Dominican Republic

My apologies for the delay. We were in Santo Domingo on Monday and Tuesday with no access to a computer.

On Monday we woke up at 7:30 to eat breakfast so that we could get an early start on our journey into Cibao Valley mountains. As our bus drove through the mountains, we could feel the slow cooling of the tempurature. The view became more and more breathtaking as we made our way to our ultimate destination: Alta Gracia. Alta Gracia while mostly an organic coffee farm, also has bananas, guava, and other tropical plants.

The farm itself is an experiment, there are 60 acres in all. The farm was founded by Bill Eichner and Julia Alvarez who set out to not just grow organic coffee, but to also promote other important things wether it be environmental, political, or social. One important thing that was said by our tour guide was that all of the plants at Alta Gracia have a connection with each other. The connection being that the pine trees shade the coffee and bananas which shade the guava. It was also mentioned that on mainstream coffee farms, they cut down all of the trees to plant coffee beans when in reality coffee needs shade. This causes deforestation and chemical poisoning throughout that farm-which is proven to cause birth defects, if you look at the Nemagon (used for bananas and coffee) case studies in Latin America.

We strolled back to the house where we ate this delicious meal consisting of their coffee, chicken that was killed right before we left, rice and beans, and fresh bananas. This reminded me once again that one does not need boxed processed food to have an enjoyable meal.

We played soccer on the driveway which was right by a steep cliff. It was a matter of time before the soccer ball would fling off of the driveway and plunge into the foresty abyss. We spent the latter part of the early afternoon looking for the ball, and enjoying the overwhelming view of the valley.

After giving up on the soccer ball, we packed up and drove to Santo Domingo which is the Captial of the Dominican Republic. The captial looked a lot of like Santiago only bigger. We stayed in a bed and breakfast sort of place. It was ran by a nice woman named Betty who sells artwork and other Dominican souvenirs. Betty is a cousin of Dolly Parton and distantly related to Brad Pitt. No Joke. The bedrooms were just incredible. They were uniquely designed, the bathrooms had hot water, and if you have watched any of the Harry Potter movies, it looks like something from that.

We were all very tired. Not just physically but mentally as well. We got a lot in. But we are prepared to give a lot out when we return from this amazing journey to the Dominican Republic.

Cody Bralts
Urbana High School
Urbana, IL