Day 77

Earlier this week, I went into the Internet bunker, and Primi seemed down. I asked him what was wrong and he said his girlfriend wanted to break up with him. I made a couple jokes about him being too good for her, which seemed to cheer him up, and I left. Today, on our hike to Playa Fronton, I asked him again about it / her. I asked him what happened. He told me she thought he was seeing other people. I asked him if he was. He said no. I asked him how long they had been seeing each other He said two months. I asked where she lived. He said Columbia. I said South America? He said yes. He said it was easy to visit there, and he hoped to visit her in Medellin someday. I told him Medellin was very dangerous. He said yes, there’s a war.

Primi is 25. He works at the Fernes’ Internet bunker. He goes to Nagua, to the university there, and takes classes in English and French, and teaches English to Dominicans in Las Galeras. He is at the Internet bunker from 9-2 most days, returning at 5 or 6 to work or write until closing at 9. He recently asked me to go for a hike with him to Playa Fronton – a beautiful, remote beach here which is reachable only by boat, when the sea is calm, or by a 3 hour hike from town, or a one hour hike from Boca Diablo, which you have to reach by car.

I learned all this information about Primi on our hike. We rode his motorcycle up La Loma (“the hill”) outside of town, and started hiking from there. In the Internet bunker, Primi is constantly testing my Spanish comprehension, mostly by saying something at conversational Spanish speed to me, and getting a laugh (alone, or with others in the shop) when I look at him and ask que (what)? On our hike he told me how he had grown up in the area we were hiking in, and he used to come hunting with his brothers and shoot birds –which is a good thing, because they have no other hunt-able land animals here – and camp out. He told me how he loved the “tranquillo” (the calm, the quiet) of being here. There was a main red-dirted road that we stayed on until we took a small side trail up the hill towards Fronton. Primi usually says things in normal Spanish to me, to see if I comprehend. He is my one-man immersion crew.

I asked him if Las Galeras had changed much since he was young. He said yes. I asked him if it was better. He said yes, there were more work opportunities for people here. I asked him what they used to do. He said most of them worked the land. He pointed out many plants and fruits – some I had learned, others I hadn’t. It was a very hot day, with no clouds. We hiked about an hour and a half, until we reached the cliffs above Fronton. It was very steep going down, but not impossibly so – if you took your time, there were places to put your foot all the way down. We reached the beach, which I had been to twice before, and it was different – there were people here this time. There were 6 people at the usually deserted restaurant at the south end of the beach, a couple of Dominicans playing dominoes, the proprietor (who is Primi’s uncle) and a couple white guys. The other direction was full – there was a tent set up (which I knew belonged to a restaurant owner in town – he and his wife had taken the week off to camp at Fronton), and there were at least 20 people milling about. This was about 30 people more than I had ever experienced there before. I said to Primi, “what are all these tourists doing here?” and he said, “you’re a tourist.” I thought his company could allow me to pass for the day.

We talked on the beach for a while, where he told me about the ill-fated internet relationship. We went snorkeling for a bit. Primi didn’t seem too comfortable, having troubles with the mask and gear, but he told me to go on, and I love snorkeling at Fronton – it is very shallow inside the reef, but it has pockets and coral canyons that are fun to explore around. I followed many of the usual fish we see here, eating, when I saw an octopus swim by. It was about the length of my arm, and it saw me at the same time, as it immediately latched itself to a coral growth and camouflaged itself to the surface – it changed colors and little growths emerged all over its body making it appear like the rock / coral. I stayed right above it for some time, but it didn’t move, except for its eye following me everywhere I went. I pretended to swim away, and its color changed again, but the moment I looked back it went back to rock tint. While I maintained my watch, I saw a flounder swim by, and followed it as it went to the bottom and blended with the sand by kicking it up around itself. I looked back at the octopus and it had made a run for it, but I was able to follow for a short distance, where it latched onto another coral and camouflaged again. The growths it pops out are surprising – as it swims it is so streamlined, and you wouldn’t think that same creature could impersonate a rock.

When I got out, I met an American couple we had met at dinner at La Ranchetta two nights before, and lent them the masks and snorkels Primi and I had. Then Primi and I sat down, ate some Dominican cheese and bread, and talked.

The beach on Fronton faces Puerto Rico to the east, and this is known as the Mona Passage, one of the deepest sections of the Atlantic Ocean. I asked him how far it was to Puerto Rico, and he told me he had tried to go by boat one time, leaving here at 4 in the morning and arriving in PR at 2 AM, where the police turned them back. The woman who cleans our house, Xiamara, told Amy she had tried to go to Puerto Rico by boat once also. I asked Primi why he couldn’t get into Puerto Rico, forgetting it is an American property. We talked about going to other countries – I asked him if he would want to go to Haiti, and he said, “People always want to go somewhere better. Why would I want to go to Haiti?” He has told me many times of wanting to go to the US. He has told me his father lives in New York, having lived there for 20 years. He told me he has repeatedly asked his father to sponsor him for a visa to the US, but his father has told him it is too dangerous in New York, and that he would start using drugs. He tells his father “if I want to use drugs, I can use them here.”