Work took me up to Dajabón in the northwest of the country for the past two days. It's a few hours' drive through the interior of the country where, between the trees and buildings lining the highway, you can catch glimpses of almost neon green rice fields in stark contrast to the dark green mountains with rainclouds stuck to them. The land changes more towards the north to this interesting combination of marsh and desert - the land is still pretty wet but growing out of the soggy ground are cacti. Go figure. The ride meant many hours of listening to the radio, which provided the entertainment of a commercial for a cold medicine using Ace of Base's "Don't Turn Around" as its jingle and Beyoncé singing the Spanish-only version of "Beautiful Liar" without Shakira - I don't understand either, but don't ever listen if you can avoid it, your ears will bleed.
When we arrived to visit the clinic in the border town, I realized just how border town it was - there at the end of the block was literally a doorway to Haiti. Crossing the border was much debated, and my coworkers' concerns for my safety and my concern for what the current bribe rate is for the border guards led to merely observing the people going back and forth and staring at the country on the other side. I was just now informed that I could have paid "a few gourds" to be physically carried across the river that divides the two countries. Unfortunately I did not have extra cash or food on me, and I don't think the border patrol or the locals would have found a Cliff Bar to be a sufficient reward. Maybe next time, if I point out how much fiber, protein, and vitamins they have...
Unfortunately we were not there on a mercado day, when Dominicans flood the town to buy anything and everything from the Haitians who cross over for the market - clothing, rice, food, whatever they get in aid from various foreign governments. Apparently you can get some good stuff there for nice and cheap. We did purchse some fresh garlic and mangos from the campo, though. So for the whole ride back yesterday, the car stank with the bizarre combination of the two - they are some of my favorite things, but really, not at the same time.
When we arrived to visit the clinic in the border town, I realized just how border town it was - there at the end of the block was literally a doorway to Haiti. Crossing the border was much debated, and my coworkers' concerns for my safety and my concern for what the current bribe rate is for the border guards led to merely observing the people going back and forth and staring at the country on the other side. I was just now informed that I could have paid "a few gourds" to be physically carried across the river that divides the two countries. Unfortunately I did not have extra cash or food on me, and I don't think the border patrol or the locals would have found a Cliff Bar to be a sufficient reward. Maybe next time, if I point out how much fiber, protein, and vitamins they have...
Unfortunately we were not there on a mercado day, when Dominicans flood the town to buy anything and everything from the Haitians who cross over for the market - clothing, rice, food, whatever they get in aid from various foreign governments. Apparently you can get some good stuff there for nice and cheap. We did purchse some fresh garlic and mangos from the campo, though. So for the whole ride back yesterday, the car stank with the bizarre combination of the two - they are some of my favorite things, but really, not at the same time.
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