A Year in the Dominican Republic: Visitors

The past couple of months have been very busy with what seems like an endless stream of visitors.

Last month Felicity (our Desk Officer from Project Trust) came and stayed with us for a couple of days. Every country that Project Trust send volunteers to has a Desk Officer who is the first port of call if you have any questions or if anything goes wrong. All Desk Officers visit their volunteers in the countries that they are in charge of. The visits are really for them to see how we are doing, check that the project is still valid and that the volunteers are happy and healthy.

Felicity arrived in the DR after her visit to volunteers in Peru bringing with her wise words about our OCN report, advice about secondary projects and completing our Global Citizenship award. It also gave us a chance to catch up on Coll life, hear about other volunteers and ask about life after the Dominican Republic (!!!) We had a very busy few days showing her all around the schools and villages, going out for dinner, walking to the river and chatting to everyone! It was really brilliant having her to stay and we all wished that it could have been for longer. Being so involved in the community, COPA, and just general crazy amazing Dominican life I kind of forget that we are part of Project Trust as well so having Felicity here made us feel all lovely and Project Trusty again.

After a fleeting two days Felicity was on the road again, this time to see the boys in Santiago but not before delivering her parting gifts of much needed packets of mini eggs and fruit pastels!

Next on the guest schedule was the family! We had discussed the possibility of them coming out before I left Scotland and agreed that it would be best to wait until I was out here before deciding definitely if they would come and visit. After a couple of months I decided that I would really like them to come. Obviously one of the reasons was because I wanted to see them but honestly, when you reach the point that I am at now you really don't miss home (well I don't anyway!) The reason I wanted them to come is to show them and share with them a bit of my life so that when I get back they have some idea about what I have been doing for the past twelve months, and having people around me who understand how much I love my life here might help with home sickness when I go back as they would have some idea about what I am missing. So, eight months after I left them at the air port in the UK I travelled to the capital to meet them from the airport here. Everything went fairly smoothly other than their terrifying story of almost not being allowed on to the plane in New York! Anyway, after a night in the capital we headed for Samana, in the north east, where they had their first Gua Gua (minibus busses) experience and heard their first 'Ay mi madre!' and 'Ay Dios!' - very special moments. We went by moto concho (motorbike taxis) to one of the best beaches on the island: white sands, proper grass, blue sea, palm trees and best of all no people! I will definitely be revisiting that one!

After Samana it was time for the real deal. After a four hour bus journey on the Expresso with the compulsory blaring bachata and merengue music and the crazy man at the back who sings and claps to every song we arrived tired and hot in La Hoya. Despite the fact that we walked the back way there was no escaping the shouts of 'Ali, Ali, es su familia!?' …and the confused stares from women sitting in plastic chairs outside their houses as the group of Americanas with rucksacks trudged past.

Since then we have been cooked spaghetti, played dominoes, Jesus showed them round his platano fields, my sister amassed a large queue of admirers, walked to the river, cooked Moro, my dad set up a coffee stand for Sylvia and Christina every morning, mum has helped me fix masks to the wall in the classroom, we have snorkelled, barbequed on the beach, had many an uncomfortable trip in the back of the truck, been to church, admired the Dominican vavavooms. …

It was brilliant to see them all again and to have the chance to show them my life here. I was sad to see them leave but I was even sadder because their departure means that we only have three months left which is soooo scary. I can’t bear thinking about leaving and saying goodbye to everyone! Maybe I’ll just stay here, marry a gorgeous Dominican man, live in bright blue wooden house by the sea, cook rice and have babies. Although I am looking forward to seeing everyone in August and the idea of university, I’m NOT looking forward to wet weather, no merengue or Spanish, no daily proposals of marriage, no craazy children; no playing dominoes with Jesus next door, no Mota shouting over the fence to give us bunches of sweet potatoes and bananas; no motorbikes, no knowing everyone that walks past, no fields of bananas or flip flop wearing. That little blue house by the sea is seeming more and more tempting...