130922 JUANA DIAZ WATER PROJECT

We made a fun trip to a little town near the north end of the island placed on the side of a beautiful mountain to investigate a potential water project we might do in association with the Peace Corps.  We had a meeting with the community leaders where they informed us their community is a special community where people do not drink “Presidente” and there is no carousing.  Citizens are industrious and doing their best to be good decent people.  They are blessed with an abundance of cacoa, bananas, china (oranges), pineapple, coconut, strawberries, guayaba and other natural fruit in abundance.  This was our first introduction to guayaba and we really like it!

Family growing flowers in tree stumps.

Little boy sitting at the family kitchen table.  Scenes walking the trail to take a look at one of the “tomas” (place to take water out of the mountain

Most families tote their water from the river using horses or mules.

Tiffany and Kerrilyna, Peace Corps volunteers who live in the community.  Tiffany will be there over a year.  Kristina will be there for a few months.

The following pictures show how the families in this community are capturing rainwater from their roof tops.  Some families only have a small barrel.  Some have a bigger tank.  One family had a basement that served as a rainwater holding tank.

Most families mop their floors once a day.  The following is a picture of Edith in her boots ready to hike up the mountain to look at the “toma”.

The community has one water tank already constructed.  We sucked on some cacao beans

GUAYABA FRUIT

Before we left Juana Diaz, they loaded us up with china, coconut, and guayaba fruit.  The following is how we prepared guayaba fruit for a smoothie.  You can actually eat it raw like an apple including the skin and seeds.  It is really good.

 

 MONTE PLATA FOOD PROJECT

The only other excitement for the week was that we delivered a chicken coop and garden “kit” to a 2^nd family in Monte Plata.

GUAGUA THAT IS ALWAYS TURING RIGHT FROM THE LEFT LANE IN FRONT OF US

GUAGUA “KING OF THE ROAD”

Wallace drew a picture of the "King of the Road" complete with the Dominican “pucker”, traffic signal with red, green and yellow all showing at once, manhole cover missing marked with branches and a board, cancer treatment smoke, jockey that is always trying to get more people on the bus, bald tires,  insane driver and the ubiquitous sign “Confia en Dios” –trust in God.  All of this is common in the Dominican Republic.