One cultural difference that our orgnizers told us about was Dominican Time: Relationships are more important than running to a tight schedule, so be flexible about time. So, when we landed at 4:30 am with 24 people, 46 duffle bags of donations, plus our personal suitcases and carry-on and found no bus, I wasn'tp erturbed. There was some mix-up so we settled in to wait. Four hours later when the bus and the open-air cargo truck arrived some of us had managed to nap amomg the duffles. We all piled into the bus for the 90 minute drive to LaRomana. Once we clered the outskirts fo Santo Domingo we drove through several miles of beachfront before getting into mile of sugar cane. you can smell the burning fields from miles away, reminiscent of campfires.
The bus ride got very intersting when we stopped about 15 minutes int to drive to check the brake fluid. Fortunately there were no hills on the drive. We continued on with the windows -and the bus door wide open. The fresh warm air is a wonderful change from cold, dry Massachusetts. Our hosts are also warm and welcoming and I'm enjoying getting to know the rest of the team. Taking a trip with this many strangers is certainly out of my comfort zone.
This morning we attended a Haitian Baptist Church, this afternoon, the beach. Tomorrow the real work begins.
patience please. I'm typing on a tablet and the keyboard interface is less than friendly. Please excuse the spelling and punctuation. I don't have time to fix it.
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