Day 11 – Working Like a Local / El Mercado

Flying chickens, rotten vegetables, and crawling insects. Today, we experienced how working as a local in the Dominican Republic felt. We started the day off by waking up at 4:00. At 5:30, we arrived at the market and surprisingly many locals were already there. This was nothing like the markets that we were used to back in the United States. The markets were outdoors and fruits and vegetables were everywhere. After we took in how different it was here in Bonao, we then broke off into groups and went to our stands. In my group, we organized fruits and vegetables and found that the stands were full of spiders and other insects. I was terrified of the insects but then realized that the locals experience this every day. After that, I picked out rotten fruits and vegetables and as a reward, got to have a taste of the locally grown fruits. As the day went on, it started to get crowded. Our feet started to hurt from our walk to the market and having to stand for hours. We attracted customers and helped the workers sell groceries. Seeing locals rush by and buying groceries gave us a huge glimpse into Dominican culture along with seeing chickens running around the street. One of the groups got to pluck feathers and gut chickens. Chickens were still flapping as their head was cut off. Despite how disgusting and stinky the chicken factory was, several of my fellow glimpsers worked there without complaint. For the rest of the day, we rested and made sure everyone was well-rested and healthy. Overall, it was a very challenging and reflecting day. We all took risks and learned that we live very comfortable lives in the United States Being leader on this day has really helped me take bigger risks and speak out more. It has made me realize we are lucky to have clean and fresh vegetables, not have to watch our poultry being killed before we purchase it, and to not have to wake up at 4:00 every day to sell fruits. Although today was a difficult day to lead, I am glad that I got a chance to participate in this life-changing experience.