After tossing and turning on my lumpy pillow all night I was ready to roll out of bed long before the 6 am alarm. The sun was still low on the horizon and it was impossible for me to tell if there were clouds in the darkened sky. I hoped today would would prove to be a bit drier than the last few. Alyssa, Amalie, Shi and I gathered all the last few days sodas and extra soaps from our rooms and packed them in a bag for the orphanage. We rushed through breakfast and took out pesos out of the ATM machine before meeting up with our taxi driver.
We had been promised an English speaking driver who could help us translate aat the orphanage and later take us to buy the needed supplies for the children. Davide spoke English about as well as we spoke Spanish so we were a bit worried about the communication situation. On the 45 min drive to Huguey we did manage to exchange pictures of our families and learn the ages of his five Ninos. His wife came along for the ride and smiled quietly the whole way. She kept turning around and grinning at my pregnant tummy. Until she saw the pictures I don't think the believed Shi and I had 15 kids between us.
More than once i laughed with Shi thinking about our earlier plan of trying ot rent a car and make it to town ourselves. Traffic seemed to merge and swerve from one lane to the next depending on where the next horse, donkey, bike or scooter were coming from. Most the unpaved roads had deep ruts in them due to the continual downpours and narrow streets popped out in all directions.
We finally pulled into a back alley and arrived at a locked high rusty gate. Davide signalled that we were at our destination. Once inside we were greeted warmly by a young man Samuel who was 19 and a few younger children who weren't at school today. Samuel spoke perfect french but no one there spoke English. Luckily my French was good enough to communicate the basics and since there were no other options I boldly spoke even though I knew my fluent French speaking husband would have cringed at my grammar.
We asked for a list of items and then decided to take Samuel with us. He was happy to come and it was a blessing he did. As Alyssa and Amalie pushed carts around the big market as he expertly filled two large carts to overflowing with all kinds of food and detergents and other basic necessities. We were thrilled he was able to get every single item on his long list for the kids. It was obvious he shopped regularly for the 19 boys living at El Mundo Mejor. It would have taken us all day to figure out what things were what and where to find them and if the price was right or not. In the end he managed to get it all within a few dollars of the budget we had set and we even had a couple pesos left over.
The orphanage is run by a couple who pay for most of it themselves. There were only two room and each had about 10 beds. It was perfectly organized and very clean. The home was very simple but felt comfortable and welcoming. Each boy stays for free until he has finished school at 15. They then either start a work program to get a job or continue on with higher education.
After a couple of photos and warm embraces we headed back to the resort with Davide and his wife. Between a few near misses and lots of bumpy turns Davide stopped the car in the middle of the narrow road to let his wife buy us a treat. She handed us each a thick cool stalk of dripping sugar cane. We sucked and chewed on the cane and then spit the fibers in a plastic bag. After twenty minutes or so we made another stop to buy sweet local tangerines. Even though the restaurants at our resort are filled with fancy food and plenty of waiters we all agreed food given with love tastes so much better and is much more satisfying. In the end language wasn't such a big barrier and Davide and his wife will remain as wonderful reminders of our special time in the Dominican Republic. It was my favourite day so far.
Part 2 - Alyssa
Once we got back to the hotel, my mom went for a nap while Sheira, Amalie and I all decided to walk along the beach to this little market about half hour away. Sheira had seen it the day before while running and wanted to go check it out. It was intense!!! There were salesmen everywhere trying to get you into their stalls, and once you were in there, they would stop at nothing to keep you in there. The common phrase we heard that day was: "Cheapy cheapy, just for you! Almost free!" Many of them pointed to me and would say: "For such a beautiful daughter (for they assumed my aunt was my mom) I will give you good price." I think they just targeted me because Amalie looked to young and Sheira was obviously taken if she was walking around with two daughters.
One man came up to us with these beaded necklaces and offered them to us for free saying: "Because she is such a model, I will give you gift." Aunty Sheira tried declining because she didn't want to feel obligated to buy anything, but he instisted. We still didn't buy anything and he was pretty ticked. But he still told us to come back once we were done looking around... That was after we finally got OUT of the little shop. One guy was SO obnoxious, Shi actually started speaking Bislama (a French/English Pigeon she learned while living in Vanuatu) and said "You talk-talk Bislama?" and when he started speaking in English to her she just said "Me no savé somting!" and left.
We did end up buying one thing. It was a ring for only 3 bucks. A lot cheaper than any of the other o0verpriced stuff there, and it was beaded into a big flower and looked sweet. Sheira got it but didn't have money, so I payed. On our way back, SO many people tried getting us back in again, but we just said that we had no money (they didn't believe us but it was true) and ran through it as fast as we could. We stopped at one point to look at the price of getting Amalie's hair braided and when I looked back, some guy blew me a kiss and made heart thumping motions... I must be just not getting something about their culter or something.
But all in all, it was quite and entertaining ending to our already amazing day!
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