Our first 3 weeks of training at Entrena in Santo Domingo.
Another view of Entrena.
The Community Economic Development volunteers on our way to technical training.
One of our field trips during tech training was to the "Ruta de Cafe". Tourists have the opportunity to see coffee farms, the harvesting process and drink a cup of coffee at the end!
View from the Coffee farms.
Our group hiking along.
This naturally toxic plant acts as an organic pesticide for the coffee trees.
Our guide for the day.
This machine removes the shell from the coffee beans after they have been picked.
Jamao is the brand of coffee produced at the farm we visited.
Drying the coffee in the sun.
Another beautiful view from the coffee farm.
Toasting the coffee beans on a traditional Dominican cooking stove called a fogon.
The beans start a light brown....
After toasting the beans are ground up.
and slowly darken over the fire....
until they are dark brown.
Then they put the coffee grounds in what looks like an old gym sock and that's how Dominicans make coffee the traditional way.
We also visited another Peace Corps project of creating clay water filters.
A view of the filters.
A night out at a Dominican baseball game, Licey vs. Aguilas
The group of volunteers in my community during training: Evan, David, Joanna, Todd and myself.
The Aguilas mascot
As a group of Americans we stuck out like sore thumbs, so the Aguilas mascot had to come up and say hello.
My father in tech training owned a chicken farm and he invited Todd, Evan and I to visit.
The most adorable little baby chicks.
I kinda got into it...
Todd decided to buy a chicken for his host mother.
She was so excited with the gift, we asked her to show us how she prepares the chicken. To kill it she grabs the chicken by the neck and swings it around in circles until the neck brakes... unfortunately i have no pictures, but use your imagination...
She decided to make Sancocho (a traditional dominican stew) for all of the volunteers in the community.
Traditional Dominican Sancocho
Our tech trainer Tim, he was a great guide to development and DR culture during technical training.
Visiting another farm outside of Moca in tech training.
Patrick trying a zapote fruit for the first time. I decided it was a cross between a sweet potato and a papaya.
Evan, Alyssa and Pam joining in.
A view from the mountain.
Farmers packing coffee beans.
Hot pepper fields, they export to the US.
Our group visited the Mirabal museum in Salcedo. The sisters were heros during the Trujillo dictatorship.
A view of a cacao quality control method. The place 100 beans and slice them in half to view how well the fermented and if there are any diseases/mold visible.
We visited a fairly advanced cacao cooperative near Salcedo. We were able to see the fermentation process, drying process and shipment process.
Cacao fermentation boxes.
Reviewing the cacao ready for shipment.
Business plan competitors.
Joanna and I in the back of the guagua.
One of the host families in our technical training wanted to throw us a going away party. We danced Merengue and Bachata with a little American improv.
Our group on the last day of technical training with our language instructors and Tim.
