The Most Incredible Day

I woke up so early, 5:45 a.m., every part of my body groaning for more sleep. The heat, the long days, the strains of trying to understand a foreign language--they get to you. But man, am I glad now that I did get up. I had the most incredible day.

A Dominican guagua

I was at Mamá Tingó metro station at 7:00 a.m. and met my friend Megan and Cristian, the loan officer whose meeting we were going to that day. From the station, Cristian put us on a guagua that we were to ride all the way to the end of the route. (A guagua is basically a public van/bus. I've posted a pretty realistic picture of both the guaguas and motoconchos (see below) to the left and right!) We drove and drove and drove, and the further we went into the interior of the DR, the more I had the sense that I was on some sort of grand adventure, something reminiscent of King Kong or Narnia. Mountains rose up around me; greenery painted the landscape so rich a color it looked fake, like a Photoshopped image. I was already in awe, but little did I know what was in store for me next.

A motoconcho

We jumped off the guagua at the end of the route and soon thereafter located Cristian, who had arrived earlier by his motoconcho (motorcycle). Apparently, we hadn't arrived at the end of our route. At a colmado (corner store), we hired another motoconcho driver who Megan rode with while I hitchhiked with Cristian. I would have thought that I would be slightly afraid--even a little--but truly I was just excited. We were going up the mountain. And here I was, in the boondocks of the DR, riding on the back of a motoconcho, going up a mountain with the wind whipping past me and the sun (hopefully) tanning my skin.

As we rode up the mountain, what I saw astounded me. I was in the most beautiful place I have ever been. Mountains and pastures, cows and goats. I cannot describe to you the beauty of this place. The pictures taken from my iPhone don't do it justice. Not even close.

After a long trek up the mountain, dodging rocks and holes and who-knows-what-else, we arrived at the village. The main part of the town was located on a lower part of the mountain, complete with a small church, another colmado, and a few neighboring houses. We arrived quite early (as we didn't know how long the public transportation was going to take), so Cristian took us to meet some of Esperanza's associates that were receiving loans. At this point, we ditched the motoconchos and began up the mountain by foot.

The houses were small and spread out pretty far. The people in Yamasá mainly make their living from the cacao (coco) trees, but they also grow tobacco and yucca, a traditional Dominican food similar to potatoes. We met 5 associates as we made our way around the mountain. The thing that sticks with me about all of them is that upon our arrival, they immediately offered us their chairs. I don't know if it's just ingrained in the Dominican Way, but it touches me.

The associate that I most clearly remember was an old woman whose house was set against the slope of the mountain. Her home was made out of wood with a rusted tin roof. She was sweeping the dirt when we walked up. She greeted us with a smile, as all of the associates did, and showed us how she dried the cacao seeds to get them ready to sell. She then showed us inside her house. I only saw one room, the living room, which was small, only a wooden table and an old T.V. But there's an image that I want to describe to you. This woman was in front of her house, leaning against the old door that was almost off of its hinges, opening up into the small living room. A few bright streaks of paint still showed on the wood, though most of it had worn away from the weather, and the tin had streaks of rust that added to the charm of the house. She was standing there, broom in hand, smiling at us. I don't mean to sound overly romantic, but that smile was as beautiful as the greenery surrounding us.

I should have taken a picture. I didn't. I regret it.

We continued up the mountain, meeting more associates and learning about their lives (well, I was learning as much as I could with my language handicap). I saw the tobacco and yucca fields that stretched across the mountains, and I got to meet the families of the people who lived there. Coming back down the mountain, we ditched the dirt road and cut through the jungle. I'm not going to lie or hide my innate nerdiness, but I felt like Katniss in the jungle here. I even had my District 12 orange backpack on from my Halloween costume 2 years ago (Hey! I had to get some kind of use out of it!) Back down in the center of the village, we walked to the church to have the loan meeting. Roughly 10 people showed up, mainly women but 2 men in their midst, and followed the normal progression of the meetings: prayer, song, collection, chatting, and prayer. Sadly, our time in Yamasá was wrapping up.

We got back on the motoconchos and began to make our way back down the mountain. We stopped at another associate's house not far from the church, and they gave us a cacao fruit to try (which is incredibly sweet and delicious!). They gave us some to take home, along with other assorted fruits. I can't get over how giving these people are. They just want to share with us!

We started down again. However, a few minutes later, Megan and the other motorcyclist pulled up beside us. Did we want to go see the river before we left? You bet we did. We turned around and headed even deeper into the mountain, past the village and into the wilderness!

After a few minutes, we pulled off the dirt road and ditched the motorcycles again. We followed the river by foot, pushing aside brush and dirt, and eventually arrived at our destination: una cascada. A waterfall.

It was beyond beautiful. I wish the pictures portrayed even a 1/100th of the beauty of this place. Dragonflies glided alongside the water as the sun peaked through the trees. The waterfall fell into a pool below us, turquoise and deep. A large log was lodged in the pool just beneath the waterfall. We stayed for several minutes, and then our guide asked us if we could swim. Yup- we can! But apparently not here, because we started down another path alongside the river.

This path was harder. I actually fell into the river once--whoops--and my jeans were soaked. That didn't end up mattering, though, because a few minutes later we arrived at another waterfall, this one larger and taller. It, too, fell into a pool of water, close enough to wash our faces and arms. 10 minutes go by with laughs and smiles. And then we finally decided to actually do it: we jumped! Right into the pool of water beneath the waterfall, clothes and all. The cool water was such a respite from the heat, and there were no fish or snakes or any kind of animal swimming around with us; it was all ours.

If only every day were like this one!