Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Today started with a minor glitch – somehow the resort missed our order and lunches didn’t get made.  A ‘raiding party’ descended on the dining hall and spirited off several dozen hard boiled eggs, buns and plates of fruit.  Hey, we’re nothing if not resourceful!!

We arrived in Esperanza just in time to offload a pickup truck piled with doors and shutters to be painted.  Another crew went to carry the metal roof sheets from storage to the building site, while others shoveled, barrowed and leveled gravel to prepare the floor for concrete.  Some of us took a break to tour the few remaining shanties of Los Algodones (the place of cotton – an odd name considering that sugar cane cutters live there).  It is slowly being evacuated as new houses are constructed in Esperanza and families are moved in.  About 250 new houses will eventually be constructed.  We met a humanitarian group from Western Canada, who were just completing 2 weeks of work in the village and dedicated 15 new houses today. 

By the time we left the village in the early afternoon, all the new wood was covered with paint and the metal roof on the duplex was nearing completion.  We are definitely feeling the effects of working in the heat (speaking for myself anyway).

We did a bit of touring this afternoon, including a trip to an old fort perched on a rise above the entrance to the Puerto Plata harbour, where several large freighters were riding anchor or tied up to be loaded or unloaded.  Our return to the resort was interrupted for a brief stop at the Dominican equivalent of  Walmart, where we purchased coffee, vanilla extract and other sundries. 

Moving Metal Roofing Sheets

Another Load for the Painting Crew

Los Algodones Will Soon be Gone



Our Most & Least Senior Team Members



Planting Corn & Beans

School Playground in Esperanza

The Fort