Day 2

The roosters started crowing at about 5:45. Awakened from a deep sleep, I listened for the next 90 minutes as the city came awake. The shouts of the street vendors wafted up to the 4th floor of the apartment building where we are staying. At one point I heard a mother yell, " An-ge-lo!" If you are of my generation. you may remember the 1950's Prince Spaghetti commercials on TV, where the North End mother would yell "Anthony!"

We spent the morning checking and rescheduling our itinerary in the Dominican Republic and Haiti and it is exciting. We are spending the next few days in and around Santo Domingo before heading southwest to Barahona and Los Patos. Then we will go north and cross the Haitian border at Malpass. Both countries are experiencing a growing cholera epidemic so we are cognizant of drinking only bottled water and washing hands frequently.  Sam's French will come in handy then.

This afternoon I yelled to our taxi driver to pull over when I saw hundreds of kids getting out of school. Our first AIDS Attack in the Dominican Republic! The students were obviously surprised by our presence and were genuinely interested in the message. They heard that it was up to them to take the message to their friends and peers. Afterwards we hit the "Conde," a long street closed to traffic where we also did AIDS Attack in this part of the colonial old town. Tomorrow we are going to be doing some universities, more schools and the "Malecon," the boulevard along the ocean. Check out our pictures that Maryna took.