Lesson 3(b): IDIAF!

Yesterday the Director General of the IDIAF visited the farm. Raegan and Jacob, the two volunteers sharing this month with me at Alta Gracia, and I ate lunch with the Director, Hector, Pedro Juan, and some other important people down in the kiosk. The sun came out just long enough to illuminate the valley beautifully while we ate. It was fun; we chatted about the IDIAF's projects, the farm, and their country. The Director General, new as he is since this summer's change in government, impressed me favorably. He reminded me more of my father than any other person: quiet and respectful, reserved, thinking his own ideas based on his own knowledge, and, most of all, in his own way eager to listen and learn. He seemed to me an interesting specimenof Dominican society, which is as a whole quite exuberant and outgoing.