Weekend #2: Relaxation and Carnival

Finally, a chance to unwind! And as much as I miss the sights and smells of the mountain, I will admit it is nice to be back in a fully-enclosed building with less mosquitoes. :-)

Saturday was basically spent doing laundry. After 5 days of trekking through mud, dust, horse manure, and whatever else was on the mountain ground, our clothes and towels were all a grimy mess. Thankfully there were only 4 people in the apartment this weekend. Adam was vacationing with a friend in Samana, and Michael and Cynthia had left early that morning to go to Jimani (a Haitian bordertown) to work at a hospital.

Linda, who had just come back from Jimani last night, said that there was still a tremendous amount of work that needed to be done. Apparently there is more organization now than there was when Michael was there three weeks ago. Most patients there were pretty stable, having all had external fixations in place for bad femur fractures from the earthquake. Dr. Chaplin, our attending, stayed there an extra day, since he was basically running an ad hoc medical ICU. According to Michael, we will all have individual 4-5 day shifts there. Ana and I will go this coming Thursday, so it looks like we have a few days to get ready.

On Sunday, the four of us headed out to see the local Carnival festival. Apparently Dominicans like to party--the whole month of February is basically "Carnival Season," with massive parades being held in many of the towns and cities each Sunday. It was quite a sight. Here's a picture of the huge Carnival display outside the national monument:



I always find myself particularly drawn to the masks. They are somewhat a mystery to me--but apparently they are worn to symbolize various deities or representations of the supernatural. The display I'm showing below also contains a variety of whips, which are toted around by people dressed as demons. Not sure exactly what they symbolize, but I've heard the demons marching in the parade will indeed whip you if you get in their way...



And finally, here's an illustration of just how turned around things get in Carnival. This is a picture of a common tradition: men dressing in women's clothing.



After Carnival, we went home and had the rest of my birthday cake. Yes, my birthday was a week ago, but I managed to keep it a secret from everyone until Ana found out. She was good enough to make a yummy cake for me, the remnant of which is pictured below:



So all in all, a great weekend. Next week will bring more excitement, I'm sure...