Super Overdue - My Trip to Haiti, Las Fiestas Patronales, and Montecristi

A few weeks ago, I visited Haiti as we (we as in DREAM staff and volunteers) participated in the Border of Lights' annual event. BOL (borderoflights.org) is a "collective that comes together to commemorate, collaborate and continue the legacy of hope and justice." They bring a lot of awareness to the issues plaguing Dominicans and Haitians in both countries, especially those surrounding human rights (if you have been living under a rock and do not know what is happening in this country as far as stripping folks of their statehood, read here.We got up nice and early (6:45am - thank God I'm a morning person!) and traveled to the border town of Dajabon.

Funny aside - when I told my mom I was going, she was like "Mira! Make sure you take your mosquitero!" Naturally, I'm like, "Mom, how can I take my mosquitero to a hotel?" She says, "Make it work! It's Dajabon and the mosquitoes there are on steroids!" LMBO

Anyway,we arrive in Dajabon and the first thing I notice is that it is DUS-TY! It's super fast paced, there's a million and one things going on. After we drop our things in our hotel, we have lunch. Later, one of my colleagues and I are set to faciliate on the BOL's workshops so we are chatting it up with one of the conference leaders. I step outside and who do I bump into? Julia Alvarez! Yup, the one and only! Ever since I read "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" in high school, I've been hooked on her work. I do a double-take because she has aged quite a bit and doesn't quite look like the pictures on the back covers of her books, but I'm sure it's her. I ask our Executive Director to confirm and indeed, it is Julia! Thankfully, I got to chat with her quite a bit and she is so incredibly smart and insightful. Naturally, I had to snag a pic!

After the day's activities, we went down to Massacre River/Dajabon River/Parsley River which is literally a river that divides the DR and Haiti. In 1937 (and a few times after), DR's dictator, Trujillo, ordered the massacre of tens of thousands of Haitians and most of them happened in this river as many were crossing into the DR. Everyone in attendance lit a candle to commemorate those that perished and still suffer the ramifications of the deep-rooted racism in the DR.

Look closely. Those are Haitans waiting to cross over. It was SO many of them.

Coincidently, that weekend was also the Fiestas Patronales (patronage festivals). According to Wikipedia, A fiesta patronal is usually dedicated to a saint or virgin, who is the patron of whichever city holds the fiesta. Usually, town members adorn the town streets with colorful decorations and other things. In some larger cities, there may be several fiestas, one fiesta for each neighborhood, usually about the patron saint for the local parish. All this means is party + booze. We went to a mass, of course, but after that it was a par-tay! A local artist, Vaquero, came out to perform and we had a blast. I accidently drank Brugal and can't remember the rest of the night. Oh well.
In the morning, it was time to go to Haiti. I was so excited. We all loaded our trucks (we were about 35 in all) and set for Ouanaminthe, Haiti, which is a border on the Haitian side. I wasn't ready for the stuff I saw at the border. First of all, the day before, Julia (Alvarez, I mean. She's my boo, now!) and her crew had gone to customs in Dajabon to clear us for the next morning. When we get there, the "boss" in charge was giving us excuses about not knowing that we were coming etc etc. He was being a total prick. A lot of us had cameras and he took an issue with that saying that we had to right to photograph him blah blah blah. After a lot of back and forth, Julia and her crew asked for our passports (I was PETRIFIED OF LOSING MY PASSPORT!!) and she took them to customs and had them stamped. She also paid whatever the fee was for us to leave the country (I think this was what she was trying to avoid by going the day before. Tons of volunteer and aid groups go to Haiti this way). We waited for TWO HOURS before being able to cross over into Haiti.

So. Remember when I said I drank Brugal the night before? Yea, well, I wasn't feel too hot the next day. When we got to Haiti, we participated in a park clean-up and youth development activities at an orphanage. I,unfortunately, couldn't participate because I was feeling so sick. I spent the afternoon in a nun's bedroom sleeping... :-/ When we left Haiti, we picked up our things and headed back to Cabarete via Montecristi:

El Morro, Montecristi

This beach was so incredibly beautiful. I hadn't been here in about 10 years. So nice, peaceful and completely unadulterated. 

We got to Cabarete super late and I was hungry, tired and upset that I got caught in the rain. All in all, it was an AMAZING trip and I would do it all over again if I had to. Minus getting sick, of course.

OMG! I totally forgot to tell you about the Dajabon Market! We went there the first day we got to Dajabon. It's a market that is only open on Fridays, I believe, and it's Haitian and Dominican vendors alike selling anything and everything you can POSSIBLY think of. And the heat! OH MY, THE HEAT! It was incredible. There was so many things going on at the same time. I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't take pictures but if you ever have a chance to go to Dajabon and are up for an adventure, this is surely it!