Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I have always loved rainstorms. I guess I still do under normal circumstances, but rainstorms in the DR have started to become a bit of a pain in the ass. First, there’s my house. Every time it rains, I end up with a nice little lake inside my house and a flowing river in front of my house, which runs past my house and fills my neighbor’s house with water as well. So I spend a good majority of the storm not enjoying it, as I would like to, but sweeping water under the door so that the “lake” doesn’t overtake my little casita. Furthermore, all of the moisture in the air from these storms has caused mold to grow in interesting places – the walls, the door, the windows… my purse?

(My town gets ready for Hurricane Ike by pulling the boats ashore.)

Then there’s my door. You see, it’s made of wood – the kind of wood that expands when it’s wet. So after each rainstorm, I can’t close my door, and when I finally do close it, I can’t open it (this has led to me having to sleep a couple of nights with my door slightly opened… might be a safety issue). I generally have to enlist help from one of my neighbors with a machete and a strong arm to help me open the door from the outside and then yell to someone walking by my house “AYUDAME… EMPUJE DURO!” (HELP… PUSH HARD!) to open the door from the inside. And when door no longer actually fits the frame and really doesn’t close, I have to call my landlord to come shave part of it off, which he does unenthusiastically with my kitchen knife.

And finally, there are the streets of my wonderful little pueblo… fabulously unpaved and thus incredibly muddy and sometimes completely flooded, they make for interesting walks whenever I need to go somewhere – the colmado, my friend’s house, a meeting. Quite a different experience from rainstorms in the US, where I’m generally safe in my car or in my house or at work without having to worry about sinking in the mud when I have to go from one place to the other.

We’ve had quite a few rainstorms lately, since we are in the middle of hurricane season. Hurricane Ike was the latest, which didn’t do as much damage as we thought it would. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my kids’ camp which was going to take place last weekend, with lots of fun activities, including a snorkeling adventure. Instead I was called in to the capital for consolidation, which lasted from Friday until Monday, and was, as it turns out, completely unnecessary for me. Apparently in Bayahibe, it was a beautiful, sunny weekend – perfect for a snorkeling trip.

And I was stuck in the capital, which usually isn’t a bad place to be for consolidation. Last year, when Olga came, we were consolidated in a nice hotel in the capital – Barcelo Lina, with hot water, a buffet, feather mattresses, AC, cable TV, a casino, etc. This time we were put up in the pension (where volunteers usually stay when we come to the capital because of its cheap rates), which is like a hostel, and possibly my least favorite place in the world… definitely in the country. The rooms are damp and uncomfortable, with as many as 10 people crowded into one room, each of us with our own twin-sized bed, terrible mattresses and pillows, cold water, mosquitoes and the rudest staff imaginable. (In fact, due to the rude staff, I’ve actually made it a point on several occasions to spend more money and stay at a hostel called Bella Epoca, which, although is more expensive and further from the Peace Corps office, is more pleasant because of the people who work there… just so you get an idea of how much I don’t like this place.)

But, in spite of the less-than-ideal living situation, we made the best of it. A few of my friends and I decided to welcome Hurricane Ike with a hurricane party, complete with hurricane drinks and a sancocho – a typical Dominican dish, which is basically a soup with every meat thinkable (which I happily left for my meat-eating friends) and every type of vivere (platanos, potatoes, yucca, etc) found in the DR. We mixed some hurricanes (151, Rum and chinola concentrate, blended with ice), devoured the sancocho and waited for the rain… and waited… and waited for the wind… and waited. Nothing. No rain. No wind. Nothing. So after we finished off the ingredients for the hurricanes, we left our dance party of American music mixed with bachata, salsa and reggaeton to go to a concert of a local Dominican band called Toque Profundo (Deep Touch). It was awesome – a great way to spend the evening, which I had originally thought would be spent staying in and watching a movie while it poured outside. It finally rained while we were at the concert but only for 2 minutes, which wasn’t enough to make us leave.

The downpour happened the next night, when a few of us went to a hookah bar – such a great find in this country. We actually got rained in at the restaurant; the cabs literally stopped running and the Santo Domingo streets flooded with water. So we ordered another bottle of wine and waited it out. When the rain finally stopped, we left the restaurant to find ourselves traipsing through knee-deep water back to my friend’s apartment. Quite an adventure.

So, after a trip to the capital, a hurricane party and a flood, Hurricane Ike is over for us, headed for the states, apparently, and I’m back in Bayahibe and back to work… at least until the next hurricane graces us with her presence.

Hope all is well on the home front. Miss you all!

*PEACE*

Below Pictures: Bayahibe bay before the storm and Bayahibe bay on a normal day (notice how calm the water is)

Below Left: Hookah Restaurant (my new favorite)

Below Right: Tuto and I pause from the hurricane dance party to take a picture