BOW-MAH

What a week! I’m exhausted and it’s only Thursday! Thankfully I’ve got a two day off so I’m in town and able to update you all on what’s been going on!

We moved out to our tiny village [Boma pronounced bow-mah] on Monday during a rain storm and the road is anything but smooth. We actually cross a river and 4 wheel drive, or quattro por quattro is necessary to get through. The girls and myself had to do a weee bit of adjusting as 1. There is no running water thus requiring bucket showers or river bathing 2. The electricity comes and goes 3. No one speaks English. I am in charge of dinners every night and making sure the girls eat properly, planning menus and helping with Spanish translation. I hope you laugh at the last bit because I do not in fact know Spanish. As I was trying to communicate with Enrique, the greatest man with no teeth I’ve ever met, he spoke a bunch of Spanish at me and then proceeded to yell, “No Entiendo NADA!” which I later learned means “you understand nothing!” I’ve gotten a good chuckle out of Enrique, who was appalled that since the majority of our food, including all the bread and meat, didn’t make it out to Boma due to the rain, we were simply having “soupa” or Top Ramen for those gringos like myself, for dinner. He said, “no no no! soulamenta soupa! yo necessito salami y yucca!” (You can’t have only soup!) so he fried up some salami and yucca which is like a potato for all the girls to go with the soupa. Enrique was a good sport and tried it but he didn’t particularly care for our gringo soupa.

We get the privilege of hiking Pico Duarte this summer, which is a mountain about 10,000+ feet that is apparently the biggest mountain East of the Mississipi. However, I’ve been warned it’s a steep strenuous hike and so Jessica and I have been taking off during the day to find steep hills to climb to prepare for Pico. On one of these excursions, I made it to the top and turned around only to find the most perfect hole to roll your ankle in. I went down like a sack of potatoes with a big crunch from my ankle and prayed it wasn’t a bad sprain. I unfortunately was over a mile from the house and on the top of a steep hill and had no choice but to get myself down. It was a slow process and it is still swollen but thankfully I brought a brace down. In other injury news, the burn on my leg has blistered including one LARGE BULBOUS PUSTULE, which the girls were adamant that I pop and did accidentally when I attempted to “good game” one of the them. I’ve been trying to make sure it stays clean so it won’t get infected but it’s hard given the fact that the water contains parasites. C’est la vie!

It has been amazing lately seeing more of the country and learning more about it’s people, language and food. We are lucky to have a Dominican woman who cooks our breakfast and lunch for us and she seems to get better and better with each meal. I’m picking up more Spanish but am hoping I’ll be at least conversational by the end of the summer! Here are a few pictures of recent things!