The woods are alive with the sound of drumming: Haitian church in the woods

Walking through an open gate we followed a dirt pathway into the woods until we saw a rock-lined circle where many people were already congregated, sitting and lying on spread out tarps and blankets.Tarps hung from trees, providing church practitioners with much appreciated shade on a hot day. We removed our shoes, placing them in the care of a friendly shoe attendant.


We took our seats. Generally the church is gender segregated but today men and women were already seated in the same areas. There were two concentric circles and in the center of the innermost circle there was an alter where a female priest led the service.


There was also a sick woman laying within the inner circle for prayer and healing. My dad had the two doctors from our group examine her. They felt she might have the mumps.


The service began with people introducing themselves, telling others what brought them this Friday morning to church in the woods. Several people took turns standing up and many told miraculous stories of how they had survived the earthquake in Haiti. This one woman said that she heard a voice telling her to go to the market place. While she was there, the earthquake struck. She survived but all 16 people left in her house perished. She says that she was having a hard time finding where her house had been because everything was so flattened. She met some nuns in a field who assisted her. The cathedral had been destroyed.


After people had shared their stories, the singing and dancing began!


Haitians congregate to worship in the woods.

It was a seriously amazing church service that I will never forget.

Why Dominican men like to keep their cocks out

You see them outside many homes: colorful, alert, solitary roosters tethered to posts on porches, house corners, or doors. They wait, pampered, preened and unaware that their fated chance to participate in their first, last, or next fight to the death with another such cared for cock awaits them.

Imported with the arrival of Columbus in 1492, cockfighting is now a national sport in the Dominican Republic, second only to Baseball in importance. Men spend innumerable hours tending to their cocks' needs; some argue that Dominican men treat their cocks better than their wives or children. Cocks are pumped full of vitamins and minerals. Their underbellies are plucked to aid in swiftness and spikes are applied to their legs with hot wax in the hopes of gaining an advantage over their opponents. Cockfighting arenas in urban centers are plush, complete with comfortable seating and bars with bands playing. Such venues charge an entrance fee and men bet into the thousands of dollars on fighting rounds of either 15 or 20 minutes. Referees in nicer places also thoroughly inspect cocks and apply an acid rinse to ensure that no foul fowl play is afoot--some competitors rub their cocks with tobacco or other chemicals to aggravate them before a fight. In the campo, or smaller villages, men hold backyard cockfights and place smaller bets--although proportionally these bets can still amount to quite a bit of a man's income.

Here are some pictures of some coveted fighting cocks

Dude, you work for the guy who assassinated Trujillo? Cool!

There's one road that runs along the north coast of the Dominican Republic. If you're going from Puerto Plata to Cabarete you have to use this road and you have to pass through Sosua. There's a police station on the side of the road in Sosua. This is where my dad was stopped and issued a ticket for not wearing his seat belt. Apparently there are so few problems in the Dominican Republic the police feel that they should work on the important issues, like seat belt usage. It might be interesting to note that the ticket didn't specify the cost of the fine. Everything is negotiable, right? We took the ticket and continued on our way to my uncle Bob's vet clinic, wearing our seat belts, of course. When we got there, a guy pulled in and talked to my dad, explaining how he had seen us being issued a ticket and wanted to take care of it for us.

So this guy apparently works for Antonio Imbert Barrera, famous for helping in the assassination of Trujillo in May 1961. Now the facts are fuzzy since different sources report different chains of events. Some say the CIA was behind it, but Barrera swore that "los gingos" didn't have anything to do with it. Barrera was driving the getaway car and some reports even credit him with the kill shot. Whatever the case may be, he was considered a national hero, was awarded the general grade Advitam, and became president in May of 1965 (his presidency only lasted 3 months, though). He's the only guy involved in the Trujillo assassination still alive. All others were either killed on the day of the assassination or murdered later on. According to the guy we met who says he works for him (he had a picture of Barrera on his cell phone. That's proof of employee-ship, right?!), Barrera is 95 years old and currently calls Santo Domingo his home.

The man himself.

Are you sure you want me behind the wheel? I mean, Luis Amiama Tio is such a better driver.

This is the car Barrera drove. Apparently it's in a museum near Santiago and you are allowed to sit in it and pretend you're driving. That's a great way to preserve an historic item.