Los Marronitos, La República Dominicana Last updated 10/21/04

Welcome to my first ever webpage!  My name is Jason and I spent three months this past year (2004)  in Los Marronitos, which is a small coffee-farming community nestled on the slopes of the Cordillera Central in the Dominican Republic.  I lived with a wonderful host family and taught at a small library built on the farm by a previous volunteer.  Much of the community is illiterate, and for those kids that are able to attend school, the level of education is much poorer than their urban counterparts.  This budget webpage is just a glimpse of how I spent an amazing few months!  Here are the links:  Where is Los Marronitos? The Library Other Projects The Kids Pictures Stories from Alta Gracia Contact Me!

Where is Los Marronitos? Los Marronitos is located in the center of the Dominican Republic, between Jarabacoa and the country's highest peak, Pico Duarte (3175 m).  After climbing the steep and windy highway from Jarabacoa, one still needs to make his or her way up the even steeper stone and dirt roads that lead off main road to Manabao.  The trip is well worth it, however, as the scenery is beautiful. El Río Yaque del Norte, the Carribean's longest River, can be seen from these heights carving its path through the canyon toward the open valley surrounding Jarabacoa.  In addition to the vast amounts of coffee cultivated here, beans (habichuela), corn, banana, and other crops are grown.  Getting from Jarabacoa to Los Marronitos and its neighboring communities is accomplished by gua gua, or the local transportation authority (back of a pickup).

Miguel Angel, my host brother and Godson, is seen here sitting on drying coffee.  While most of the coffee picking had already been completed for the season when I arrived, I did help clean and roast many pounds to sell to visitors.  This "Café Alta Gracia" is high quality organic coffee that is produced primarily for export.  In addition to hosting these visitors who stay at a retreat on the farm, I helped start other building projects and managed a trucking "microenterprise" for the farm.  During the mornings of my final month in Los Marronitos, I helped at a medical clinic in a neighboring community seeing patients where I learned how to give injections, clean and dress wounds and bites, stitch, take blood pressures, etc.  After two weeks at the clinic, the resident stationed there finished her two years and left me to follow up with a number of patients to monitor blood pressures, infections, and give various injections.  Click on image for Café Alta Gracia.

The Kids

Without a doubt, the greatest part about my brief few months was the time I spent with my family and the local kids.  I'm sure I learned more from them than they ever learned from me.  While being very underprivileged, they were very loved.  Each family was unbelievably kind and welcoming.  During my first week I was forced to politely refuse sitting down for a cafecito in many houses, just so I could avoid having twelve cups of the potent coffee a day.  Although most parents had little education themselves, they were all appreciative to have volunteers living in the community that gave their children something that their own lives lacked.
	Before heavy rains arrived in May, I played a lot of baseball with the kids.  Baseball is definitely far more popular than any other sport in the country.  Even the smallest of kids had an impressive grasp of the sport considering they had never actually seen a game.
El Río Yaque del Norte provided a refreshing retreat on some scorcher days.  Many afternoons after classes in the library the kids would plead with me and their parents to take them down to the river.  Although it meant only staying a half hour to beat nightfall, the 1.5 hour round trip on foot was always worth it.  Playing tag, cooking out over a fire, and teaching the little ones to swim were definitely highlights.
	A tour through Los Marronitos would not be complete without mentioning dancing.  And I swear that most of these kids can already dance WELL in the womb.  Although my abilities were mostly embarassing initially, I had many young dedicated teachers and practiced to tunes by Antony Santos on countless nights.  My Bachata and Merengue skills have since vastly improved.  Since I don't have any pics of my 11-year-old twin host brother and sister, two of my major instructors and great dancers, I posted this: a clean dance with a dirty beard.

Thanks for visiting my site!