Days 76-100
I’ve been
meaning to take time to write about the simple things I enjoy here in Barahona,
to give you all a little bit more about the place I’m living in. But first, you’ll have to excuse me for the
lack of posts recently. I’ve spent 3 of
the last 4 weekends in Santo Domingo and given that the weekends constitute
most of my free time, this blog has fallen behind. Nevertheless, here we are.
I’ve wanted
to share with you all a bit about the food that I’ve had the experience of
trying here. The Dominican Republic,
given its location and year round warm weather, seems like it can grow just
about anything. Fruits and vegetables
are never in a shortage and I wanted to share some of the great variety of
fruits I’ve been able to try:
- Níspero (Medlar) – An interesting fruit that is very sweet and has the
consistency of a boiled apple. Since
there is a large tree with these in the backyard, they are always in abundance
here and I have grown very fond of them.
- Higo (Fig Fruit) – I had never seen or tasted a fresh fig until I came
here and it’s quite a bit different that I had imagined. The fruit is very soft and the inside
somewhat resembles a fresh orange.
However, due to the delicacy of the fruit, it does not transport well
which is why is it normally sold dried.
- Cereza (Cherry) – Sweet, delicious and abundant, need I say more?
- Anón (Annona, or Sugar Apple) – The weirdest fruit I’ve encountered so
far. The outside is hard and is somewhat
like a pineapple, yet the inside is fleshy (sort of like applesauce) with large
seeds.
- Lechosa (Papaya) – A large and juicy fruit that is common to have with
breakfast since it isn’t super sweet, but still nutritious.
- Chinola (Passion Fruit) – Popular for juices and marmalades. Again, with a tree in the backyard, we always
have a fresh supply of Marmalada in the refrigerator.
- Guanábana (Soursop) – Another very odd looking fruit with spikes on the
outside. Due to the size, it is commonly
used to make drinks, especially smoothie – like drinks.
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| Anón |
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| Chinola |
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| Higo |
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| Cerezas |
Of course
the list goes on and on with other fruits: Naranja (Orange), Manzana (Apple), Piña
(Pineapple), Coco (Coconut), Toronja (Grapefruit), Uvas (Grapes), Granada
(Pomegranate), Pera (Pear), Sandía (Watermelon), Mango (Mango), Limoncillo (Mamoncillo),
Aguacate (Avacado), Guineo (Banana), Guayaba (Guava), Melón (Sweet Melon), and Carambolo
(Star Fruit). I just decided to highly
some of the uncommon fruits. Clearly,
vegetables grow in abundance as well, but with the exception of yucca, they’re
not as tasty as all the fruits are.
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| Sunrise in Barahona |
Another
common pleasure I get to witness every morning and every night here in Barahona
are the incredible sunrises and sunsets.
Barahona is strategically located by the sea with surrounding
mountains. Due to the air currents, rain
is not common here, despite constantly seeing rain clouds move over the
mountains off in the distance. However,
the clouds never quite make it here and it remains dry for the most part (which
remains a problem for farmers in the region).
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| And the sunsets... |
Every
morning, the sun rises out of the East, ascending from the Atlantic Ocean and
turns the sky from a deep violet to a marvelous blue. I am lucky enough to get to witness this
everyday on my way to mass in the morning and it certainly has a calming
effect.
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| ...giving beauty every night. |
In the
evenings, the sun sets in the West, behind the mountains. This creates a unique effect: the sun is
still up, but obscured by the mountains.
The clouds often look like they’ve been set ablaze, like a painter creating
a beautiful picture. It never ceases to
amaze me, no matter how many times I see it.
Pascal reminds us that we cannot prove God’s existence through nature,
but that doesn’t mean we can sit and appreciate the intricacy and beauty of
Earth that God himself created. As Annie
Dillard said,
“If creation had been left up to me,
I’m sure I wouldn’t have had the imagination or courage to do more than shape a
single, reasonably sized atom, smooth as a snowball, and let it go at that...Beauty
itself is the fruit of the creator’s exuberance that grew such a tangle, and
the grotesques and horrors bloom from the same free growth, the intricate
scramble and twine up and down the conditions of time.”
So, I’ll continue to seek to find
beauty in the small and the nature. Who
knows, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to be like Moses and catch a glimpse of the
back parts of God. I want to learn as
much as I can with the time available here; for you cannot take time with you,
to spend it is the only real way to use it.
