The soul of Santo Domingo

"Happiness, when it comes, is stronger than all the jerk girls in Santo Domingo combined."
-- Junot Diaz The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao

I can't say I experienced any of those "jerk girls" while in Santo Domingo, but I can defiantly see them easy to come by with the attitude Dominicans carry about them. What I can tell you is that I experienced can be defined as strong feeling known as  happiness. I had moments in the last few months of my life in which I felt so utterly me a sense of "bliss" was unavoidable.  There is something about the Dominican culture and the people that make it up that give me a natural high and a sense of home. That is not to say that I didn't get overwhelmed in moments or in near locura because our local friends had taken over our house. I just felt completely content with just being. Realistically with music everywhere, smiles abundant, coconuts on every corner, and crystal blue water to dive into a sense of happiness seems unavoidable, but I am a bit biast.

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of visiting outside the white sand beaches of the Dominican Republic it is hard to put into words the energy the place has. For those of you who have some of these words may ring a bell: interesting, loving, alive, incredible, inspiring, lively, grateful, fun, vibrant, welcoming, animated, electrifying  and HOME. These are all words posted by our participants from this summer and I couldn't agree more with every single word stated. There is a trust and a pace that is very much its own.Something about the Dominican Republic brings a new life to you- even if it is the exact opposite of the life I lead in the states.

With that said it was also quite fascinating returning to the same program for another year. I feel like I got a whole new take on it all. Having left the Dominican well versed in the social life as well as culture with and without VISIONS I had a running start going back. I not only got big welcoming hug from all the friends and family of our neighborhoods: Elio Franco and San Luis, but I also got to see a whole new side of Santo Domingo. Upon leaving last year I made a friend at the airport who taught a bilingual school in the capital. I reached out to him when I got there and spent a lot of my days off touring la cuidad with him. He was born in Santo Domingo, but was a part of a different class than I had been previously exposed to. We spent Friday nights at jazz concerts, rooftop gatherings, and museum led telescope star watching . These things would be unheard of and considered very strange to my other Dominicans counterparts. No all night discoteca gatherings with gelled hair and shiny shoes? WHAT? Not only that, no-one would be whipping out iPhones in mass quantities on Elio Franco- some motorist would be trying to make profit off of that as soon as possible. It was truly eyeopening to be a part of all the sides of the social coin that is Santo Domingo. I have to say I'll take our little bario over the city slicker any day. The colorful half-constructed buildings with laundry hanging outside and shoeless kids in the street to the tune of Romeo Santos warm my soul no matter how nice an hour in airconditioning might feel.

I think the biggest thing that kept my fire burning this summer was the family and community that I got to go back to. The friends and quite honestly family i went back to couldn't have taken care of me better. They know my love for coconut, dancing, and Dominican cuisine quite well. I smile looking back on: daily hugs and greetings from Santos, heated debates over vocabulary with Daniel, cultural lessons and guidance from Alberto, guagua tours from Santiago to get me to finally hike a mountain out there, my own coconut tree climber in San Luis, sunrise runs through the market with participants, street vocab lessons from all the neighborhood "kids", our cook guarding me a good portion of concon and rice for dinner, making homemade dishes and mango juice with Yissel, dancing and rum with Deivi and Daniel in the discoteca or the kitchen (it really doesn't matter which), learning how to make coconut oil on my last night... the list could go on....

Cheers to another great summer in the DR and all those who made it an unforgettable experience (again). A big salute to the VISIONS participants who taught me so much, to Alberto who pushed my abilities and continues to teach me daily, to my coworkers for making up a quirky team, and to the Dominican's for letting another mass of gringos into their lives. It made a difference to this one...