January 10, 2015

Fruit stand at Boca Chica
Photo Credit: Kirstie Geier

Kirstie: Today we were lucky enough to have a free day! Some of us elected to spend time taking in the sun on the beach! Nine students took a taxi to a beach called Boca Chica, which was about 30 minutes from our hotel. It was an interesting ride full of sights that further enriched our knowledge about the culture here in the D.R. The beach was breathtakingly beautiful. The crystal water met the white sand and the sun was high in the sky. Hotels lined the beach that attracted a crowd of people from many places all over the world. We even met people from Minnesota, which is not too far from home! There were also many local vendors on the beach selling a variety of items. We were constantly asked if we would like a massage, pedicure, Dominican music on tape, bracelets, sunglasses, or fruit. We also were finally able to drink coconut water out of the coconut! The vendors were very persistent with selling their goods, which is representative of their culture here and portrays their need to make a living. We were also informed by one of the locals on the beach to be careful and to not accept the first price we were given by the vendors, as they knew we were easy targets to rip off. The vendors were also giving full pedicures on the beach.

Boca Chica
Photo Credit: Kirstie Geier

Vendor at Boca Chica
Photo Credit: Kirstie Geier

As I watched them perform this service I could not help but think about how this related to health. The tools they were using to give the pedicures were not sanitized by any means. They also used the water from the ocean. As they moved from client to client, they did not leave the beach to clean their tools, they merely cleaned their tools in the ocean and refilled the same bowl for peoples feet with ocean water. This is a very unsanitary process, especially when dealing with peoples’ feet, which can carry bacteria, fungus, and other various items that can lead to infections. Pedicures involve the cutting of peoples’ nails and cuticles which allows for entry of these organisms into the clients, especially the entry of mass amounts because the tools were not cleaned as they moved from client to client. This practice could result in unfortunate health issues for each customer that received this service.

Entrance to the Toros stadium
Photo Credit: Crystal Croom

Students at the Toros baseball game
Photo Credit: Rose Kalala

Crystal: This evening we had the chance to attend a baseball game to cheer on Los Toros. We all knew that baseball is an important sport in the country so we all were pretty excited to attend the game. It was about a two-hour drive to La Romana, the hometown of the Toros. It took us a while to get our tickets, but we were finally able to make it inside. The stadium was medium sized, which I would describe as smaller than Orioles Stadium and bigger than Towson’s Baseball field. The stadium was clean and had nice fan artwork for the team. The game was not sold out or packed with people, but there was a good crowd of people supporting both teams. The Toros were not winning this game, but whenever they made a good play the crowd went wild. The Toros also had their own dance team who were very entertaining with their moves. To provide even more entertainment they had a marching band play to get the crowd even more excited. Towards the end of time at the game, a few adorable little boys came and sat with us for the remainder of our time. I think they just wanted to sit with us, but they were nice company. It was definitely a great experience to see how Dominicans act at their favorite pass time.

Rose: Today was a bit rough for me. I woke up feeling fine, but around noon I started to feel a bit nauseous and ended up starting a cycle of sleeping, then waking up to vomit, then going back to sleep, up until the time we were leaving for the baseball game. I knew the baseball game would be an experience I did not want to miss so I convinced myself that I was feeling well enough to go. Once on the bus, the nausea returned and I alerted my professors of my predicament and took some medication I had brought along with me to help relieve my symptoms. It was not until we were exiting the bus to enter the stadium that I started to feel better. Thankfully, by the time the game started, the medicine had kicked in and I was feeling much better. I was able to enjoy the baseball game with my class and witness some cultural differences between this event and American baseball games. It was A LOT of fun. One thing I noticed at the game that caught my eye health wise, was when my classmate came back with a hotdog from the concession stand and told us that the vendor had picked the hot dog with his visibly dirty bare hands, and slapped it in the bun that he held in his other, ungloved hand. It was almost comical how appalled we all were because we are so used to the sanitary precautions taken by people that handle food, especially at public events. My classmate decided to embrace the culture and eat the hotdog anyways and I was proud of her for that! :)

Panorama of the baseball game
Photo Credit: Rose Kalala