MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!

When I came home in September, I got one question a lot: What exactly do you do? My answer was always the same: That’s a good question!
That is because it depends on what I have going on at the time. However, I have some specific projects that I am almost always working on. So, I decided to update y’all on my projects so that y’all can understand a little better what it is that I do do…
1. Brigada Azul – I started the environmental youth group, Brigada Azul, in October. The original Peace Corps club is Brigada Verde, but because most everything we are going to be working on involves the ocean, I decided to call it Brigada Azul. So far we have done a few things. We painted a world map in the school and fixed-up some other murals and I took some youth to two different conferences. A health volunteer brought her youth to Isla Saona to have an “intercambio”. We gave them a speech on trash, they gave us a speech on sex ed, and we had the local doctor talk about Cholera. By the end of the year, we will do a beach clean up, some recycling activities, and take a trip to Bayahibe to see the other side of the park, the caves with Taino drawings.
2. Vendor classes – There are two jobs in Mano Juan, fishing and vending. The vendors are the people that sell small crafts and jewelry to the tourists on the beach. I am the coordinator for the vendors to get classes from an organization called Infotep. It sounds pretty easy, but what makes it difficult is where we live and having no public transportation. We always went through a specific tourist group that has about 10 workers living in Mano Juan. In July when we started, it was very difficult to get the transportation situated, but it’s gotten easier because the tourist company decided that they want to join the class. So, they provide the transportation regularly now. So far we have done classes like: basic accounting, marketing, job security, sanitation in cooking, etc. In December we’ll have a big graduation, and make a list of the classes they want to do the next year.
3. Lionfish – The lionfish is an invasive species of fish that migrated to the DR (and the Caribbean in general) from Florida. They escaped from an aquarium in Florida during a hurricane in the early 1990s, and have been migrating south ever since. They are striped, usually white with black, red, or maroon, and usually can grow to about a foot long. The problem with the lionfish is that it is one of the most venomous fish on the ocean floor and very aggressive. They have 18 venomous spines and use them against predators. For hunting, they work in groups cornering their prey, and then shallow them whole. In the Caribbean, because they’re not native here, they have no natural predators. And, because they reproduce very quickly, lionfish are becoming a plague and are rapidly killing the native fish that the fishermen live on fishing. Though they can’t kill a human, if one of their spines sticks you you’d feel it for a while.
Mid-August, I gave the fishermen a speech all about the lion fish, and was surprised how receptive they were. In October, I tried the fish (it is edible after you cut off the spines and head) with a fisherman and his family, and we all liked it.
Now one of the tourist company that eats lunch in Mano Juan has decided the fishermen $70 pesos for each pound of lionfish to feed their clients. So hopefully this will create a small market and then the fishermen will have more motivation (making money) to hunt the lionfish. Also, in January, we are going to have a huge fishing (for lionfish) competition in Bayahibe with the organization, Reef Check, and then afterwards prepare the fish for the restaurant owners. The hope is that they like it and put it on the menu. If this happens it will create a bigger market and a huge motivation for the fishermen to kill the lionfish.
4. English classes – I’ve been doing English classes ever since I got here and they are still going strong. I still teach two classes Monday through Friday in the school, and one adult class in the evening Monday through Thursday.
5. Marine Interest Group – I am the president of a Peace Corps club called the Marine Interest Group. Right now we are working on various projects. One is creating an educational manual for kids (through Brigada Verde) about issues that effect the coastal parts of the DR. Another is working with Reef Check to check and manage some coral reefs in the DR. Also, we just made a new contact that I’m very excited to work with. It’s called Living Museums in the Sea and is a project by Indiana University and USAID. Basically they set up paths of artifacts (some found and some placed) in the sea about a specific event or area. For example, in Isla Catalina they have one on the William Kidd wreak with canons, ship parts, etc. Then, tourists can scuba dive down and follow the path of artifacts learning more about the event. Indiana University would like to check on the reefs AKA museums every two or three months to make sure that the items are fitting in well with their environment and also make sure that they are not affecting the surrounding corals. However, IU can only come about twice a year. So they need man power to do the dives. IT and USAID will provide training to do the job, and then after that we will dive every two to three months to manage the sites.
I hope that this explains a little better about what I’m working on. If you have any questions, comments, or would like more information, please email me.

Cholera and Tomas

The past week and a half has been one crazy trip…

On Wednesday, October 27th, I got a call from the safety and security officer. She told me that we would be having a Cholera training, because of the outbreak in Haiti, on Friday so I needed to head in to the capitol ASAP. I packed my bag and headed in Thursday morning. The session on Friday lasted two hours…

Cholera is a bacteria that enters through the mouth. It makes you throw up and have extreme watery diarrhea. Without treatment, young and old people usually die within two to four hours, and a normal, healthy adult usually die between 24 to 48 hours.

They predict that cholera will enter the Dominican Republic soon, maybe even sooner due to the hurricane. Also, they have no idea when the outbreak will stop; it depends on how quickly they can get it under control.

During the training, they announced that there is a strong hurricane out in the Caribbean Sea, and that we needed to call in on Monday to find out more information. On Saturday morning, I headed out to Saona. I was going to have a day camp with my friend, Laura, a health volunteer that lives in La Romana and her jovenes. I sent Laura and one of her kids off in and boat and finally, an hour later, boarded a boat with the remaining three jovenes to head to Mano Juan. Just then, the safety and security officer called me and told me that I should not return to Saona till Monday, when we knew more about the hurricane. “Bueno!” I told her the situation, and she said go ahead but be on the first boat back in the morning.

We had a great time in Saona. Our jovenes got to mingle but also learn together. We gave her group a trash charla and she gave out group a charla about sex ed. Then, we gathered the community together to have a cholera charla.

Then Sunday morning, we chipped in with a couple of community members to get a boat to take us to Bayahibe at 7am! I stayed in La Romana on Sunday night and Monday headed into the capitol. Then we learned about the potential Hurricane Tomas that was currently stalking Haiti in the Caribbean Sea. We were being consolidated in the capitol until further notice.

Then began five days of being consolidated in the Barcelo Lina, a really nice hotel, in the capitol. For two days straight the sky was dark gray, and we had high winds and rain. We were safe, though, up in the hotel. The Peace Corps picks the hotel depending on back-up generators, water, building structure, and location.

The first day, it was really fun because we were all together; however, as time passed and we ran out of things to do…we got more and more bored.Thankfully though, today, Sunday, the consolidation was lifted and we can go back to out sites. I’m really excited to get back because I really haven’t been there in 11 days!

Brigada Verde

At the beginning of October, I started the youth group, Brigada Verde. Brigada Verde is a Peace Corps youth group that was developed to teach kids about the environment. We did our first charla on trash on the October 3rd. We learned the Three R's of trash: reduction, recycling, and re-utilization; and we are doing trash activities. This next week we will do a beach and town clean-up. I hope that we can get the community involved, too.

We also did a map mural in the school. To teach the kids geography and to have some fun painting. They got really into it and we finished in three days.





This past weekend (October 22-24th), I traveled with two of my youth, to Sabana de la Mar for the East Conference. It was held in "Los Haitises" which is a National Park. It was a great learning experience for them, and they also meet a lot of new friends from all over the east.

The last weekend of October, we are going to have a health volunteer and a few of her youth come out and do an "intercambio". They are going to give some sex ed charlas and we are going to give them a charla on basura (trash). We are also going to play soccer and have a Halloween party! After that we will have November for geography class (use the map) and the National Brigada Verde Conference the second weekend of November.

Pictures

There are now some pics of Peru on flickr! (See link on the right hand side). And there's even more to come!

Peru: Part 5 - The "Poor Man's Galapagos"

Next we headed out to the beach town of Paracas. Of course it was to cold to swim, but it was not why we went there. Paracas is the home of the Islas Ballestas, also called the poor man’s Galapagos. There you can find flamingos, sea lions, penguins, dolphins, and 250 species of birds.


This was our guide. He was very knowledgeable and funny.







Also, there is the mysterious Candelabra (Google Paracas Candelabra). This three pronged symbol in the sand is huge and sits on the Northern face of the Paracas Peninsula. The origins are still unknown.

Peru: Part 4 - Chivay

We were going to see the condors fly and had to stop in a small town called Chivay. It didn’t look like much, but it was in the guide book. It said that just outside of town was a natural hot springs. We arrived in Chivay about 10am the morning and our bus did not leave until 3pm so we decided to check out the not springs. When we got there, there was a sign that said zip-lining which we both had never done so we decided to ask how much it was. It was really cheap so made the instant decision of going zip-lining before the hot springs. The zip-lining was actually over a shallow part of the Canon de Calca, the second largest canyon in the world. The zip-lining was a little scary at first but extremely fun!





Afterwards we headed to the natural hot springs to relax. Hot was an understatement! Then we headed back to the bus stop to wait for the bus.

It was about 2:30pm when the security told was to see the condors we would have to pay a fee. When asked how much, he said $35 dollars!! It was super expensive to have a maybe chance at see them, so we decided to stay in Chivay for the night. Thank goodness, we did the day trip of zip-lining and hot springs or the day would have been a waste.

Peru: Part 3 - Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a big lake between the Peruvian-Bolivian border. Half of the lake is considered Peru and the other is Bolivia. It is the largest lake in South America but that’s not what makes it special; it is because a floating reed plant, called totora, grows in the lake and no where else in the world. The root floats and a reed like plant grows straight up out of the water.



The people cut the reed and put layers upon layers of the reeds on the floating root. That way it becomes a floating island…



The people use the reed to make their houses, tools, to cook, and boats…







It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the life and people on Lake Titicaca to my community. Tourists essentially do the same things at the two locations. They come in on a boat, walk around the community, look at the people’s houses and their way of life, the tourists are then hassled to buy little trinkets, they take million pictures, and then they leave. It was interesting to be on the tourist side of it and see it from their perspective.