san francisco

rocvill

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Sep 17, 2002
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Have any of you guys been to my town San francisco de macoris. great town near santiago.
 

Keith R

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Jan 1, 2002
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Yes

rocvill,
Yes, I took a day trip to SFM in late 1999 with friend from there. We spent most of the morning in a meeting (we had been asked to help brainstorm the design of a composting project for the city's organic wastes), so I didn't get a chance to walk around the city much (which is my prefered way of getting to know a city, no matter what size it is). But I was impressed by how clean & well-kept the streets were -- rather unusual for a Dominican town, esp. one of that size. [Wonder if it is still that way?] Met some nice folks. Had lunch at a good restaurant whose name escapes me right now. Then my friend took me to tool around the nearby Loma Quita Espuella bioreserve, which is really quite nice (interesting how the ways they're reforesting that mountain and incorporating the local small farmers in the process).
Anyhoo, I'm certainly interested in going back sometime to actually spend some time getting to know the city.
Saludos Atentos,
Keith
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Yes, I've been there quite frequently. A real Dominican city; you won't see tourists on the street.
 

m65swede

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Mar 18, 2002
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rocvill said:
Have any of you guys been to my town San francisco de macoris.

Yep, I certainly have. I lived and worked in Macor?s for a period of 2 years a long time ago. I went back for a visit in April, 2002 after an absence of more than 20 years. Things have really changed.

I enjoyed my time there and plan a return visit in Feb or March, 2003. :)

Swede
 

rocvill

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Sep 17, 2002
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I return to D.R after a long time of absence and visited citys i havent seen before like sanpedro and higuey and more of santiago and santo domingo. I thougth all thease citys were going to be clean but most of the streets were disgusting santodomingo and sanpedro were really dipressing(i dont like going to tourist areas i like going to were ppl live) THANK GOD sanfrancisco ppl organize themselves and clean there neighborhood im from el barrio el capacito.
 

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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I lived as a Peace Corps volunteer at La Cruz 45 with Dona Gloria in 1988 and 1989. It's my home away from home. My wife is also from a nearby campo called Jaya. I have spent quite a bit of time there in the last 14 years.

As far as Loma Esquita Espuela, great place. The reforestation projects are mostly done with the large landlords and employ the campasinos with smaller farms. The farms directly at the base of the mountain are being reforested with whichever farmer owns the land. You have to remember that these area were opened up by the government in the early to mid part of the 20th century. They almost gave the land away to encourage people to go up the mountain and produce either coffee or cacoa depending on the elevation. The people who actually have title to the land are the well off landowners (patrones) and the smaller farmer mostly has squatter rights. There are some exceptions. The watershed reforestation projects by Plan Sierra are very top heavy and are not addressing the issue of giving title to land. In order to show mearsurable results, the poorer families are often times left out of the equation.


There was a lot of carbon being made up there in the late 80's and early 90's. It was reported that former vice president Troncoso sold off millions of dollars worth of lumber for the 86 campaign on the back side of Esquita Espuela.