I cradled the moonlight from my balcony…heavy beats of reggatone peeling out with the passing tigueres in their rides. A candlelit vendedor serving up tostones. Three Doñas cooking up some juicy chisme gossip with knee-high niños nipping at their madre’s nerves…

Yo…just back from a successful venture “out on the town” with my amiga voluntaria, Jennifer. A meet-up with the Peace Corps trainees at the Car Wash (an open-air discoteca, and yes, a functioning car wash)…returned safely to the shelter of the casa and the Doña’s eye. Sweaty and smiling.


So goes una noche en la Dominicana.


You'll have to forgive me for the lapse in communication. With frequent power outages and a busy training schedule…along with hours of nonstop attention from mi hermana menor…it has proven muy difícil to capture a moment to put thoughts to Word (as is the condition of our post-paper existence)…

For the moment, I am living with a wonderful host family in a little barrio in Pantoja, a northwestern section of Santo Domingo. And there is never a dull moment—two volunteers, two Doñas and two hermanas. Muchas Mujeres Madness.

It’s a short walk to La Sirena, the local supermarket. And its about a 10 minute trip on a carro público to the Peace Corps training center where I am getting a full-course meal in Española dominicana, nonverbal Española dominicana, la cultura dominicana…and of course, the challenges and responsibilities I will shoulder as an Americana—an ambassador of the US.


So ¿cómo te fue?, you might ask. How goes you?

Eating a lot of boiled guinneo, yucca, and platano…a lot of fried huevos con cebolla. A lot of cheese-mayo-ketchup paninis. And when I’m lucky, thick hot chocolate laced with canela. Muy rica!

…Watching a lot of very sexy soaps a.k.a. telenovelas.

…Working on my bachata and the merengue.

Trying to piece together Dominicana.

Some of the volunteers in my barrio and I took off for the botanical garden today. Tomorrow the trainees get a professional tour of the Zona Colonial down by Independence Square (Check out some of these pics on panoramia).

This Thursday, I'm off to the campo to visit an Agua volunteer serving in a little pueblo outside Santiago. A sneak preview of the next two years...

Love you all! Be in touch.

New Beginnings...

The Downeast Dowleys' resident muscovy sentinel is now a daddy duck!!!!

14 ducklings hatched on this morning that marks my departure for Peace Corps Service. And I can't help but believe that these baby duckies startling arrival is a sign that most wonderful transformations are about to take place....

The next few days I will be swept up in a flurry of flights with all the baggage checks and peanut-less snacks that accompany airplane transport.

Tomorrow morning I take off to DC for a brief orientation (some rubber stamping) and by Thursday morning the DR "August 09-er" volunteer crew will jet onto a Santo Domingo airstrip, ready-or-not for pre-service training.

I suspect with all the hustle and bustle of training in the next 10 weeks that my internet correspondence will be sporadic. However, I will update this blog soon enough. And I will do my "bestest" to provide you little sips of the discoveries and experiences flooding my day-to-day from now through 2011.

It'd be great to hear from you via email...or post to:

Amy Dowley PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Av Bolivar 451, Gazcue
Apartado Postal 1412
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Pumpkin seeds and red maple leaves most welcome.

Sending you love and laughter,

~Amy

The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.