Peace Corps... Really?

Some days I wonder if this is really Peace Corps. My job is to export cocoa beans. I spent the whole afternoon downloading accounting software. After 3 visits to Claro (mobile phone carrier) we finally purchased a wireless internet card so the Cooperative finally has internet. These things don't really mesh with my idea of "Peace Corps". But as I was riding back from Nagua I looked at the mountains that surround my village- they are breathtaking in the late afternoon light... and I'm totally content. They say that you can never judge one Peace Corps experience from another; each situation, country and person is different.

I just started reading The World is Flat and I couldn't be in a better position to see the evidence of flatness. My community is working on an aqueduct to bring water down from the mountain. A few weeks ago I went with a group of six men from the community to see the water source for the aqueduct. We hiked for about an hour through a small creek, most all of the men carried machetes and one man went without shoes. It was amazing to see how they were going to take the force of this small body of water and transport it to our community. It really makes one appreciate when you turn on the faucet. Other than a one of many hikes I've been on here, the point of this story is that on our way back we were walking through rain forest and one of the men got a call on his cell phone from his wife. That's probably the difference between the volunteer who was here years ago and me...