Eco Tourism and Cacao

Tourism is the main source of income in the DR. Coming in at a close second is remittances- money that is being sent here from outside of the country (mainly the US) to family members here. You should see the line at the Western Union on Saturday morning. It’s inside the big chain supermarket near the front, much like the banks at the front of a Meijer store. Anyway, no one is in that line to wire or exchange money- only to receive.

 

There are a few different kinds of tourism. I’m sure when you think of tourism here you think of white sandy beaches, pools and all-inclusive hotels. While all of that definitely does exist here and it is very beautiful, I have come to learn very quickly that this country has a lot more to offer.

 

Recently, a new and semi disturbing type of tourism has surfaced. It’s called “slum tourism” and is very popular in Brazil, Latin America and India. These trips consist of bussing tourist to the poorest areas in these regions. The tourists get of the bus, look at the poor people and their underdeveloped housing as if they were in a museum, and get back on the bus. Do any of you follow Skrillex on Instagram? Right around the time when I arrived to the DR he posted a few pictures of the absolute poorest area of Santo Domingo, complete with images of children begging for money.

 

Eco tourism is also a relatively new kind of tourism and is developing very quickly in the Dominican Republic. Peace Corps is currently merging the environment sector with business and the result ends up being Eco tourism- sustainable projects that use the natural richness of the area to generate interest and attract tourists to see a little bit more of what the DR has to offer. Many Peace Corps Volunteers have Eco tourism projects. One of the most famous ones is called 27 Charcos (27 Waterfalls). It’s a tour that guides you up a river with 27 waterfalls and then allows you to jump, swim and slide down them.  There is also a river kayaking project in the east. In the region where I live now there is a volunteer living nearby whose project is with the cacao co ops. She works with a tour guide organization to bring groups of tourists to see how cacao grows, how it’s processed and how it is turned into recognizable final products. To be honest, before taking this tour I had no idea what a cacao plant looked like or that raw cacao was a slimy, white ball inside of the fruit (see picture below of me eating it). Learning new things every day!