butterflywing

i did not see ANY wildlife. they must have insects. they do have termites, so if they can build out of cement block they do. the island has no animals to speak of, not even small ones like foxes. i did see hawks, but they were fishing.

you're right. i have to find hubby.

butterflywing

look for day trips. coming eventually. don't want to hog the chit chat. hubby will be there. i never realized he was not in the countryside. i guess there was no one else but him to take these pics.

butterflywing

although very poor, and the people go without much of what we take for granted, and their lives are so hard, they are not underfed or dirty. they live very long, healthy lives. they eat a lot of veggie stews with some chicken in it, eggs, loads of fresh fruit. they trade for rice and grow beans. many have a cow and have milk. they barter with neighbors, in kind or for services for what they themselves don't have. they sell plantains and red bananas and fingerlings, oranges and limes and grapefruits. they also sell craft items. all to middlemen who sell to the cities. it gives them enough to live on including clothes, barbed wire, shoes if they want them (they don't), tin for roofing. they can slowly save for cows or donkeys. it's a very hard life, but neighbors take care of each other, raise each other's children if necessary and make sure that no one goes without. they are also deeply religious. a very hard-working life, but not an altogether bad one. they laugh and wave at the tour bus, even though they know they don't get coins from us. they do not beg. they have the bare essentials.

as city people earn more from tourism, they are building very large country houses. they are hiring servants and construction labor from among the country people. as money trickles into the countryside everything will start to change. electricity will also be more available and people will be able to buy transportation, i.e. motorbikes. within the next 5 years, i expect there will be suburbs, of a kind, all over the countryside, as well as more schools and later marriages and fewer children. a blessing and a curse. but the dominican republic is definitely on it's way.

Lisanne

Thanks for posting the info. I could live on oranges and limes and plantains and chicken & vegetable stews...

I was noticing how very clean and healthy the schoolchildren looked. Of course, with the daily lunches and uniforms, maybe they're better off than other kids there, but still, things look primitive but not actually terrible.

No bugs? Maybe I'll move there...

Knot Sew

It looks peaceful...clean...stress free...relaxed... a couple of weeks to get away from it all would be ok.....bring fabric and needle and thread

barnbum

I haven't been paying attention to posts--where are you???

butterflywing

here. where are you? just kidding. i had to do that.


i was in the dominican republic for two weeks and i had a chance to see the city and the countryside, as well as the usual tourist traps. it was very interesting.

wvdek

Thanks B for the pics. Reminds me of when DH went to Belize on a missionary trip. Beautiful but so poverty stricken. The people seemed so happy and they too were clean. Can't wait for the next set of pics.

butterflywing

all the people in the country are clean and healthy. also, neither fat nor skinny. they get the lunches, but they eat fresh foods at home also. definitely primitive, but not unlivable. they drink bleached water or rainwater that they catch in barrels. remember, they're not cold so they don't need hot food as much as we do, or warm clothes. they hardly need clothes. they do their hard work, they feed their families and eat with them and they relax before sleeping. in the houses there are two or three bedrooms. one for the parents, one for the children, one for the grandparents. when the boys become young men, the houses are added on to for another room or the young men sleep in the common room.

the city people are less lucky, actually. just as clean, but mostly no jobs. they can't be self-sustaining. i don't know where they work if not in tourism. some in construction and other odds-and-end jobs, like storekeepers, etc. but only a small percentage. whole families live together to make it. they really can't manage if one youngster leaves for england or america. it keeps the young ones trapped. and they don't believe in ANY kind of birth control. even the kind that the catholic church allows.

when you talk to the hotel staff, they ask about how you live, do you live in a house, how many families do you share it with, is it attached to a store, how many children do you have, does everyone have a job, can you save money, how big is your house, how many rooms do you have, do you really have a car? two? did your children go to high school (it's not free there), university, vocational training? do you have a lot of clothes, do you go to a lot of different places? they cannot imagine any of this being real. it's only a fairy tale from t.v. they want to know if everyone is rich. they don't understand that it takes saving to go on this vacation,because in the city they can't save enough to buy a motorbike, the rents are too high and they have to buy all their food. also, in the cities the kids MUST go to school and finish grade 8, however old they are, so they're not available to work, but they still eat. and by then some of them have families of their own. the country folks are a lot better off than the city poor, as always.

they want to get out, but when they do, they can't compete with better educated people around the world and then they want to come home. they also don't want to be cold in an unfriendly city.

Moonpi

Here in Florida, banana rees harbor HUGE spiders!