Bus ride to Santo Domingo—

Our original plan was to spend a month in the Domincan Republic however, with the weather and other circumstances we had to change that to a two-week visit. The first few days were filled with getting the boat ready to be left in the Luperon harbor while we traveled in-land to meet our friends Jim and Tammy. They rented a car at the airport and we took the bus to meet them in Santo Domingo. I was amazed at the variety of the crops that are grown in the DR. While leaving the small rural town of Luperon we rode through rolling hills and beautiful lush valleys. We saw rice fields, tobacco, orange groves, corn, bananas, coffee, chocolate beans and many coconut palm trees. It was so diverse it was amazing. With it’s wide variety of topographic and climate conditions the DR has the richest plant life in the Caribbean.

One of the sadist scenes on our bus ride was the realization of how much trash there is in the country. The bus driver’s assistant was picking up the trash in the bus and putting it in a small wastebasket. For a quick second the bus stopped and the man tossed the trash on the side of the road by a beautiful green hillside of sugarcane. I gasped out loud. I could not believe that only a mile down the road was a bus stop and he could have emptied the trash in a trashcan there. This was a real eye opener for me and I started noticing many people throwing trash in the rivers and on the street.

Many of you know, I once put a student out of my car and made him walk home for throwing trash out the window. I really hate litter. It made me think of the U.S. in the 70’s and all the T.V. commercials we watched that discouraged littering. I know it is possible to educate and change habits but I wonder how long it will take for the DR to realize how much the trash affects the country. They really need the crying Indian here.

The people in the D.R. are some of the nicest folks in the world and are very helpful and gracious. On the way back from our stay in Jarabacoa (the mountain village with beautiful waterfalls) we took the guaguas from La Vega where Jim and Tammy dropped us off to head back to the airport. A guagua is a van-like public taxi that is very cheap and loaded with many people and sometimes with chickens and other interesting items. In order to get back to Luperon we had to change guaguas 4 times. On the second change I was distracted and left my nice small backpack with our books and my prescription glasses in the top compartment above my head. As soon as we got on the other van I realized it and got off to try and catch the van. Of course it was gone. A nice young man about college age saw my distress and he went in search of a guy with a radio since his English was better than my Spanish. We tried to find it but had no luck. I had given up and was getting back on the van when I saw him coming toward me carrying the pack. I got off the van and gave him a big hug and a tip. He did not ask for a tip, but I was so happy to have the bag back that I was happy to give him one. This is just one example of the kindest we saw in the country. Every bus stop we got off someone was there to help us find our next guagua. My idealistic dream is for some great student like our good friend Megan Murphy to come to the DR and help educate them about the trash situation because that is one of the only drawbacks to this country.

Michele