Entre la espada y la pared

So the projects are going ok but not great. It seems like everything has stood still for about a week when I feel I've been working non-stop. I'm trying to move the concept of the community tour operator forward and find myself needing a bit of guidance at times that is not completely accessible all the time. My collegues are super busy working on their own projects (their deadlines are tougher than mine right now), so I'm putting together budgets and concepts kind of ad-hoc. Hopefully it will all come together shortly.

But, I did have a good day today as I hiked the Sendero Padre Nuestro again today and visited pretty much all of the project sites in one day! I went with this tour operator that wants to commercialize a route packaging several of the projects together, and while I'm skeptical for the well being of the communities (because he is a tour operator who is looking for his own interest after all, and he is also asking for exclusivity rights of the route - which can potentially jeopardize some things), I felt good today because these people have been promised for years that they would be getting tourists and they are yet to see a good amount to sustain themselves - so this is an opportunity for them. I just have to look after the communities to make sure they play their cards right.

SO yes, today was a good day even though I am smelly, tired and got stung by a wasp on my face.

Tomorrow should be a good day too... I am meeting with community leaders for the first time. I am definitely scared because I have not been able to discuss this with higher up people - but I had no option as everyone is busy or unavailable and the meeting was put together by the own communities! I am pretty confident meeting with communities, but in the DR I have no clue what to expect ... I'll just expect the worst (that they rebel against me which has happened before in Honduras!). if anything better happens it will be a good thing.

Oh.. here are some cool pictures from today... (if you don't see them now I'll try re-posting them later)

Over and out

Barco de pesca artesanal de Bayahibe

Ella es una de las guias del Parque Padre Nuestro, y ensena un diseno taino...ven la carita?

Las chicas del taller artesano CUSECO de Villas Padre Nuestro
Mi amigo el lagarto. Aparentemente la especie se llama Lucia.

No es chiste... se filmo una pelicula porno en este arbol. Le dicen el arbol del amor.

Esto es dentro de la Cueva del Chicho...
Cueva...

Ella es una de las candidatas a Gerente de la empresa

Día de Excursión

Llevo unas cuantas semanas en La Romana y Bayahibe en mi nuevo trabajo. En resumen estoy cursando una Maestría en Administración de Turismo, con un enfoque en el desarrollo de destinos sostenible. Es decir, turismo que brinda frutos a comunidades locales, la economía y el ambiente donde se desempeña. Al momento estoy trabajando a través de una compañía que se especializa en el desarrollo de productos turísticos, especialmente la creación de empresas comunitarias que puedan desarrollar atractivos tales como excursiones, pequeñas cabañas, restaurantes, etc. Bueno, me encuentro en La Romana y Bayahibe al sur este de la República Dominicana. Desde chiquita frecuentaba este sitio, pero claro está, viendo el destino mediante ojos muy distintos (hospedándome en hoteles todo-incluido, sin salir del hotel ni conocer el pueblo en realidad - exactamente lo opuesto para lo cual trabajo- pero pues no puedo decir que no conozco el "otro lado de la moneda" ya que lo entiendo muy bien).

Me encuentro en una posición de coordinadora entre mi compañía y el "Cluster Turístico" (el cliente). Tengo la labor de identificar posibles productos, involucrar a las comunidades pertinentes e implementar el proyecto. Bueno…estoy en el proceso de identificar el potencial y hoy fue mi primera pequeña "excursión".

Le propuse al Cluster la creación de una empresa comunitaria que una 4 proyectos (un sendero largo, un sendero corto, y 2 grupos de artesanos). Ellos ya han invertido bastante (bueno, organizaciones internacionales de desarrollo lo han hecho a través de ellos) en estos recursos, pero el modelo no es sostenible y las comunidades siguen dependiendo grandemente de el apoyo del Cluster y Asociación de Hoteles. No hay proceso de comercializar los productos ni tampoco mercadearlos. Si se crea esta empresa, estos temas serán dirigidos.

Bueno…pero primero que todo hay que ver si los recursos son buenos…I've been warned. I was told by some colleagues not to expect greatness… and they were right. O sea, quería muchísimo que la oferta fuese espectacular, pero no lo es. Creo que tiene el potencial para serlo, pero el trabajo es arduo y costoso. I'm optimistic, but at the same time have my feet grounded and know that this won’t be an easy task. I think that a lot of things have to be in line for this project to be successful. But I won’t bore you with the details. I will just jump right to the fun parts.
The first site I visited was this small walking route… nothing impressive. BUT there are some really good stories that can be told along the way to make it exciting. Also, it might be good enough for old cruise people (no offense cruise people)… however, that involves seasonality which might be a problem

I also checked out several artisan workshops in the community in Bayahibe. Some of their stuff is really cool, but they are really disheartened because they have been told for many years that soon the tourists will stop by their workshops to buy their stuff, which has not happened.
So then I visited a community that was relocated from a national park to another area. And it was predominantly Haitian and also the houses have been painted real pretty. BUT I went to visit the small artisan workshop that they have there. Nothing spectacular, but they can produce some really cool jewelry - of course I bought some!

Finally... I hiked! I was looking forward to it all day (actually I was looking forward to snorkeling at a pirate ship wreck that was recently discovered- but we had to X it from the agenda this morning). Anyway, the hike was cool. It was in the national park from where the community that I mentioned got relocated from. You are walking on coral land and some pretty cactus and butterflies were around. The coolest part of it was this cave at the end that has an awesome dive site apparently. I trekked down to the bottom with an artisan that came with us…and got a glimpse of the water… WOW. I didn’t know it was water because it was so clear I just thought it was a continuation of the cave. I didn’t get in cause I refused to keep trekking down - at that point I needed to hold on to rocks and that involved getting bat guano on my hands… I'm adventurous, but bat poo is where I draw the line. I'll visit again with a headlight and gloves. El Manantial de la Cueva

Escultura Taina en la piedra de la cueva

Estas flores salian de muchos cactus. Parecian parchas rosadas.

La ruta de Padre Nuestro. Mas o menos 1.5 horas

Primer Capitulo

Nombre, Carla Giselle. Edad, 24 anos. Continente, América. Color, no importa…

Dejemos las introducciones breve, ya que si me dedico a eso el objetivo de la narración se me va por la borda. Tendré objetivo yo? Ummm. Ni yo me lo creo…

A ver, intentemos lo siguiente:
Se me ocurre que (ya que soy pésima amiga y nunca he sabido mantenerme en contacto con todos los que quiero) debo condensar los esfuerzos de comunicación mediante este espacio. Quizás escribir de vez en cuando me ayude a comunicar en que esquina del mundo me encuentro viviendo (ya que como sabemos, cambio mas de casas que de…). Y quizás también puedo dejar un "chin" (ya ve? Me acoplo a la República Dominicana de lo ma bien…o, pero tu ve cual e la vaina?) de mis cuentos y barbaridades plasmados en algún sitio. O quizás acabe escribiendo de lo misterioso, fantástico, horripilante y estupendo que es el mundo donde vivimos. Pero quien sabe, lo mas probable hable mierda de poco valor e importancia.

No me hago responsable por los horrores ortográficos- ya que nunca me he considerado muy buena para ello. Y me disculpo por el espanglish - ya que elijo palabras como mas le convengan a mi absurdo cerebro.

Bueno… los dejo. El sonido de la lluvia en el techo de madera se oye mucho mas placentero que el de mis dedos en el teclado. Y la oscuridad que hay luego de que la tormenta se llevara la electricidad, me parece mas rica que el alumbrar de la computadora.