is a excellent endeavor.

The historical pirates maintain their presence through these sites, while the present-day pirates prey on unprepared yachts that stop to rest in the Dominican harbors, on their journey from Miami to points south and east in the Caribbean archipelago. So, let that be a warning to those of you with dreams of sailing around the Caribbean - pirates still exist.  Just stay away from the Venezuelan pirates, with them you may lose more than your riches....

Visit to Los Bateyes

After 11 months of working in Washington (and enjoying every minute of it), I can't tell you how excited I was to finally return to the field. It's been two years since I've been out of the country - quite possibly a new record - and three since the last time I lived abroad.  So, when the chance came to go out into the field for a site visit, to say I jumped at the chance would be an understatement.

Last week (July 7th), I joined other colleagues from my office on a day-long tour of four of the bateys that we are working in.  What is a batey, you ask?

Well, bateys are essentially rural ghettos. They were, at one time, residential barracks for migrant workers who worked the sugar cane plantations. Most of these workers came from Haiti, some forcibly, others by choice. They lived in barracks built for single men, and worked on the plantations all year. Over the years, these men brought their families to join them. These plantations have a long history in the DR. They were once private holdings, but Trujillo appropriated many as his own during his rule. After Trujillo was gone, the government nationalized the land he had taken, creating a national sugarcane business.  Throughout all of this, the predominantly-Haitian migrant workers (and their families) continued to live in the bateys and work the land.  When the price of sugar dropped, however, the government decided to end production on many of these plantations, essentially abandoning the workers.  As it stands now, several generations of Dominican, Dominican-Haitian and Haitian families are stuck in their batey communities, without work, without social services, and, for the most part, without legal documentation to enable them to leave and seek out a better life in another town or city. The government allows them to continue to live in the bateys, but they cannot expand onto new land, nor can they work the land that the government abandoned for their own economic benefit. So there they live, in desperate straights, families of 6 in a one room home the size of my office.

So, that's the bateys in a nutshell.  As for our work, we support the work of Save the Children and a Dominican Women's Development organization in at least 8 bateys throughout the country.  The project is one of community development, basic health and education, and helping to provide the basic needs of shelter, water and sanitation.  From what I saw last week, it seems like our partners have moved mountains in the two years they have been working.  For example, we saw the founding meeting of a community water board, where all the households of a batey elected community members to leadership positions (most of them women) and agreed to pay a monthly charge for their water. For families that have so little, agreeing to pay consistently for the maintenance and upkeep of their community water source is a big deal.  We also heard that two of the bateys recently had devastating fires which destroyed two barracks. The emergency response community group of one of those bateys, which was created through our project and had trained as first responders, managed to save the lives of 2 children with their quick and professional response to the fire. Imagine what we as a community do when there is a fire or other emergency in our neighborhood. We call 911 and then watch, right?  This is some serious community building.

I could go on and on with the anecdotes and the challenges, but I think I've sufficiently painted a picture. For me, it was ultimately gratifying because, after 11 months of high level politics, policy and meetings, I finally returned to the field...and was reminded of why I'm doing this work in the first place.  I count myself lucky to have such an exciting and fulfilling job.  This makes me so very excited for the next two years.

Bienvenido a Santo Domingo

A new country, a new adventure, and a new blog.

I've started over with this attempt at public journaling, for various unexciting reasons, but I plan to eventually upload the old posts to an archive....for your reading pleasure, I'm sure.

So, here I am, 2 weeks in to my life in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. So far, so good. Actually, I immediately felt rather comfortable here...there are enough of those odd similarities with the other places I've lived, I guess. The crazy traffic, street vendors, a slower pace at the same time that everything seems to be moving faster around you. Why I can be so easily at home in chaos is beyond me...

In typical Liz fashion, I wasted no time in diving into work and into 'trouble'. (I use that term lightly, of course.) In two weeks I've already helped with at least 2 urgent taskers from DC, and I've been on 2 site visits. I also worked as a greeter for the embassy 4th of July event. - that's the work side. And for the trouble...well, I've already nearly been stranded by torrential downpours, flooded my laundry room in a novice attempt to re-acquaint myself with owning a washer and dryer, lost power for 24hrs (only one in the building), and had a dengue/malaria scare (according to the Doc, it's just a cold...) So, yeah, I'm off to a good start.

Writing all of that down reminds me of my conversation this morning with my new co-workers. They organized a welcome breakfast for me (such a great team!) and as we munched they asked me to tell a little bit about myself. I went over a quick timeline, starting with Argentina...and glossing quickly over most things. They stopped me somewhere between the Orange Revolution and San Fermin to exclaim that I am like Forrest Gump. he he. And I didn't even get to the riot story or the penguins!....They wonder what stories I might have by the time I leave here in two years. I wonder the same thing.

So, anyway, I am here in sunny Santo Domingo, settling into a new life. I'll do my best to tell as many of those stories as I can...and to provide some photographic evidence whenever possible.

But for right now, this is good night. This girl's gotta scuba diving lesson tomorrow