Viva la karaoke!
Trip Start
Unknown
1
4
44
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Rachele's House
Santiago, Santiago, Dominican Republic
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Saturday, and what a day!
More exploration of the area and a trip with Rachele to the library that she helped establish. The concept of a library is fairly foreign in these villages. Rachele was able to create the little library from the ground up and she has done a wonderful job. She is still accumulating books in both Spanish and English, but so far she has a nice little collection, varied in both range and scope. She has even started a book club to get kids interested in reading. They have just started reading “La Telarana de Carlotta”, well known in English as Charlotte’s Web. She also had a mural commissioned for the side of the library which she even helped in. They memorialized her in a way by putting her name on a book painted in the mural.
We were invited to her host family’s house for lunch and to see their workshop where they make pottery and clay stoves. Rachele was placed with the host family for a short time when she first arrived to get acclimated and to have a sense of family in the area. What a family! At any given time the house is full of people and kids and dogs and cats. We watched them spin and mold the clay which they use to make clay stoves for people who have no access to electricity. The people in the very remote and rural areas cook over open fires which are not very efficient. These clay stoves retain heat and use less fuel than an open fire. They also burn cleaner and are better for the environment.
We were treated to a traditional Dominican lunch of rice, beans, chicken, and salad. The dish is called “la bandera” or “the flag” and apparently that is what they have for lunch almost everyday. Good thing its delicious! After lunch we all sat around with her host mom and we were taught the fine art of Dominican Dominoes. Rachele says that they play almost every evening for hours on end so hopefully we will have a chance to get better and redeem ourselves!
Rachele is also involved in a youth group, which is comprised of mostly twentysomethings. The youth group had a karaoke/dance party which they organized as a fund raiser. Fact: Dominicans love karaoke. Every time someone got up to sing the crowd went berserk. It sounded as if the Beatles had just taken the stage. It was fantastic. After a few hours of solid love ballads, and body moving merengue we headed home, in the dark, on the back of motor scooters.
Comments
Does she need books for the library and if so where would we send them?
Adam, did you sing Karoke?