Santo Domingo

This weekend we got back from an awesome weeklong missions trip to Santo Domingo and I’ll try to cover some of the highlights. Santo Domingo is a small city about 50 miles from Quito (as the crow flies), but travel time is deceiving. The highway we took wound us through the Andes and then dropped 8000’ elevation, which was scary with construction, no passing lanes, and Ecuadorian drivers. But the high-altitude landscape is incredible, with small villages, waterfalls, and vibrant green vegetation that is straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. Even going through a 10,400’ pass all we could see was green.

The main focus of the trip was service work, which I found really humbling. The first worksite was in Cóngoma, a remote village of Tsáchila Indians (characterized by red hair paint). We had to take a dirt road through the jungle and cross a river, which we later collected water from. Here we painted the inside of a church and also had a fun program for school kids. The other two sites were in dirt-poor neighborhoods in Santo Domingo, where we painted two more churches and built a concrete cistern. These areas were really powerful to see.

We also interacted with the kids a lot, which was awesome. These are the kids you see on those commercials that need sponsors, but it is so impacting to actually get to know them and see their way of life. I was really attached to a boy named Yandry, who would always find me when I was in the neighborhood. He is ten years old and lives in a small concrete house with his grandma and five brothers. On the day I left he told me he had a gift for me and I was surprised with a jar of gel balls. I was really confused but eventually found out they’re plant fresheners that the kids like to play with. I think it might have been one of the only possessions he had, so that gift strangely meant a lot.

Here are a few other trip details:

-The place we stayed was really nice for the area, and it was a huge relief to have indoor rooms and clean toilets that actually flushed. The other bathrooms were toilet bowls in shacks that you flushed with a bucket of well water.

-Overall the weather was extreme with heat, humidity, and torrential downpours. I tried to wash my clothes but couldn’t dry them with the humidity. It was a little hot for me so I’m glad to be back in the cooler highlands.

-The mosquitoes and bugs were vicious and I learned that they feast on anyone wearing shorts. On the third day I counted over 100 bites below my knees. Since bugs love me so much, an anti malarial was the best idea ever. There was a good selection of critters in our room too.

-We had good food, which included mall, restaurant, street vendor, and homemade. The first night we ate at a meat restaurant that served every part of cow, chicken, and pig that you could imagine, and I was able to try heart, lung, udder, and intestine (in order from delicious to disgusting). I think the weirdest thing we ate though was a Peruvian prune gelatin that was a chunky purple liquid and reminded me more of a laxative. We had to finish a huge bowl of it to be polite so some people had a chugging contest.

My favorite part was our jungle tour on the last day. We drove a good distance to our teacher’s hacienda on a fruit plantation and rode in the back of a farm truck through the jungle, constantly ducking to dodge the banana leaves. We hiked down to a waterfall in the river, the perfect swimming hole with a boulder to climb and jump off. The water temperature was perfect too, and there were even vines to swing on. We also went to a small concrete bridge over a 30-foot waterfall, and were randomly able to ride a horse and try many fruits along the way.

On the return day we drove through Mindo and visited a butterfly sanctuary and a chocolate factory. It’s absolutely mind blowing to see where chocolate comes from, because we really take it for granted. We saw a lot of bananas, pineapples and other exotic fruits, but chocolate just blew me away. Originally, cacao is a tropical fruit that tastes sour and there are lots of pods that get dried and fermented. Afterward the pods taste like bitter chocolate rum until they get processed and sugared over. We saw the whole progression at the factory and then tasted some of the best chocolate we’ve ever had. Similarly coffee grows as seeds in tree berries, but they taste really bitter before roasting.

I’ll end this post on one of the more interesting experiences, the tobogón (waterslide). Waterslide parks are popular in humid areas, and this slide had a unique design: straight down for over 100 feet into a 540 corkscrew ending. We got in line, but had to wait a while because the Latinos were just taking their sweet time. They would go slow and almost stop before the spiral, so I decided to show them what was up and go for speed. Horrible idea. By the time I hit the spiral I got thrashed around and don’t remember much, but it felt like it took forever to get out of the water. Several people flagged me to the side of the pool and I realized my nose was bleeding pretty hard. This is when I realized parks aren’t regulated the same as they are in the US. There was no lifeguard and no rules, which resulted in people getting thrown in the pool and crawling back up the slide. Afterward we played Marco Polo, but I drew a lot of attention again when I couldn’t tag anyone and I accidentally grabbed a Latina who wasn’t even playing. After opening my eyes I realized everyone was watching and laughing.

I was also able to post some pictures on Facebook. Anyway, hasta luego.