The Smell of Yamasa

Altagracia papers
Aug. 2, 2008

Arrival, Campo Los Hypocrities, descending layers of degradation and squalor.
Top rung-airport- to traffic, horns, exhaust
- to air to sea.
Blue like the artificial ocean in a city aquarium, blue like turquoise, the sky, -the moon- once in a while-
Pot holes, mud streets- garbage, plastic bottles,funk
-decorate the yards- knee deep-
Landscape in garbage and burning metal.
Concrete block walls crumble
-No roof here, rusted tin there
-Naked children, chickens
-skinny dogs- scratching, scratching, scratching- these are our neighbors- beyond -the green gate, concertina wire and padlock- guards
Compared to its neighbors-the 5 star resort.
-Starred and Barred
Fourteen cots, triple flimsy metal bunks, in a fifteen square foot room. Dirty old mattresses,
Two shower stalls-one spigot
-COLD-
bare light bulb.
One rattle fan-electric
A moldy air conditioner
Nine grown women in this room-fourteen days behind these walls-
one toilet,
one waste paper basket for all toilet paper products- spills over
(Only what comes out of the body goes down the toilet-in the majority of the country)
Two mirrors
Dark shadows- light hearts- expectations
Thirsty Cockroaches creep and beg you to shower
Germophobe's skin crawls
Mosquito nets over bunks
- hang from the ceiling – slightly exotic-
trap mosquitoes in- silent ninjas-
swift and deadly-
outside the dorm-basketball hoop, fruit trees, hummingbirds- swimming pool- Nice!- palm thatch fresco dining- long banquet tables, plastic chairs- 2 cooks, dinner bell rings- frogs croak-
goose honks-
donkey brays.
Germophobe runs away inside herself
in order to survive
Arrival in the Dominican republic

(if you can handle it, there are many more pages)