On baseball and bananas

Hey there ho there,

As most of you know by now, I am headed to America in t-minus three weeks. I am so excited and overwhelmed by this unique opportunity to represent the DR at the Peace Corps HQ for the Blog It Home adventure. As I prepare for my departure and tell my community members why I will be leaving for two weeks in September, I have started asking them what they think is important for me to share with Americans. I could write a novel (and probably already have) about my personal experience here, but I want to make sure that I share not my opinion of the culture, but what my community here wishes to tell you. In conducting my informal survey, here are the most important things Dominicans want you to know about.

Dominicans want you to know we have bananas on bananas on bananas!

1) Baseball

Baseball isn’t just a game. It’s a religion, the way to pass an afternoon, a creative activity kids invent with sticks and cans, a source of income and the way to make something of yourself. Having a kid that signed to an American team is the biggest honor a family can have. And in general, when Dominican baseball players make it big, they remember where they came from. They send money home to support their family, children, cousins and cousins’ children. Sometimes they construct huge houses for their families to live in, but often times, they are just down to earth Dominican boys who were lucky enough to have been found. In 2010, my host brother, Kevin, moved to Santiago for combined baseball training and high school program and was about to sign with an American minor league team until he got into a fist fight with the coach. Kevin was immediately kicked out of the prestigious program and moved back into our house where he is still unemployed and without a high school diploma. Had he signed, his family would never have had to worry about money and he would have given Manzanillo bragging rights for years to come (we have never signed a player to MLB).  

In the nearby town of Montecristi, they brag about having the first Dominican to sign with the major leagues, Ozzie Virgil, who signed with the MLB in 1956, retired from playing in 1969, coached for 19 seasons and retired back to Montecristi to live a quiet life in 1988. He has a humble house in quiet corner of town and continues to financially support youth baseball leagues and construct baseball fields in the area. You can find him sipping a cold Presidente in front of the local hotel every afternoon. Starlin Castro, Chicago Cubs shortstop, is the most recently signed MLB player from Montecristi and sent money back so his family could be a nice casa down the road from Ozzie. While his house is big and beautiful it is nothing fancy or elegant. Passing by, you wouldn't even do a double take. He send money to support his family and visits as often as he can.

Baseball earns people money in a country where money doesn't appear too easily. It's a way to make instant friends or enemies. It's a conversation starter or an afternoon debate. Baseball is the tie that binds Dominicans. It's one of the best things about this place! 

Heading to a local baseball game. Me bet's on the Pueblo Nuevo Yankees!

2) Knowing your neighbor

It is critically important, explains Lole, that you know how much help neighbors give each other here. Lole, a woman from my Hogares group, moved to Manzanillo from a small campo twenty-five years ago at the heels of a man. Today, they have two awesome kids and a happy marriage. However, Lole doesn’t have other family members here. To fill that hole, she relies on her neighbors. Monina and Fernando always send over juice, Fernandito fixes whatever electrical problem she has, Mama Julia provides her endless afternoons of competitive card playing, Cecilia will accept fiao (credit) at the nearest colmado and Noemi always provides the juicy gossip. When I asked if she ever misses her campo, she said, “No, my family is here now.” As blogged previously, compartir is that precious time when you get to just be with people. Dominicans respect and love their compartir and it has colored my experience here with the most vibrant of hues.

3) La Bandera Dominicana 

Dominicans I surveyed believe it is essential that you know how much rice, beans and chicken we eat. What’s for lunch? La bandera or "the flag." Everyday is the same and we never get sick of it. It is the staple of the Dominican diet - simple, nutritious and delicious. When people ask what I used to eat in America I often forget what it is I subsisted on everyday for the past 23 years. Umm, sandwiches, salads, I guess? But it does seem hard to pinpoint just what I ate for lunch my entire life. It’s easy, however, to sum up the last year of lunches in three words: rice...beans...meat. 

Beans softening on the three-stone fire!

4) Rum and Presidente beer

Dominicans want you to know that they drink and party. Brugal rum. Every Monday, you’ll find the streets littered from weekend festivities with clear bottles and blue labels of Brugal rum and the distinct green 40oz. bottles of Presidente pilsner. A delicious duo of alcohol that Dominicans are extremely proud of. 

5) Catholicism

We are a Catholic country. Religion is an important piece of every Dominican’s life. Every town, even the smallest ones, have a Patron saint and for a week each year, they celebrate and honor said patron in a series of church events, community activities and other celebratory shindigs (lot’s include drinking copious amounts of Brugal rum). We have plenty of Evangelical churches here, but the majority of Dominicans are Catholic and will let you know it. In my town, plenty of people never go to church, but when you bring up God, they’ll let you know what they think. They will start by saying, “I’m a good Catholic and visit God's house when I can.” 

Religion permeates every facet of life. Instead of saying “probably not” it’s always “Si Dios quiere, If God wants it.” There are prayers before every important meeting, government run and otherwise. Each time a group of people take a trip on a bus, there is a blessing said to carry the passengers to safety in the hands of God. You must say “Dios la/lo bendiga or God bless her/him” to every newborn or the mother curses you under her breath. It’s normal to prosletitize on public buses. I regularly step into buses and hear “Dios bendice a todos or God bless everyone” followed by a big ol’ “Amen!” Religion keeps people going and gives people in a country with so little (lights, water, money, jobs, education) so much to look forward to. God is all around us.

A candle ceremony for our patronales back in June.

6) Bananas

Have you seen the amount of bananas we can produce? You better believe that we can export two massive ships a week. In 2011, the DR exported 33 million bunches of bananas (300,000 tons) to Europe, generating over $200 million. Banana production generates more than 25,000 direct jobs and indirectly supports 300,000 workers in the Northwest (including Manzanillo). Banana cooperatives support rural community health clinics, women's centers, youth groups, community activities and construction projects. Unfortunately, Dominican banana production is much less sophisticated than similar productions in Colombia, Costa Rica or Peru, but the DR is still a major competitor globally because of our tendency to product high quality, fair trade bunches. Bananas support regular Dominicans, Joe the Plumber types, so chew on that the next time you buy a bunch. 

7) Have you seen our beaches?

Dominicans are intent on my sharing how awesome our beaches are with you. Manzanielleras are obsessed with our own little strip of beach because it’s clean and beautiful, and while it’s awesome, it’s definitely not the best we have to offer. El Moro beach in Montecristi, Playa Ensenada in Punta Rucia, Playa Bayahibe, Playa Dorado in Puerto Plata...ah I could go on. There is so much coast to explore on this tiny little island and damn, is it beautiful. I am so lucky to live here and will make sure y’all know it! 

Manzanillo beach - full of kids...and algae.

8) Best country in the world.

This bullet point comes specifically from the Dominican my around my age. Young, happy and energetic Dominicans love/are obsessed with the country where they were fortunate enough to grow up. Of course some want to leave and go to Nueva Yol, but the majority of them are content to be exactly where they are (for better or for worse). When I questioned why we live in the “best country in the world,” they cited knowing how to dance, party, celebrate, "have the best time ever", sing and relax. I pointed out that perhaps we should spend a little more time working and studying but they hushed me and said, “Bea, estás en el mejor país en el mundo, cómo puedes pedir más?” or “Bea, you’re in the best country in the world, how could you ask for more?” It’s true, I love it here.

Dawin explaining that the DR is the best country in the world! (And trying on Luisa's reading glasses). 

With this information from the horses mouth, I now feel ready to accept my challenge as an ambassador for the Dominican Republic. In the same vein, I ask myself whether I’ve become more an ambassador for the US here or for the Dominican Republic to you all there. Well, of course that got me thinking. What if I go back to DC and I don’t fit in? How have I changed and what will that look like in America? Am I going to be one of those obnoxious people who comment on the trivialness of people’s problems in America? Are things really that different? Am I going to like America? I guess I won’t be able to answer these questions until I land in DC, but the good news is, as my mom always reminds me, I was born in America and that culture is ingrained in me. A year away can’t have made that much difference. 

I am nervous about leaving my community for two weeks and going back "home" because Manzanillo has now become my comfort zone, my happy place, my home. I deeply care about these people and I truly respect and admire the people I have come to love. People here will gladly support me when I need it most. They’ll turn around on the highway to give me a ride even if they forget my name. People are in "it" together. We share in all the struggles, successes, happiness, distress, celebrations, deaths, poverty, hunger and joys together. We all acknowledge that life here is worth living because we get to share it with so many people.

The good news is, I won’t have much time between now and DC to even think about it. Construction for my improved cookstoves project has finally started and we are moving full speed ahead. We have elected the beneficiary families and will be finishing the first one in two weeks. Then we will wait a week for the stove to set and dry and then it’s asapoa time, a celebratory stew we will make to inaugurate the project and test the first improved cookstove. Si Dios quiere, we will build thirty stoves, helping women by removing smoke from the kitchen and saving the environment by using less firewood and completely eliminating the need for coal. ¡Pa'lante - Forward we go! 

Signing of for now,

Bronwen