A Quick Update

The last couple of days have been extremely productive. Don't have my camera with me right now so I can't upload any pictures, but we have really gotten some incredible footage. We went to the Licey Aguila game in Santo Domingo which is the equivalent of Yankees Sox. The only seats we could get were in the bleachers and costed 50 Pesos (a little more than a dollar). The cheap bleacher seats were perfectly fine in terms of the view, but there is a bit of a status difference sitting there over the "preferencia" seats for the wealthier people. Without a doubt, we were the first Americans to sit up there in a very very long time. It was still a great time and people kept begging us to root for their team (there were both Licey and Aguila fans since both teams are centered around Santo Domingo).

The next day we headed back to San Pedro to stay with Oscar and Jacquelina. Ross arrived today so now we have a third person working with us at all times, which makes life a lot easier. First place we went was back to the stadium in San Pedro where we greated with hugs by Ricardo, the head of security, and some of the other workers there. He got us our tickets so we wouldn't even have to wait in line and escorted us right to the field to start interviewing. This time we got to interview a lot of American players also to get another angle at the cultural changes. One of the coolest interviews was with Freddy Bynum, a guy who has a shot to be the Orioles' starting shortstop.

The game itself was great. Estrellas were down 2-0 most of the game but rallied in the 9th to win 3-2. The stadium exploded and people stayed around drinking and dancing in their seats until the stadium finally had to turn the lights out to get people to leave. The celebration moved to the street where everyone was chearing and going crazy. Las Estrellas are the Dominican version of this years Rockies. A couple weeks ago it didn't even look like they were going to be in the round robin playoff tournament but now they are in first place with a comfortable lead over Licey (the Dominican version of the Yankees... blech).

Our taxi driver on the way home was a nice guy who said he knew were all the acadamies were in the area. After a bit of negotiation we agreed on a price for him to be our chofer for the entire day. This guy loved our project and, in addition to driving us around, was very good at convincing security gaurds to let us into different academies. He would run up to anyone that looked involved with baseball and energetically get them to talk to us. All the kids were still home for vacation, but we were able to talk to a lot of trainers and get walking tours of a couple academies. We particularly had a great time at a Kansas City Royals' academy where Luis Castillo's (Mets 2B) cousin charismatically showed us around every room and told lots of fun stories and so on.

We also drove around Consuelo, a poor pueblo that is entirely dedicated to la pelota. We met scouts and other players and got some really valuable interviews. The neatest part of the day however was the drive home. We saw a couple kids in a shanty town just outside of San Pedro playing baseball and we jumped out to talk to them. Within minutes people were flooding onto the court from all directions to talk to the Americans. We got a lot of great footage and still shots of them playing. Ross disapeared for a while and we were starting to get a little worried when suddenly we saw him walking back with an older man and a giant stick of sugar cane. We stayed there interviewing people, chewing on the sugar cane, and having a generally amazing time. This was probably the most intense poverty we have seen yet and instead of being afraid we felt totally comfortable because everyone was just so happy that we were shedding light onto the lives that they lead in this area.

We got some great footage of tons and tons of little kids going up to the camera and saying their name, age, and what they want to be when they grow up. All but one of them said Pelotero (baseball player). Also, they all said that they want to do it to help their parents, family, pueblo, and their country. Later, we made one of the hardest decisions we've made all trip. They offered to show us around the shanty town so we could get what I imagine would have been really intense footage of the poverty in which they live. As nice as they were, though, our driver told us that it wasn't safe to go in there. He said even though they are nice, we would have no idea who else might be in there and with all our equipment we were easy targets. If we went in, he insisted, he would not follow us. We had already had such a productive day that I decided to err on the side of caution.

As poor as they were and as rich as we must have looked (3 cameras, tripods, etc) they never once asked for money. We've tried not to make a habit of giving to everyone because, bluntly, we can't afford it with the grant that we have. This time though there was no doubt in our mind that we had to leave something behind. We gave a 500 Peso not (about 15 dollars, which goes a long way) to the man who was playing baseball with all the kids. As I held his hand I told him that it was money for the kids, to buy them gloves, balls, bats and whatever they need. I am not too naive to know there is a chance that the money will just go to him, but he seemed like a good man and all I can do is trust that he is using the money the right way. The kids hugged us as we left and told us to come back as soon as we could.

After a long day of driving out in the country on dirt roads, the car that was more or less held together by tacky glue and duct tape finally gave in and broke down by the ocean. Quite luckily, we were able to safely take some good (albeit cheesy) footage of the sun setting over the ocean. Overall, it was a long exhausting day, but it was also probably the most productive day we had yet. Having Ross around has freed me up from paying attention to the mics and camera during the interview and now I just basically have conversations with people and let Jon and Ross take care of the filmy stuff. Jon and Ross's Spanish have also been improving a lot that they can understand most of the interviews and ask questions. So our interviews have been much more productive and we are getting much more genuine and energetic answers from people. At one point during an interview, a scout was explaining how the kids make their gloves out of milk cartons and as we made eye contact I smiled. Just by smiling, his energy in the conversation rose substantially.

In a couple hours we will be interviewing the owner of Las Estrellas who knows a lot about the history of Dominican baseball. So much for a quick post.... Had a lot to say. Hope everything is well with everyone else.