Where It All Began

[emo_snal]

( What came before   It's a beautiful sunny morning in the Dominican Republic. The woman sitting across from us at the outdoor table hands me a pen and with a broad smile tells me "I just need you to sign right here." I look over at Cristina, but she looks at me with a blank expression, her large brown eyes expressing a zenful lack of guidance,

Comments

[wantedonvoyage]

The sinkhole/cave situation sounds pretty amazing. We saw something like this on Malta but didn't take the boat ride.

The Christianity of South America is more complicated than I once thought. Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Mormons also get in there. On Hispaniola, my own (Episcopal/Anglican) church is a surprisingly large player. In fact Haiti is our largest diocese by population.

I can concur on the insidious nature of the Egyptian handout. My favorite is the guy who steals all the toilet paper out of museum bathrooms and then tries to sell it back to you a square at a time.

Those "vacation club" things are such a scam. We have friends who fell for it, and they are basically paying to participate in the same loyalty point scheme that we get for free with the same hotel chain.

[emo_snal]

Hmm no kidding!

I didn't notice any missionaries this time but last year when I was in Nicaragua the place was lousy with them. I always pictured all the missionaries going to Africa but I suppose it's a lot more expensive to get to Africa and potentially more scary for the timid.

In unrelated news I'm still ruminating on changing the title of this entry I'm not sure I'm quite happy with the current one.

[wantedonvoyage]

BornAgainCo-Worker goes to the DR on his mission trips exclusively. I believe the resurgence of hard-line Muslim influence in west Africa, particularly Nigeria, might make missionary work a little more daunting.

As for a title, I will suggest a line from Julie (Andrews) Edwards' The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles, "You're being taken for a ride!"

[emo_snal]

I feel like there's a phrase on the tip of my brain-tongue that encompasses something about the establishment of a new colony in a way that makes sense both as a reference to Columbus founding Santo Domingo and also Cristina and I as a newly established great beginning. Hmmm

[wantedonvoyage]

cynical me got bogged down with the guide/timeshare experience...