Constanza Weekend

This weekend, CIEE Liberal Arts Program took us on a field trip to Constanza, Dominican Republic. 

Constanza is located in the middle eastern part of the DR. 

We met at 8am in the parking lot of the university. Ofe and I got there at 8:03am =) and were NOT the last ones. I make a point to bring attention to this because if you read my very first posting about how Dominicans are always supposedly late, then me being late shows how I am truly integrating myself to Dominican culture and time >.< jeje

Anywho, the drive to Constanza took about 2.5 hours. The ride was bumpy and full of beautiful sightseeing of green fields, tall leafy trees, small houses, towns, people in the street etc. The town of Constanza is one of the highest in the DR, altitude of more than 4,000 feet above sea level. It is often cold in this region. This valley, formed by a crater has produces non-tropic fruits like strawberries, apples, lettuce, roses and other flowers. In the 1950s Japanese farmers were invited by the Dominican government to work the land.

When we got to Altocerro (our hotel) we divided into our assigned groups or villamates. Each villa had 4 people . Ofe, Katya, Gaby and I were in villa 105. 

This small house has a cabaña style decoration with a kitchen, dining room, living room, balcony overlooking Constanza (the most beautiful, peaceful view EVER!!! Green mountains and fields), a stairway going downstairs that leads to the bedrooms, a restroom and a sink/mirror. Ofe and I shared one bedroom, while our housemates shared the other.

 We had one hour before lunchtime. While some students decided to explore and take pics, Ofe and I took a nap to regain the energy we had exerted on the dance floor the night before =) ya tu sabe.

For lunch we had open buffet with veggies, mash potatoes and I forgot what else.

After lunch we split into two groups, each going to a different trip. I chose a walk up the mountains – Caminata (walk) a los Mañanguises – this walk is historical because a national and international group of men walked this same path in 1959 in an attempt to overthrow the Trujillo dictatorship. Trujillo’s government assassinated some of the men in the group. This event triggered the June 14^th movement in the Dominican Republic. There is one surviving man.

There is a monument in Constanza in honor of these brave rebels.

Through the walk I was able to appreciate the natural beauty of the country side, vegetable fields, and more. It was a REAL workout as well!! Sean T would be proud! I had the funnest time singing, dancing, eating guavas with our group.

 this is Tejeda when we finally got to the guagua (bus) lol!

When we got back to the village, housemates and I decided to do insanity in the balcony =)

After a nice warm shower and getting ready, our group went out to dinner to a restaurant in Constanza. After a hike and insanity, my insides were eating each other. I was sooo hungry. For some reason the veggies and the sancocho made me lose my appetite. The strawberry smoothie made by Constanza grown fruits was off the hook though.

On our way back to the hotel, some students asked to stop by a colmado (store). A group of girls decided to get cookie dough and sugar to make cookies that night. My housemates and I decided to get tortilla chips, chunky salsa, a sprite, cups and a Barcelo Rum bottle. ;) oh yup! Just to give u an idea of how I roll in the DR.

We got back made some drinks, got the tortilla chips and salsa out, put some Dominican hits on, invited the homies and played some dominoes (very Dominican-like)

One of the homies (Tejeda) knew some friends in the town and made some arrangements to be picked up for a night on the town. After walking over to the cookie villa and saying our ‘see yall tomorrow” we bounced to the bottom of the hotel to meet our Constanza guides for the night. We dipped in two sports cars. Ofe and I rolled in one, the other housemates and Tejeda in another. We went to the middle of the town which was full of activity with motorcycles, cars, people, music, men, alcohol everywhere. We went to a corner bar and our guides invited us to a black label bottle =) uhh huh!

The music was bumpin and after a couple drinks all of us were dancing it up! I have found that there are much more men in the DR than women. I don’t know if it’s because that’s all I pay attention to or is it because it’s true. Either way I am happy with the results. But yeah, there were more men in the bar than ladies. Soon the four of us ladies were switching partners and showing them wat we got. After a while I sat for a bit and White Sweater came up to me. The conversation started as usual in the DR,
“where are yall from? Yall don’t look Dominican. Oh! But you speak very good Spanish, your Latina aren’t you? You look Colombian or Puertorican. Mexican?!! Oh wow! You like tequila Orale!!!” blah blah blah lol! Seriously that’s basically how it goes. For some reason White Sweater was very knowledgeable about the Mexican soccer league and decided to put me through the test. And of course I passed more than what I failed.

Soon enough Cruz Azul guy came over and started talking about the Mexican soccer league too. He was a Cruz Azul fan, hence the nickname.

After the guides invited us to a bar/club called Kapioca.(very western style place made of all wood) Traditional Dominican music playing, people dancing, sitting down sippin you know.

The guides came over with some drinks of rum and coke and soon enough we were all dancing moving to the rhythm of the music. I performed my famous Loca by Shakira moves with much passion, intensity and Sazon.

Around 230 or 4 we called it a night because we had to be up and running at 8am.

Next day (Saturday) after breakfast we were up on a Safari truck ready for the adventure of the day- A visit to Salto de Aguas Blancas- A beautiful Cascade in the outskirts of Constanza

The drive took like an hour or so. Bumpy, bumpy, up a mountain, breathtaking sightseeing, fields, town people saying bye to us, and more bumps hehe

I loveeeed it!!

Once we got off the Safari truck I couldn’t feel my behind dude. Shizzzz

We walked some steps, crossed a bridge and stuff before seeing the most ASTONISHING, BREATHTAKING, MAJESTIC THING I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED!!

El Salto de Aguas Blancas! A cascade full of vibrant water falling like a White satin curtain!! OMG!

I literally took a deep breath because I couldn’t believe it. WOWWWWW

It was breathtaking.

Some ladies got in the freezing water. I didn’t. uh huh. Nope. I didn’t.

Didn’t want to either.

After more breathless moments, I walked to the kiosk and met with my group for some lunch. I kept looking at the cascade in the background. I felt like meditating in front of the water. I couldn’t that day but one day I will.

After the Safari we drove back down the mountain, to a restaurant and had some food. We waited for what seemed forever to leave back to the hotel.

When we got back Ofe and I decided to go try the Zipline offered by the hotel. It was freaking liberating to just zipped across the field. We talked and hung out with the guys who worked there for a bit before going back to the hotel and showering. We had set up a semi-date with the guys who worked at the hotel for motorcycle rides around the town before dinner.

We ended up going 5 girls with 5 Dominican men. My driver, Morphy was the funniest. He was small, real skinny and raised his eyebrows everytime he talked. Reminds me a lot of Hector El Paisano (syls boo) As we rode through the town at about 130miles per hour he would tell me about the little town.

When we pulled up in the main street, I dropped my mouth in awe at what I saw. My spit almost fell on the shoulder of Morphy, lol.

The street was fully packed with motorcycles, brown browner brownest dark darker darkest men, cars bumping music….i was like DAMMMMYUMMMM!

Something like that movie, fast and the furious Tokyo drift or something. FOR REALS!!!

I was like holly molly!!!

We rode around the plaza for a while before we parked. We walked in pairs through the plaza. Morphy told me that everything was quiet because mass was going on and until 8pm when it finished then everybody would go all out. He said that they literally count the minutes till 8pm.

Because we had a BBQ at seven thirty, we had to go back to the hotel. They took us back and told us that they would meet us at the BBQ for a dance. We got back all quietly, “like fog on little cat feet” grabbed a plate and made line for dinner. No one seemed to notice we were gone jeje

We ate in the kiosk while listening to some tunes that the guys were playing (motorcycle guys/hotel employees). They set up a huge bon fire under the stars and we all lay down and chilled, talked and laughed. It was pretty amazing.

After we headed back to the kiosk we danced, and danced and danced.

After some hours some girls wanted to go to bed, Ofe, Katya and I decided to take the invitation of motorcycle guys for another ride into Constanza. We ended up in the pre-Carnaval of the town in a cueva (cave) (a mini club set up by a tent and huge speakers in the street)

We ended up dancing to Dominican dembow all night long!!! Crazy crazy crazy!!!

So many guys everywhere!!! Omg

Cruz azul from the night before somehow spotted us and walked over. Ofe and I were like tiruriruriru. Lol

After the cueva ended and people dispersed we hoped on the motorcycles. Believe it or not I actually wanted to head to the hotel and sleep, I was super tired. Excited to be on the street where the hotel was located, I got kinda sad when they decided to head straight, we ended up at Kapioca again. Lol

We didn’t even sit down we started dancing right away. We switched partners a couple times and after like another hour we left. We got on the motorcycles and took another route to the hotel, Morphy showed me where he lived and told me more about the town.  When we got to our villa Ofe and I had a little chat on the balcony getting some air and laughing our night away.

We headed downstairs and I knocked out right away.

The next morning we decided to skip 8am breakfast to sleep in. We woke up around 10ish n decided to go try the zip line again (on the house, of course)

Some wespedes of the hotel were trying the zipline so we just chatted with Morphy who was there. The hotel also has horses that the people staying can rent and ride. They offered us a vuelta (ride) and we gladly accepted. I was paranoid when that thing started walking faster, I started jumping on the saddle, bouncing and shit.

When we got back to Morphy, we tried zipline. Still felt amazing.

I asked Morphy to teach me some Dominican card games. We played cards for a bit before checkout time. After lunch we were on our way to Santiago, bye bye beautiful Constanza, motorcycles, balcony, fresh breeze and green fields. We made two stops before actually being on the way home. One to buy Constanza grown strawberries, and two to buy flowers

I bought my host mom a delicate arrangement for Valentine’s Day.

She was very happy to get flowers.

After getting home showering and calling Daddy Yankee back in Compton, I headed to Carnaval in Santiago. Got on the rides of the fair, drank a ‘sexo en la playa’ (sex on the beach), ate hot dogs with French fries, walked around….

Every day is an adventure. Every day is an opportunity to do something new, learn new things try new ones or practice old ones.

I leave you with this quote of Henry David Thoreau “We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character”

Life is a Carnival, enjoy it!

Diaries of a Pasola (Motorcycle Diaries)

My Weekend with my Family in the Countryside (El Campo) moquita….

Ok so I would like to share my wonderful and humble weekend in the country side, or el campo.

My host family comes from a small town outside of the city of Santiago, near Moca, called Moquita (little Moca). El Campo, or the country side is like a 45 min drive from my house. This past weekend I had the privilege of going to the campo and staying overnight with my family’s extended family. My host cousin and I left Saturday afternoon after he got back from work. What would have taken 35 min if my host dad had driven took about an hour because we left in a motorcycle. Yup! That’s right a motorcycle! Which is why I will call this posting, Diaries of a Pasola, lol after Motorcycle Diaries (the movie).

I had the funnest time riding the motorcycle all the way up the mountain to el campo. I received several stares because it’s uncommon to see a woman riding a motorcycle in the city, left alone the county side. Once we were almost all the way up the mountain, my host cousin’s brother gave me a ride on his motorcycle, a much more comfortable motorcycle. That thing kept making that brrrrrrrummmmm sound and I was paranoid for a second that at any given moment he was going to accelerate so much I was going to be left behind and he would not have even noticed.

But I didn’t, I made it through and enjoyed my way all the way up the mountain, until we got to the edge of the river. He is also very well built and smelled like cologne n I was like inhaling him all the time, lol.

 In the little town where my family is from live two family’s Castillo and Paulino. one family is my host mom’s family and the other is my host dad’s. Everyone knows each other and or related to one another. Many Haitian families now live in this part, according to my grandparents, because of the situation in Haiti, Haitian immigrants have looked for refuge on the other side of the island.

The campo is divided by a small river that runs from the top of the mountain all the way down. Houses are settled on both sides of the river. In order to get from one side to the other you have to cross the river by carefully stepping over rocks to make sure not to wet your shoes. The members of the campo are so used to crossing the river and jumping over the rocks that they could do it with their eyes closed. The whole entire campo is surrounded by big trees and green leaves and more green and more trees. It’s beautifulllll

I got home and said hi to everyone. I had already met most of the town two weeks ago when I visited with my host family. Everyone was very excited to meet me. I am introduced as Fior’s new daughter (Fior being my amazing host mommy) when I speak I get confused with Nora, the student who stayed with her last semester. I have heard all about Nora-everywhere I go, Nora this Nora that. I feel like I know her. She was the first native Spanish speaker that has stayed in my host house so that facilitated the relationship with the family. From what I have heard she is very outgoing, honest and made many friendships in the DR. She also has a Mexican heritage which is probably why we get confused a lot.

My host cousin and I went on a walk all around the campo, saying hi to people and taking pictures. He is very knowledgeable about plants and trees and would explain where fruits and vegetables we eat come from. It was so nice to hear stories from his childhood and how many of the kids would all get together and play. He told me that it was A LOT of them and they would often get kicked out of people’s patio’s and would go house to house playing.

We made many stops at relatives’ houses to say hi and stuff. I even went to a billar (where they play pool?) and asked to play with one of the tigueres there lol (tiguere is a common word for what could be similar to a player with street game, especially with women) I played three games with Antonio. First was terrible. Made none in. Second made a couple, after observing David very carefully. Third, made all but one in. Antonio was super impressed and I had the whole billar men cheering for me. I was the only woman there. My host cousin was super jealous because he said the guy teaching me was hitting on me. Jaja

I also met a man, very wise and creative with words. He is known for his wisdom with words- poems, sayins and piropos (compliments). He told me a couple that were full of creativity romance charm and dirty humor. I was very interested to keep talking to Tililingo (Fernando) and record him. I cant wait to go back to the campo and talk to him con mas tiempo. (with more time)

Later we went to the only colmado (store) in the little town, owned by a woman name Carmen (and now very good friend of mine). She is very talkative, welcoming and alegre (happy). I had already met her last time so we were both happy to see each other again. She had her tubing going on, which is her head wrapped cuz she had just gotten her hair diddd. She had a big speaker outside her store playing merengue, salsa and bachata. When we got there she invited us in, closed the store and offered us a cup of coffee. We even started dancing in the kitchen to the music that kept playing in the store. Her store is on the side of her house so you can get from the store to the house without having to go outside. We chatted a bit before she had to open the store again because customers were waiting. I went in the store with her and observed the interactions between people. She gave me a lollipop as a gesture of friendliness. Some of the men from the bar started coming in to buy rum, as my host cousin and I left I was offered a bit of rum, which they drink straight up.

After we walked to my host cousin’s compadre’s house. He is married and has two beautiful daughters. By this time it was dark already and as we walked to his house I could not see faces, only shadows of trees, and people. In the campo there are no street lamps, or electricity in the houses. Homes are lit with candles through the night as needed. We spent a long time at Fatimas house (his wife). We chatted outside and drank jugo (juice). I quickly made his daughters my amiguitas (little friends) and we spent a while playing ball. Yamilita is 5 and very energetic, she sings and dances and doesn’t really like playing with her 9 month old baby sister (yamiley).

I loved, loved playing with these babies.

After deciding to head home, I was so confused as to where we were. We had been walking all around the campo, crossed the river several times and I had no idea where I was. Andaba bien norteada. In order to get home we had to cross the river one more time and my host cousin told me to jump on his back otherwise I would have fallen in the river. I hesitated at first but was like fuck it, here I go. He held on to me and started crossing the river stepping on the rocks, like nothing, in 30 seconds we were on the other side of the river. And I was dry and relieved. Lol

I was super impressed.

When we got home we stopped by grandparents house. I told my host cousin that I was interested in talking to seniors about the era of Trujillo, to find out more about the dictatorship that lasted decades in the DR. He remembered and asked if I could ask them questions, they  happily agreed and talked to me while they watched television in their rocking chairs.

It was so crazy to me hearing first hand their experience living under the dictatorship of Leonidas Trujillo. It was a real privilege to me. I would like to elaborate on this interview on another post with more detail.

Next we went home, by this time it was like 10 or 11pm. We had a light dinner, chatted a bit with my host cousin and his brother, laughing and chillin. I took a warm shower (I had to heat up the water) watched t.v. and called it a night.

I slept in Luisiana’s bedroom (my host cousin’s sister) she had left with her in-laws for the weekend. As I laid there in bed, I heard some water running like in those meditation videos and thought to myself, we left the water on or something. I started getting worried because it sounded like a lot of water, then I remembered that the house was like twenty five feet away from a river. Lol

I laughed at my ignorance turned around and tried to sleep.

In the morning I was rudely awaken by the huge ducks that my family has as pets. I was super angry.  I tried to ignore them but it was impossible. I listened carefully and apparently everyone else was awake and full of activity. After debating if I should get up, I turned my covers and decided to enjoy my time in the campo. It was about 9am or 10am

Yamilita and baby sister had already came to the house to look for me, I was told jeje

Too cute

After a delicious lunch of arroz gandules and some other stuff I had a game of dominoes with my host cousin and Javier

Then we decided to take another walk to the river and shower.  As we were walking there we saw some men who had been taken advantage of the stream of water pouring from a rock. We went around them to give them enough time to scurry. The chorro had very little water and therefore we couldn’t take a shower as planned but we did take pretty amazing pictures in the water and in the rocks.

After a while we walked back home and Tia was surprised we came back right away. I spent the rest of the afternoon laying down and playing with yamilita.

Once the afternoon hit, it was time to return to Santiago. I took a ride with my host dad from Moquita to smaller town in the bottom of the mountain. It was a smooth, and kinda awkward ride in his X5 BMW.

At the bottom of the mountain I switched rides and got on the motorcycle with my host cousin. After like three seconds of getting on it, he noticed that he had a flat tire. I was laughing so hard!! I was like really?? I just got off the car and now a flat?? Lol

I took it as a learning experience and another adventure. I got off and he went to look for someone to fix the problem. I met with him near a gasoline station in the main street where a man sowed, glued and patched the empaque of the tire for 50 pesos. (1.50) Since his sister had taken his cellphone we had to wait for her to come bring it to him. After an hour we were finally back on our way back! To Santiago. Night hit us on the way and I was able to see all the lights riding in the autopista (street) into the city. It was a cold and long way back home, fun and adventurous nonetheless.

On our way we were talking about what we were going to eat for dinner, so we got a roasted chicken. After asking him if we had tortillas at home and realizing I had taken them to Moquita with me we decided to stop by a Mercado to get some. As soon as we pulled by the store, another flat tire. LOL slash Dominicans don’t eat tortillas, that’s absolutely the Mexican in me that cant live without them, that and Jalapeños (chilly/hot sauce)

We went inside the store to look for the tortillas, bought them, and looked for a taxi. A taxi van charged 4 times the regular price in order to take the motorcycle inside the van with us to a ‘desponchado’ (somewhere where they can fix flat tires ?)  mind you it was a Sunday night about 730pm by this point.

The desponchado people were able to help us out and in 25min we were on top of the motorcycle back on ur way home. lol

Host cousin was soooo angry, and was cursing the motorcycle the entire way back. Me, I was just laughing and smiling as quiet as I could. I was laughing at the situation and at him for being HILARIOUS! Oh God.

Once we finally got home, and after more motorcycle cursing, I heated up the tortillas, made some Guacamole and made chicken tacos and added some leftover rice.

After 3 tacos I was satisfied and couldn’t have asked for a better ending for such an adventurous weekend. 

I am excited to go back to the campo and continue learning simpler ways of living. That weekend made me appreciate a lot of things that I take for granted. Although I enjoyed my stay in the country side, I honestly don’t know if I’d be able to get accustom to living in a campo like Moquita. I guess everything gets some time getting used to. I must admit that life is much more relaxing and in a way happier in the country side because time doesn’t really mean much.

Well see tomorrow what happens.