The next morning we headed back up the hill to visit the baker. It was about 9:30 and about 90 degrees out (needless to say I’m working on some fantastic tan lines). When we got to his home he was getting his fire going in the giant oven. Inside the shed all the rolls and loaves were carefully cut out and waiting to be baked. Luke talked with him for a while but since the bread wouldn’t be ready quite yet we went back to Kobe’s Aunt’s house in hopes of riding her horse and bull. However when we got there the animals were too far away to walk over and ride them. Instead we decided to visit the market in Montrouis. This was a gorgeous, sunny 15 minute hike through the hill, negotiating our way around valleys, and cutting back toward the main highway. We passed people on their way back from the market. Yellow flowers brightened up the hills and he occasional goat wandered by. As we came up to the market from the back we could see twenty or thirty donkeys “parked” out back waiting to carry people’s purchases back up into the mountains. We took about 10 minutes to walk thorough the market. The city has set up a group of permanent covered stalls but the market has expanded out on all sides. Row upon row of people sit behind their goods. Everything is divided into piles and neatly stacked. And people will sell a little of anything. There could be basil and peppers neatly stacked on a tarp and sitting out on the edge is a large plastic tub a granulated soap. Most vendors have made roofs out of large umbrellas and tarps to give themselves some shade. And everyone is packed tightly so together there’s sometimes barely room for everyone to make their way through. Out on the street side of the market are stalls with clothing. People will drive over to the Dominican Republic to purchase clothes and shoes and then bring it all back to try and sell it for profit in their town. It always feels a little weird being a visitor. I don’t want people to feel like I’m looking around to judge them or like they’re a novelty. But I figure someone who’s never been to America would be looking around just as much because there are so many new things to experience. As we left the market Luke pointed out the pile of animal insides lying on the ground where they slaughter animals. Fun fact: if you animal guts in a basket and take them out to the ocean you can use them to catch eels!
So we made out way back to the bakery just in time for freshly baked bread fruit (but still no bread). Around the back of the shed, one of Emerise’s sons was braking down rocks into gravel. This is actually a super common sight all over. On the side of almost any road you drive down there are piles of rocks. A man will post himself there and pound the rocks down into coarse gravel usually with hammers but sometimes with other rocks. Any way you can make an income is a good way here. Since the bread wasn’t ready yet we had to head back to the mission to get some work done but Emerise promised to come by later when it was ready. And sure enough, later that afternoon he came down to the mission with a wheelbarrow full of bread for us to choose from. For about $3.00 we got three loaves of bread (which made GREAT peanut butter and chocolate sandwiches later that weekend).
And yes, the story you’ve all been waiting for, CRAB ON A LEASH!
To back up, on my last beach trip I mentioned how fun it would be to bring a crab into my class for everyone to look at (they have some really cool ones here). Well Jacy Claire and Judah made that happen for me! The next day as we loaded the bus to go prep the school Jacy handed me a bucket and said, “This is for your class.” It was a five inch long redish purple crab! Jacy said they lasted longer than the clear ghost crabs. And so I acquired a class pet. The bucket was a little small for him and if we put sand in it it was too short and he could climb out. So Jacy found a big milk can that had a lid we could poke holes in and deep enough to put sand in. The crab was still hanging in there on the first day of school and the next day (Friday) I took him home with us so I could feed him (if I remembered) before Monday. My roommates didn’t like the idea of sharing a room with a crab so I put him in the office.
At the end of the day Saturday I remembered him and stuck my head into the office to check on him. I gave his can a good little shake and he didn’t budge. It was starting to smell a little (which probably had a lot to do with the old chicken bone I had put in there for him to scavenge off of) and he hadn’t had water in days (so sue me, I’m not a good crab owner) so I took him to the trash to toss his remains. I upended the can into a large trashcan only to find the crab scrambling up the trash pile and very not dead! For a bout 2 seconds I was in a quardry: do I pull him out and refill the can with sand or did I let him forage on his own? The foraging part won (cause I wasn’t really up for chasing a crab through trash) and I headed back upstairs. I told my roommates what had happened and they felt sorry for the little crab. Nikki said, “The kids are going to find him and torture the poor thing!” but my dislike of trash as still winning.
Cutting to the scene the next morning as we’re getting ready for church, Amber calls me out onto the balcony. Down below us is one of the neighborhood boys who has taken our trash out. He has a rock in one hand, pinning something to the ground and a piece of floss in the other. “Elise, HE FOUND THE CRAB!” whispers Amber, and sure enough the boy had the crab pinned to the ground under a rock. With the other hand he had made a loop on the floss and was carefully working it around the crabs body. Two minutes later the crab was officially a pet, dangling in the air by his leash since he walked a little slow and his leash was super short. Now we have a pet dog here at the mission and we keep her on a leash tied to a tree so she doesn’t get out and get hurt. So like any good owner putting safety first our friend took the crab over and tied his leash to the dogs so he could hang out under the tree too.
It wasn’t long before the mission kids discovered the crab and from then on he spent the afternoon moving throughout the yard, getting pushed around in a tricycle, and hanging out in a bucket of water. I don’t know where or when his journey finally ended but I think it’s safe to say it was a much more eventful journey than just sitting in a can waiting to die. Farewell, little class crab!
So we made out way back to the bakery just in time for freshly baked bread fruit (but still no bread). Around the back of the shed, one of Emerise’s sons was braking down rocks into gravel. This is actually a super common sight all over. On the side of almost any road you drive down there are piles of rocks. A man will post himself there and pound the rocks down into coarse gravel usually with hammers but sometimes with other rocks. Any way you can make an income is a good way here. Since the bread wasn’t ready yet we had to head back to the mission to get some work done but Emerise promised to come by later when it was ready. And sure enough, later that afternoon he came down to the mission with a wheelbarrow full of bread for us to choose from. For about $3.00 we got three loaves of bread (which made GREAT peanut butter and chocolate sandwiches later that weekend).
And yes, the story you’ve all been waiting for, CRAB ON A LEASH!
To back up, on my last beach trip I mentioned how fun it would be to bring a crab into my class for everyone to look at (they have some really cool ones here). Well Jacy Claire and Judah made that happen for me! The next day as we loaded the bus to go prep the school Jacy handed me a bucket and said, “This is for your class.” It was a five inch long redish purple crab! Jacy said they lasted longer than the clear ghost crabs. And so I acquired a class pet. The bucket was a little small for him and if we put sand in it it was too short and he could climb out. So Jacy found a big milk can that had a lid we could poke holes in and deep enough to put sand in. The crab was still hanging in there on the first day of school and the next day (Friday) I took him home with us so I could feed him (if I remembered) before Monday. My roommates didn’t like the idea of sharing a room with a crab so I put him in the office.
At the end of the day Saturday I remembered him and stuck my head into the office to check on him. I gave his can a good little shake and he didn’t budge. It was starting to smell a little (which probably had a lot to do with the old chicken bone I had put in there for him to scavenge off of) and he hadn’t had water in days (so sue me, I’m not a good crab owner) so I took him to the trash to toss his remains. I upended the can into a large trashcan only to find the crab scrambling up the trash pile and very not dead! For a bout 2 seconds I was in a quardry: do I pull him out and refill the can with sand or did I let him forage on his own? The foraging part won (cause I wasn’t really up for chasing a crab through trash) and I headed back upstairs. I told my roommates what had happened and they felt sorry for the little crab. Nikki said, “The kids are going to find him and torture the poor thing!” but my dislike of trash as still winning.
Cutting to the scene the next morning as we’re getting ready for church, Amber calls me out onto the balcony. Down below us is one of the neighborhood boys who has taken our trash out. He has a rock in one hand, pinning something to the ground and a piece of floss in the other. “Elise, HE FOUND THE CRAB!” whispers Amber, and sure enough the boy had the crab pinned to the ground under a rock. With the other hand he had made a loop on the floss and was carefully working it around the crabs body. Two minutes later the crab was officially a pet, dangling in the air by his leash since he walked a little slow and his leash was super short. Now we have a pet dog here at the mission and we keep her on a leash tied to a tree so she doesn’t get out and get hurt. So like any good owner putting safety first our friend took the crab over and tied his leash to the dogs so he could hang out under the tree too.
It wasn’t long before the mission kids discovered the crab and from then on he spent the afternoon moving throughout the yard, getting pushed around in a tricycle, and hanging out in a bucket of water. I don’t know where or when his journey finally ended but I think it’s safe to say it was a much more eventful journey than just sitting in a can waiting to die. Farewell, little class crab!
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