Something to cheer about!

I heard a lot of cheering coming from my neighbor’s house last night but didn’t know what all the noise was about. Bau later proudly announced that Dominicans had won a gold medal in the Olympics as well as a silver medal. Lots of people are very, very excited about this!
Here’s an article from a local newspaper…..

DR1 Daily News -- Tuesday, 07 August 2012
http://www.dr1.com

 

Felix Sanchez again wins gold
It is the Dominican Republic's third gold medal in an Olympic Games.

Felix Sanchez, a 34-year old athlete who was born to Dominican parents in New York City and lived most of his life in California, chose to represent the Dominican Republic at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, but failed to qualify for the 400m hurdle finals. Four years later, he dominated his event, the 400-meter hurdles, and brought incredible joy to the country, winning gold at the Athens Games.

The nation was so grateful that the National Olympic Stadium in Santo Domingo was named after him.

Then came a series of injuries and personal losses that led to a poor showing at Beijing in 2008. Many said that his career was over, but Sanchez continued to train hard and compete on the international track scene. The Diamond League and other track meets were a series of ups and downs but he worked hard.

Yesterday, Monday 6 August in London, Felix Sanchez became a sporting immortal: He won the 400-meter hurdles at the XXX Olympic Games in London. He made the best time in the qualifying heat at 47.76. In the final, he led the field - including United States runner Angelo Taylor who won gold in the Olympics in 2000 and 2008 - to the finishing line in an emotional run, clocking up the exact same time he ran in Athens: 47.63 seconds.

To top off this victory, Sanchez became the oldest athlete to win a speed event in Olympic history at 34 years of age. He will be 35 on 30 August 2012.

The entire Dominican Republic shook with the shouts and cries of joy.

 
Less than an hour later, Luguelin Santos, on the other end of the age spectrum at 18, brought more precious metal to the Dominican Republic, coming in second in the 400-meter event. Luguelin, a homegrown athlete from Bayaguana in Monte Plata province, represents the future of Dominican track.

With these two medals, the Dominican Republic climbs to the 33rd place in the medal standings among the 204 countries taking part in the London Olympic Games.

Fun with Family and Friends

As I already mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I had the privilege of having my nephew, Forest, visit me this summer (together with my friend Julie). His dad and I had been talking about how cool it would be to have him come down here for years, and we finally made it happen! I also finally got my friend Ben to come down and visit me just a week after Forest and Julie left. I’d tried to convince him to visit for twelve years without any luck, so I was a little surprised when he actually got his ticket to come down this summer!  I had such a good time with all three of them and even got to see and do new things with them. Here’s a few pictures!

Dominican Pizza with corn on it served by my buddy Ydekel.


Hike up the hill above the barrio.


The two of us crammed into the front passenger seat of a public car. Forest acted like he’d done that before.


Hanging with the cute barrio kids.

A typical Travesia meal at my friend Mari’s house; stewed salmi, boiled green bananas and fresh picked tomatoes. I don’t think either of them were as excited about the meal as I was.


Exploring mountain trails and digging up sweet potatoes with Moreno.

 
Forest showed off his dance moves; Julie and I got out of dancing despite all the peer pressure.

 
We made a quick stop at the Monument in Santiago.


Then finished up our time with a few days at the beach!!!!

 

 

 
Just a few days after Ben arrived we went on a very long journey to the mountain village my friend Dilenia grew up in. Roughly 1 hour in a van, about 2 hours waiting for the next bus, over 3 hours in the bus, and then roughly 30 minutes on mules. (my last post talks more about this village).

 
Ben helped with the El Camino youth camp and even showed off his talents at eating napkins. No one even came close to beating him!

 
After the youth camp we hiked up to the Travesia and hiked down with 29 pounds of coffee for the team from South Carolina (they had to cancel their trip up the mountain but still wanted coffee).

We went to a Monkey Jungle. It was amazing…. the monkey’s crawled all over us and ate from our hands.


Ben convinced me and everyone at Minerva’s house to put on mustaches. Minerva’s neighbor came over right after she put hers on, she was so embarrassed and started laughing hysterically. I’ve never seen her laugh so much!

Ben and I went all over the place in Ydekel’s pink scooter! Ben’s a good driver but I was still a little bit terrified to ride with him (all three motorcycle accidents I’ve been in have been with Americans).

Overall I’m really grateful to God that I was able to share a bit of my life in the D.R. with Forest, Julie and Ben. I’m also really thankful that He kept them healthy and helped them have many good experiences!

A Far Away Village

Just after six in the morning my friend and I went to town with Dilenia and her son Uvardi. We took a bus to Santiago, waited for nearly two hours and then took a bus for nearly four hours to a small town called La Laguna.

In La Laguna we were greeted by Dilenia’s mute brother, her cousin, and four mules. We bought some food at one of the four local stores and then headed off.

 

After the forty minute mule ride we were greeted by Dilenia’s brothers and sisters (about 8 of them), some of her nieces and nephews, her parents and a large meal. After a cup of hot coffee we explored the village and then it was already time for dinner (a special stew called Sancocho).
 

  

That night before bed we hung out at Dilenia’s parents house playing dominos and joking around with the family (even more family members came by to see Dilenia and the two American visitors).

The following morning (Saturday) Dilenias’s mom, Carmen, got up early to to make  up coffee, feed the farm animals and got busy making us a big breakfast. We ate so much that day it felt like we never stopped eating.

  

That afternoon I went with Dilenia to a village hair salon to get my hair straightened, hung out with my new 8 year old buddy Lauri and went to a number of Dilenia’s relatives home and drank coffee in most of them. Then we went to a village dance party of which I did my best to avoid dancing without offending anyone.

Then on Sunday morning we got up just before six and took a few mules back to La Laguna, got on a bus for four hours to Santiago, then we got into a public van that took it’s time getting us to La Vega, then for the final stretch we took motor cycles to the barrio.

That village was the furthest one I’ve ever traveled to in the Dominican Republic and well forth the trip. The scenery was amazing, the coffee was excellent, and the hospitality was almost overwhelming!

Travesia Trips 201-203

I’ve now been up to the Travesia about 200 times. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration but I’m probably not too far off. I’ve already made it up there three times in just one months time. As always, I love going up there. The hike is exhausting but I love the scenery, the coffee, and my mountain friends. Here’s a few new pictures!

 

A Dominican Graduation

 

I had the honor of walking  Idekel up to get his high school diploma. That’s right, my little buddy just graduated high school! We’ve been friends since he was six and now he’s all grown up!

 

The graduation party was unlike any school party I’ve ever been to or ever heard of. The ticket said the formal dinner for students and their parents started at 8pm. Idekel decided we should arrive at 10pm. Only half of the people were there when we got there but there was a very loud live band and lots of alcohol that parents and their graduates were enjoying together. At 11pm there was some sign of food but they didn’t allow anyone to go through the buffet until 11:35. By that time I was very hungry and tired so as soon as the buffet line started to form I jumped in the line and left Idekel talking to a girl. When he came to join me in line an old man behind me yelled at him for cutting and being disrespectful so I ended up getting my plate of food and eating all by myself. I left the party at 1am just after most people had eaten and were starting to really party. Over all it was an interesting cultural experience!