Peace Corps Prom Part 3

Planting a cacoa tree near El Seibo

On our way over we encountered perhaps 20 volunteers on a street corner, warming up at a local Colmado. I wound up talking to two girls who turned out not be volunteers. One of them was a Fulbright fellow training English teachers. The other worked at a ranch I keep hearing about that is owned by Julia Alvarez. As we chatted about grants and living expenses and let more time go by, I looked around and noticed that I hadn't seen another recent graduate of training since I left La Sirena.

The evening pressed on and eventually I found myself in the park in front of the old cathedral. Some local guys, evidently college-aged socialites, chatted me up and offered me a sip of the strong liquor they were sharing. A few drops of rain began to fall, and next thing I knew I was marooned under a patio umbrella in front of Hard Rock Cafe, standing on a chair to avoid soaking my shoes in the stream formed by the downpour that had suddenly erupted from the sky. When it let up, my volunteer friends and I make a break for it.

Cacao drying at a plant on the edge of El Seibo