Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Commuting to work in Naranjito

Its not so different in Naranjito from home. Every morning we had to commute to work. We started the day with a cup of coffee (fabulous coffee since they grow it there) and watched the the neighbors as they left for work. Other neighbors watched us as we went by on our way to the "office".
Some even stopped what ever they were doing just to say hi.
Often the commute traffic got bad as the highway filled with others on their way to work.
In fact, it wasn't uncommon to see other Somos Amigos volunteers "commuting" just ahead of us.
See, the daily commute to work is the same everywhere!









Trip to the most beautiful place

I have been MIA for a couple of weeks and have to apologize for ignoring the blog. As I told you last post, I was in the Dominican Republic with a medical mission called Somos Amigos. This group goes 2-3 times per year to one campo in DR, Naranjito, about 2 hr drive from Santiago in the mountains. For 3.5 days, the doctors, dentists and other volunteers see 600+ patients, more than half of which have access to no other medical care. In contrast to many other medical missions, Somos Amigos goes only to Naranjito, and the local people in this village see Somos Amigos as their own community service project. It is a partnership between the Dominicans in the area and the volunteers.
The new church is a central part of Naranjito. The clinic is across the "street", and the school is next door.
The views are spectacular. Everywhere you look in Naranjito you think its the best view of all.
Most of the homes have flowers planted to make it even more beautiful.
The last thing we did before leaving Naranjito was to pose as a group in front of the mission. Many of this group will return in October for the next trip.
Oh look, another beautiful view!
Check back tomorrow when I will describe my "commute" to work in Naranjito.



Saturday, June 7, 2008

Where am I?

I'm not the most regular "blogger" and I'm sure you've noticed.  I try to put up at least one, sometimes two posts per week.  It probably doesn't make up for the infrequency of posts, but I actually think about it several times every week.  

This is one time when I have a very good excuse for not posting this week.  I am on a trip and it doesn't have anything to do with Fuzzy Lops.  I am in the Dominican Republic, volunteering for a medical mission call Somos Amigos.  Today is travel day so I'm in a Marriott in Santiago that is more modern than many hotels in the US, but tomorrow will be a different story.  This is my second Somos Amigos trip and I am really excited to be here again.

This is a beautiful country, green and lush, surrounded by the oceans.  I can see the mountains from my hotel room.  Tomorrow the team will go into the mountains to start work.  As we flew into Santiago this morning, I remembered how the Dominicans all get a bit nervous about landing.  No wonder--the plane was bouncing in the air (I suspect those mountains have something to do with it).  Cricks and squeaks came from the plane which didn't make me terribly confident plus the pilot seemed to be coming in to land way to fast (OK, no I don't have my pilots license, but it seemed fast to me and I think I am a good judge of these things).  When we landed, the Dominicans burst into applause and cheers (even the flight attendants).  The religious, which is basically all of the Dominicans, made the sign of the cross at the same time.  
Whew....we made it.

Check back next week for photos and the rest.

Carol

Monday, June 2, 2008

Yeah Fuzzy Lops!

Fuzzy Lops are doing well this spring on the Best in Show table.  Rose Garrison of District 9 won youth Best in Show in both Show A and B at the Southern Pride Rabbit show in South Carolina on May 31.  Another youth winner is pictured below.

On Memorial Day weekend, there were four shows in Arizona and Mary Mastrangelo won with her Fuzzy Lop Best in Show for at least 2 shows (I missed the fourth one); she also won Best in Show once with a Holland Lop.  Wow!

That same weekend in Oregon, Karli Zwade, youth AFLRC member, won Best in Show with her broken junior doe in an open show.

One more win to report:  Adam and Carol Green won Reserve Best in Show with their sable point buck (pictured above in his coop at Nationals) in California on May 31.

Congratulations to everyone!  Great Job Fuzzy Lops!