We celebrated Simeon’s 30th birthday on January 13, inviting the UT students over for cake and mojitos (left) After the bats eat their fill there are plenty of mangos left and you can hear ripe fruits falling to the ground with a loud plop! at all hours (right)

Our kids’ visit gave us an opportunity to learn more about the present realities of life in Santo Domingo and about pre-Colombian Quisqueya—the indigenous name for the island of Hispaniola shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Rosa and her UT classmates were working in one of several communities formed around the cañadas or drainage ditches on the north side of Santo Domingo. The task of the urban planning students was to gather information about the population, housing, local leadership, etc. Every evening Rosa came back with stories about her experiences, and during the days we set out to see—among other things—Taíno cave pictographs.

Cañada communities were originally settled by squatters, but by now there is an established pattern of residency	Rosa with kids, parents and community leaders	The city would like to improve services there but since the settlement just grew up without any planning or official approval there isn’t sufficient information

The Taínos were the indigenous inhabitants of the island, soon decimated after Columbus’s arrival by servitude and disease. Cave drawings are the main vestige of their civilization, besides the Taíno words that European languages borrowed (hurricane, canoe, hammock, barbecue, etc.) The Caves of Pomier, to the east of Santo Domingo near San Cristobal, are said to have some of the most impressive examples. But these caves were very difficult to find, and when we finally got there they were closed. In stark contrast to Pomier, the Las Maravillas caves to the west of Santo Domingo are marvelously developed, with stone walkways and unobtrusive lighting activated by sensors as visitors approach each area. We got a good view of many cave drawings there. Like other pictographs that we have seen, these were riddles. Some formed recognizable scenes, but others seemed random and even bizarre designs. In any case, the meaning remained obscure—haunting hints of what life was like here before the Europeans crashed in 500 years ago.

Drawing at Pomier entrance. They are supposedly being developed for visitors, but the project has been underway for several years without much progress	Las Maravillas - these are supposedly Taino chieftains called caciques	Las Maravillas - perhaps this is abstract art

For the past several years students from Virginia Theological Seminary have spent their January term here, and this year there were four. They got first hand experience of the church in this part of the world, attending classes and going out to visit congregations on the weekends. While they were still here, a student from General Seminary in New York arrived. David Carletta and his wife Susanne Eineigle came to explore spending some of David’s seminary career here.

Students from VTS - Leigh Vicens, Peter Gray, Giulianna Cappalletti and Meredith Holt	VTS students also found time for merengue lessons and sipping Presidente. Giulianna dances with Alfredo	David and Susanne both have studied and traveled in Latin America

School children marching in the Duarte Day parade

Around the middle of the month Juan Oliver came to CET. He is Director of El Programa Hispano/Latino en Teología y Pastoral at General. They have launched an online M.Div. in Spanish, and he came to get us thinking about how it might complement what we do here. Around the same time we also welcomed Richard Jones, Professor of Mission at Virginia Theological Seminary, and Walter Smith, a lay person from the Diocese of Panama. They were here on a fact-finding mission, as representatives of a commission studying the present state and future possibilities of Anglican theological education in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Part of our mission here is to help expand the role of CET, and these visitors got us imagining various possibilities. CET could be a site for training US seminarians to minister among Latinos. It could also become a center of theological education for the entire region. And whatever the expanded role may be, it will surely have online and distance-learning components. It’s exciting to be here as developments start tending in these directions.

A second level of apartment under construction at CET

While we dream of the future, life goes on. Noisy construction has started on another level of apartments just above ours. Milly the dog is growing rapidly, but she is still very puppyish. On a downtown stroll we encountered the colorful Duarte Day parade. The pre-school found a new assistant teacher, so April made her last appearance there at Estephany’s birthday party. April has graduated to working in the diocesan office that coordinates mission groups and aid to diocesan institutions. Her first assignment was to distribute a huge shipment of donated school supplies. And we continue to plug away at the library, cataloging a back-log of unclassified books.

Milly meditating	A radiant Estefany at her birthday party	April sorting donated school supplies for distribution