FATHOM: OUR FINAL CHAPTER

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

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“Gratitude” doesn’t fully describe how I feel about the experiences Bruce and I shared during our three Fathom Impact Travel cruises. There were so many memorable experiences that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. Any impact we made in the Dominican Republic and Cuba came back around in such wonderful ways—all described in the many blog posts I have written about our January, March, and April visits. Search “Fathom” on this blog site, and you can read about them all.

On our last cruise, as planned, we reunited with some passengers we had previously met aboard Adonia; but, we also unexpectedly saw others from our January and March cruises.

Each one of us had re-booked a Fathom Impact Travel cruise for similar reasons, and all of us were eager to continue making an impact.

When Fathom’s Adonia sets sail on May 21 to the Dominican Republic, it will be her last sailing under the Fathom flag. Her lease expires, and then she will sail to Europe to become a P&O ship once again. All of her crew with the exception of the Impact Travel Staff will sail with her.

The Dominican Republic flag (left) is the only national flag with a bible on it.

Amber Cove, Dominican Republic

Adonia will be missed. As a former 6-star Renaissance ship (before the company folded), she’s a classic beauty built in a style no longer seen in new ships. Beautiful mahogany, crown molding, etched glass, impeccable craftsmanship—these are all abundantly featured throughout the 704-passenger ship.

Fathom may be all about “Impact Travel” rather than the vehicle getting us to our destinations; but, what Adonia did for Fathom was to provide a more intimate atmosphere for its passengers, enabling them to meet and share experiences more easily.

A favorite place to bond with our fellow cruisers was on the aft deck outside of “The Conservatory”, the buffet and casual dining area of the ship. It became a popular meeting place for travelers to hang out with a cold drink, and swap stories of their Impact Travel activities. Friendships were made and cemented, especially during sea days when there was no concern about the time.

When Bruce and I taught arts and crafts classes aboard larger Royal Caribbean ships, we often commented about the many people we saw disembarking that we never saw during the cruise.

Not so aboard Adonia. Between the cohort meetings, workshops, dining room unassigned seating, and Impact Travel activities; we at least recognized everybody during disembarkation. We also left with many more e-mail addresses and friendships than we ever had before.

On May 28, Fathom as we know it will end. The following is an official statement I received upon request from Tara Russell, President of Fathom, regarding Fathom’s future:

There is a macro trend around the hunger for greater meaning and purpose in our everyday lives – people want to live their best story and long to go deeper. This exists independent of Fathom and manifests daily as a growing audience of consumers work to combine their purchases and experiences with their values. Fathom addresses this growing desire through travel experiences. Fathom invites travelers to get closer by traveling in new and exciting ways. Fathom heightens human connections between travelers, with new local friends and other cultures, and in any relationship a traveler may touch.

During our first season, Fathom trialed this purpose-driven concept by testing traveler appetites for travel-deep experiences with 7-day journeys on the MV Adonia to the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Nearly 10 percent of Fathom travelers who joined these sailings returned quickly to participate again and our customer satisfaction scores were among the highest in the corporation. In short, the Fathom concept was very well received.

We always intended to serve our much broader corporate audience of 12 million travelers. The popularity of the Fathom experience with travelers who sailed with us inspired us to move quickly to expand the Fathom concept – onboard, onshore and in new and creative ways to serve an even greater audience.

Going forward, Fathom Travel experiences will live aboard countless other ships operated by our nine sister brands and offer beyond immersive experiences in many geographies. Fathom is designed to intersect and inspire the lives of travelers anywhere through heightened human connections that unlock human potential and connect travelers to a bigger story.

Already, we are providing Fathom Travel experiences on-ground to travelers across six Carnival Corporation brands in the Dominican Republic. We are honored to leverage our collective scale as we come alongside our Dominican friends to create enduring contributions to the lives of families and communities. Soon Fathom experiences will also be offered on board our sister brands.

Fathom looks forward to serving the 12 million people who annually travel with Carnival Corporation, as well as the millions of new travelers who long to go deeper into our growing community. We’re nearing the end of chapter one, but there is much ahead for the rest of the Fathom story and the best is yet to come!

As of today, I have not received any definitive answer if Fathom will ever again have a dedicated ship for its Impact Travel mission. If it does, I doubt it will be intimate and casino-less like Adonia.

Thanks for the memories!

Marcia (IDDI), Steven (IDDI), Me, Wilmers (IDDI), Colin (Fathom Impact Travel Staff Manager), Bruce, Raymond (IDDI)

Frank (Entrena)

Marvin (wait staff) remembered us from our previous cruise and visited us often on the aft deck for chats.

Tomasito, leader of the Cuban band aboard ship

Mauritza, Jessica, Brandon, and Len. We cruised with Jessica and her dad on the January 1st and April 9th sailings.

Mauritza and Jessica

HABLA INGLES? TEACHING ENGLISH IN THE DR

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

Before I post “FATHOM: OUR FINAL CHAPTER”, I can’t locate the article I wrote about teaching community English in the Dominican Republic during our second cruise in March. (Either I forgot to post it, or it disappeared from my blog!)

In between our two morning work sessions at Chocal, we spent an afternoon teaching “community English” in the small farming town of Cupey, Dominican Republic. The bus ride to this community of 4,000 was an extremely bumpy one in some areas where we traversed unpaved rocky roads with large pot holes. What a relief when we finally arrived into town and were able to drive over paved roads once again!

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Along the way, there was some interesting scenery, to say the least. Although I managed to get a quick picture out the window of this cattle drive, I missed one when a man was walking his two bulls alongside the roadside.

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The best shot that got away, though, was the guy walking a pig. Yes, you read that right—a PIG! He even had a leash of rope around its neck. This wasn’t just some small pot belly pig, mind you; this was a HUGE pink pig munching away happily at the grass along the roadside!

When we arrived at the community center, we were greeted by the families who would become our students for the afternoon. After introducing themselves to us, one-on-one, we were divided into groups and assigned to a student for each teacher. A few of the families had opened their homes as a meeting place for the days’ lesson, so we walked down the street to the house where we would be teaching.

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Bruce was assigned to a cute little girl, and I was assigned to a woman by the name of Doris. We sat on the front porch facing our students and used the manual we were provided to conduct our lesson.

The students had been taking classes and studying on their own, but working with Fathom passengers was a supplemental opportunity to converse with Americans and learn more.

The lesson they had worked on prior to our arrival was entitled “Nature”. They had learned the English name for several animals, so we were instructed by the facilitators from Entrena to review the lesson before moving on to “Classroom”.

My student, Doris, was a bit shy and unsure of herself. To break the ice, I thought it would be fun to make the sound of the animal I wanted her to say in English. I also had pictures to point to that had the English word written under each animal; but, I thought making her laugh would ease her nervousness. At least, I thought it would make her laugh.

Imagine my dismay when I started barking (a pretty good rendition of a dog, I thought), and she pointed to the horse and said, “Horse”. Ohhh boy; this was going to be a long afternoon…

Knowing my bark was the best animal sound in my bag of tricks, I immediately switched tactics and pointed to each animal for Doris to say in English.

NEXT!

The “Classroom” lesson had items such as a pencil, ruler, desk, chair, chalkboard, teacher, student, etc. One of the students in the picture was wearing a backpack, and that was one of the words Doris needed to learn. No can do; she just couldn’t get that one down. I had offered her plenty of positive feedback (“Good!” and high-fives) when she got even close on the other words, but she couldn’t get past “back” to even get to the “pack”. How I wish the little girl in the picture had carried her books to school in her arms, instead…

My student, Doris

Bruce’s student got bored quickly, so he was moving on to other lessons to keep her interest. She wanted to stick with the ones she was good at, though, and move on to a new one when she found the lesson to be too difficult.

Bruce and his student

They were sitting right next to me and Doris, so it was easy enough to ease drop. I only wish the little girl had ease-dropped on my barking and yelled out, “Dog!”

It was an enjoyable afternoon, though, and the students appreciated our efforts. After the lesson, we met back up at the community center for some group photos.

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OUR THIRD VISIT TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC; OUR SIXTH AND SEVENTH TO CHOCAL

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

Type “Chocal” into the search box above, and a list of several blog posts will appear that I have written about Chocal, the women’s cooperative chocolate factory and cacao plantation in the Dominican Republic (the DR). In all, Bruce and I participated in Fathom’s Impact Travel program at Chocal seven times; three visits during our January 1^st Fathom Adonia cruise, twice on our March 12 cruise, and twice on our final visit to the DR, during the week of April 9, 2017.

Those earlier blog posts included information about how Chocal was established (although I didn’t mention how the factory replaced what was once a nightclub hangout for drug dealers and other criminals). I wrote about the benefits Chocal has provided the thirty women and 130 families of the Altamira community. The chocolate-making process was also described, from bean to bar, including photos I shot of the cacao processing machinery. Our volunteer contributions were also detailed including the impact our work groups made on Chocal’s production.

Although cacao beans are very bitter to bite into, the white pulp surrounding the beans is sweet and delicious! I was given the remainder of the seeds in this pod to suck on and enjoy– about half of the 50 seeds it contained.

Since then, the cumulative impact has grown as more and more Fathom passengers volunteered at Chocal. As of April 15 of this year (the one year anniversary of Fathom Adonia’s first sailing), 4,419 passengers have visited Chocal and sorted 5,186 pounds of cacao nibs, resulting in 152,994 finished chocolate products. In addition, since the neighboring cacao plantation nursery was added to the Impact Travel program, 29,920 cacao seeds were planted. Of those, roughly 75% will grow to become cacao trees. In three years, those trees will be each produce about 20 pods ready to harvest each May and November for the next 30-40 years. Each of those pods will contain about 50 seeds—enough to produce a 2-ounce bar of chocolate to be sold in the Dominican Republic. (In addition, Chocal exports cacao nibs to Canada and the U.S.A., earning $2 per pound.)

The inside of a cacao seed is very bitter!

Bruce and I made a personal impact at Chocal as well, bringing a box of ear plugs to the factory workers (when we visited in March) with promises to send more if the workers cared enough about preserving their hearing to use the ear plugs regularly.

I also brought memories with me during that second visit, giving each of the workers photo notecards I had made of the photos I had taken of them last January. Their reactions and expressed gratitude was gratifying and left a lasting warmth in our hearts.

Our final Fathom Adonia voyage was during the week before Easter (a very important holiday in the DR), and we were there the day before and day of Good Friday. As a result, many of the women of Chocal were home cooking and preparing for the holiday, so we didn’t get to see some of them again as we had hoped. Still, our two visits were special, memorable, and heart-warming.

We arrived once again with an armful of photo notecards—this time, made with photos of our Chocal friends holding the cards I had given them in March; and, we brought another box of ear plugs to keep them well-stocked for a while.

Our bus driver, Diosiris Dipre (“Dipre”) was the same one we had last March, and he appeared very happy to see us again! His sincere gratitude for such a simple gesture of giving a photograph reminded me of how random acts of kindness can make such a positive impact.

Our bus driver, Dipre & IDDI facilitator, Juan

Gumarcindo, the nursery’s manager, also welcomed us warmly once again and laughed heartily when I gave him another photo card. I wish I would have remembered to take another picture of him holding his card, because the photo on the card showed him holding the card I gave him in March that had the picture I took of him in January on it! We got so busy working at the nursery, I completely forgot. It’s another one of those photos that got away…

Our IDDI facilitator on the bus with us this time was Juan, an IDDI rep we had seen during previous visits, but hadn’t gotten to know, since he was on the other bus in the past. The guy is a hoot, and we had a lot of laughs with him during both of our days going to Chocal. His grandmother works at the factory, and even though she didn’t speak any English, we managed to form a bond through smiles and gestures.

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Juan’s grandmother

Steven, another IDDI facilitator was there once again, and he seemed happy to see us and start another round of teasing, picking up from where we left off in March.

Steven & Bruce

As we saw the women, one-by-one, throughout our time at the factory, each one recognized us and greeted us with hugs. It was nice to be remembered once again!

At one point, though, I had a brief moment of sadness when we passed through the office to work in the packaging area, and Bruce noticed the box of ear plugs we had given them in March. The box was sitting on top of a high pony wall in the exact same place where it had been left after I demonstrated to the president how to use the ear plugs. When Bruce saw what appeared to be the unused box and told me about it, he had a disappointed look on his face. He said, “I don’t think they’ve touched those ear plugs since you gave them the box.” My heart sank, and I wondered whether I should even give them the second box I had brought. Not giving it a second thought, I doubled back to check the box for myself. Just as I opened it and noticed it only two-thirds full, Milagros (the factory manager) walked in and exclaimed, “Si! Si!!” as she pointed to her ears and smiled. The workers were in fact using the ear plugs, and they were very grateful to receive more! That made my day.

After our work session officially ended and the others shopped in the gift shop, Bruce and I stayed behind to give one last push of sorting beans. As a final parting “gift”, Steven took me back into the factory where we had molded chocolates, gave me a plastic glove, and told me to hold out my hand. In it landed a palm-ful of warm chocolate from the bowl we had worked from to create our little chocolate works of “art”. I will never forget how gooood that chocolate tasted as I licked every bit up! I savored it slowly knowing it could very well be the last visit we ever make to Chocal.

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Coming up next: OUR REUNION WITH THE WOMEN OF REPAPEL

“WHEREVER YOU GO BECOMES A PART OF YOU SOMEHOW” – Anita Desai

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

It wasn’t until our third cruise aboard Fathom’s Adonia (and multiple visits to the dining room to enjoy their superb cuisine) that I really noticed this quote on the mural located in the dining room lobby. On every previous dinner visit, we had made a beeline right past it in excited anticipation of the meal we were about to enjoy with our fellow travelers. During our third night aboard ship, though, we were meeting Fathom Impact Staff Member, Francisco, for dinner. He was our cohort leader on the previous cruise, and he wanted to hear about the adventures we had experienced at Chocal and Santiago de Cuba during the last cruise, and our return to Santiago that day.

We arrived just minutes ahead of Francisco, and this time, I did a double-take when I walked past the mural. Indian novelist, Anita Desai struck a chord in my heart with her words…

Francisco and Bruce

I have traveled in 65 countries and 36 states, and all of those experiences have become a part of who I am. Nothing else has had more influence on me socially, emotionally, intellectually, or politically as my travel experiences.

Feeling and expressing gratitude is one of my keys to happiness in life, and I owe my ability to appreciate to all those times I left the safety and comfort of my home, and familiar surroundings.

Although my husband, Bruce hasn’t had the extent of travel experiences I have, those we have shared have had the same positive effect on his life. We are in sync, and we both craved to return for one last time for an Impact Travel experience in the Dominican Republic and Cuba with Fathom, aboard the beautiful Adonia.

My last blog post of our second Fathom cruise hadn’t even been written when we both agreed we had to return one last time.

We couldn’t wait to go back to see our new Cuban friends that had become a part of us.

Coming up next: SANTIAGO DE CUBA: OUR REUNION WITH BENI, EDUARDO, AND GRISEL

LIFE ABOARD FATHOM ADONIA

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

The second time around, we thoroughly enjoyed our free balcony upgrade aboard Fathom’s Adonia. Being upgraded to a room with a large window for our first cruise was wonderful, but being able to enjoy this calm, serene view was pure bliss on our first full day at sea:

This time, there was also a Cuban band on board to entertain us. They were actually based out of Miami, but they were indeed Cuban, and the music they played was fun to listen to while relaxing at the pool or in the lounge.

We even had a lot to watch during their performances. This little gal brought her hula hoops aboard with her, and she had us all entertained! Check this out: https://youtu.be/XGkpk8CP740

Even with several college students aboard ship during spring break, the vibe was very low key and relaxed among the passengers. Nobody was visibly drunk or wild, and everybody coexisted comfortably for the most part (well, except for our man overboard incident).

What a great cruise it was! After returning home, we heard from the father/daughter duo we met back in January that Vacations to Go dropped the price to $299 for some of the upcoming Cuba/ Dominican Republic cruises; so, Bruce twisted my arm (ha!) to book once again for the one available week we have before the ship returns post-lease to Europe. It’s the same cruise our father/daughter friends will be on with big brother and Mom, so we are excited to have an onboard reunion with them!

Our new friends at Chocal are in for (another!) big surprise when we show up again, especially when we give them another box of ear plugs, along with a stack of photo note cards I made from the photos you saw in my last post.

Meanwhile, our Cuban friend, Beni, and I have had e-mails flying back and forth almost daily; so, he’s excited for our return. We will see him on his birthday; and, we plan to take Beni out to lunch along with Eduardo (the glass artist) and his wife. Beni is also going to take us to meet his daughters, son, and grandkids. We have compiled a care package for all of them, and I loaded up a flash drive with music, the video of him singing “Dock of the Bay” with Bruce, as well as pictures I shot of Cuba, my community in Georgia, and Bruce’s glass work. We are thrilled and grateful to be able to return aboard Fathom’s Adonia once again!

Our first aboard Fathom Adonia on this cruise: Man overboard, a female captain (and rescue boat pilot), going to cuba, and having a balcony.

Interesting art work drawn on the walls of the top deck aboard FAthom

Fathom Adonia returns to Miami

OUR RETURN TO CHOCAL

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

The early evening light cast a beautiful golden glow on the shores of Puerto Plata, and our arrival to Amber Cove was magical. After enjoying the sail into port from the aft deck, we took in the views of the cove from our balcony, as we got ready to head to the dining room for another delicious dinner. That night, I was getting so excited to see our amigos and amigas at Chocal the following morning that it was difficult to get good sleep.

Sunrise behind Amber Cove

After breakfast, we grabbed the box of ear plugs and stack of photo notecards I made for everybody and eagerly hiked out to the buses. Leurys from IDDI (Dominican Institute for Integral Development) spotted us immediately and greeted both of us with a big hug and “thank you”. Back in January, she had admired the fused glass earrings I had been wearing, and since Bruce had made them, it was easy enough to give her an identical pair. Bruce offered to send her some as a gift; however, we were unsure of the mail service; so, I sent them along with a friend of mine who sailed on Fathom’s Adonia, in February.

When we arrived to Altamira (“high view”), our bus load of volunteers started out working at the cacao plantation. “Hola, Gumarcindo! Que lo que?! (What’s up?)” As soon as he heard my voice, Gumarcindo turned around and greeted me and Bruce with a huge smile, hug, and a fist bump for Bruce. (It’s a guy thing, I guess…) The surprised look on his face was priceless when we gave him the photo card I had made from the picture I had shot last January. He was so appreciative!

It was time to get to work, though, and our group hustled filling 266 bags of dirt, and then passed them down the assembly line to receive cacao seeds. In two months, they will look like the ones we planted in January. It was great to see how our “babies” were doing!

Bruce leads off the “bucket brigade”

Our “babies” from january!

Cacao pod and seeds. The membrane surrounding the seeds is delicious! Suck the membrane off the seed, but don’t bite, because the seed itself is very bitter!

Cacao seeds drying in the sun

Not only did Gumarcindo remember us, but Wilmers, Steven, and the bus driver, Milagras did, too. Instead of going off with the group to tour the fermenting area (which we had seen during our last visit), I stayed back to talk with the guys.

Diosiris, Wilmers, Steven, and Gumarcindo

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Gumarcindo and Raymond

When our time was up at the nursery, we headed over to the factory to sort beans and nibs, mold chocolate, and wrap chocolate bars. Again, our enthusiastic greetings of “Hola! Que lo que?” were met with big, wide-eyed smiles, and hugs. It was nice to be remembered! We also were so happy to see how much everybody appreciated the photo cards. One of the ladies even went to get paper towels and carefully wrapped hers up, and then held onto it tight. (She at least let us get another photo with her and the card first!)

Bruce and I join Mamita

They had so much fun looking at each other’s cards and laughing at the pictures! We may not have been able to communicate too much using words with each other; but, a smile is a smile in any language, and those ladies were all smiles!

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After passing out the cards, my next order of business before getting down to work was to give the co-op’s president, Susan, the yellow 3M ear plugs. As one of the other IDDI facilitators translated, I explained the importance of using ear plugs to save their hearing. I then demonstrated how to properly insert them and use the “pillow pouch” for storage afterward. By keeping the ear plugs clean and storing them in the pouch, they would last a lot longer.

I promised Susan and Naomi (the V.P.), that if the factory workers used the ear plugs regularly, I would send more. There is no mail service to Altamira, so I would send them to the IDDI office, and the facilitators would deliver them to Chocal.

Bruce, Christopher, Naomi (VP), Susan “Luz” (President), and Rafael

After distributing the cards and ear plugs, Bruce and I finally did manage to get some work done. The best part, though, was getting to taste the spicy hot chocolate and warm molding chocolate again. Ahhh, it was so good to be back!

Milagros (factory manager) & Bruce

This time, when we said, “Adios!” to everybody at the end of our last day, we wondered if it would be forever. Would we ever be back? Never say never…

My amigo, Steven

Next up: HABLA INGLES? TEACHING ENGLISH IN THE DR

FATHOM ADONIA: CRUISE #2

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

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As we sailed away from the Dominican Republic last January, my heart ached to return to Chocal. The friendly women at the co-op, Gumarcindo at the cacao nursery, and the IDDI facilitators had grown on Bruce as well. We both wanted to return, and it seemed to be the only thing we wanted to talk about during our drive home from Miami.

By the time we returned home, we had made the firm decision to book another Fathom cruise to the D.R. and Chocal before the ship leaves for Europe in June. Immediately after we arrived home, I headed into our house and picked up the phone to call Fathom’s office. Since we only wanted to book a cruise if we could return to Chocal, our cruise date would be dependent on that availability. Our first choice was sold out, and our only other availability was for a cruise that included a stop in Cuba as well. One day in Cuba isn’t enough, and only two visits to Chocal in the D.R. wasn’t enough either, but something was better than nothing. With suitcases still packed in the back of our car, we were already booked for our next cruise!

It would be two-and-a-half months before our departure, but we were filled with excitement for what was to come. During our free time, I researched Cuba and the port we would be visiting: Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city of our mysterious neighbor, just 90 miles south of Key West, Florida.

Although Fathom has a strict policy about not bringing items for donation, there were two ideas I had for gifts I wanted to bring to Chocal: photo notecards of each of the people I had photographed back in January, and ear plugs.

Why ear plugs? When Bruce and I toured the factory, the noise level from the machinery was horrendous, and we noticed none of the workers used ear plugs. By the time they reach my age, they will be deaf! I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I went on Amazon and purchased a box of 3M industrial-grade foam ear plugs in cardboard pouches—the same type I was given at the hospital when I had an MRI. After a day’s work in the factory, I thought the workers could place the ear plugs back in their pouches, and put them in their pockets. The ear plugs could be used again for several days before they would need to be replaced. I figured I could then obtain an address where I would send more to them in the future.

On March 12, with photo notecards in hand and ear plugs in our suitcase, we boarded Fathom’s ship, Adonia, and set sail from Miami.

We knew our cohort leader, Collin, and his wife, Katie, would still be on leave, but we were happy to see many of the friendly staff we had met on our first cruise. It felt like “home” to be back aboard this beautiful ship!

As an extra bonus, we were surprised with a free upgrade to a beautiful balcony cabin! It was a first for us, so we couldn’t have been more thrilled.

We looked forward to enjoying a full day at sea before our arrival to Cuba, a “bucket list” destination we had spoken many times of visiting after President Obama had loosened up travel restrictions in an agreement with Raul Castro.

What we didn’t yet know was what unbelievable event would unfold during our sea day—something most crew have never experienced during their years at sea.

Coming up next: MAN OVERBOARD!

IT’S A WRAP: FATHOM’S IMPACT ON THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

Fathom Impact Travel’s mission is: “Unleash ‘Eudaemonia’ (Greek for ‘human flourishing’) through empathy-driven social impact and ‘alongsideness’.” In addition, their mission is to “transform the lives of travelers, families, and communities for generations to come in meaningful and sustainable ways.”

Some of my research on Fathom Impact Travel activities in the Dominican Republic prior to our cruise uncovered speculation and doubt as to whether the impact was significant. Was Fathom accomplishing its mission?

Check out the numbers our cohort leader, Colin, shared with our group during the wrap-up session aboard Adonia:

At Chocal, the goal was to contribute toward greater productivity by sorting beans and nibs, enabling the women to focus their time and resources on the more intricate chocolate-making process. Bruce and I feel the three groups we worked with put a significant dent in the bags of dried cacao beans we sorted! During our week at Chocal, 265 travelers cleaned 179 pounds of nibs, which equates to 5,295 finished chocolate bars! We also packaged 5,128 chocolate products and prepared them for sale.

This was accomplished during the 18^th voyage of Adonia. The total impact of all eighteen voyages to date amounted to 4,518 lbs. of nibs cleaned, which produced 133,288 finished chocolate bars. In all, 81,042 products were packaged and prepared for sale. That’s a lot of chocolate!

Over at the nursery, Fathom didn’t start sending volunteers until the 7^th voyage. Since then, 19,202 cacao seeds were planted by Fathom volunteers.

Meanwhile, while we were productive at Chocal, other volunteers were participating in other projects. Here are those numbers:

RePapel (where we volunteered on our last day in the DR)- 221 people produced 1, 185 sheets of paper during our cruise. To date, 14,719 sheets of paper have been produced for stationary and notecards.

Reforestation- 170 people planted 1,978 seedlings in the nurseries, and 1,150 seedlings were planted from the nurseries into Dominican soil.

Concrete Floors- 140 people made concrete floors for seven homes where 23 people live. To date, the total is 60 homes (for 246 people). In addition, a concrete multi-use outside court was made at a school of 168 students.

Water filters- 53 people made 67 clay filters for 335 people. To date, 1,041 filters were made benefitting 5,205 people.

These numbers don’t include the amount of hours volunteers spent teaching English to Dominican adults and children.

Do these numbers seem insignificant to you? They sure don’t to us, nor did they to the others in our cohort group.

During our wrap-up session, we were encouraged to take this experience home with us to our own communities, and continue the mission of making the world a better place for all of us.

Personally, Bruce and I aren’t sure whether we made a greater impact on the women of Chocal and RePapel or whether we were more impacted by the experience. What we do know is that we want to go back! As soon as we returned home and walked in the door, we made some phone calls and got booked on another Fathom Impact Travel Cruise. Although it didn’t work out to return for a full week in the DR, we did get booked on a voyage that will include both the DR and Cuba. We will volunteer at Chocal twice and teach community English once while in the DR; and, the ship will call on Santiago de Cuba for a people-to-people experience.

I’m sure I will have plenty to write about after our next adventure, so stay tuned!

Colin, our cohort leader after our wrap-up session.

Bruce and I brought back Colin’s favorite Chocal chocolate bar to give him as our parting gift. Unfortunately, he’ll be on leave when we return for our next cruise.

Our new friends, Jessica, and her dad Len. Jessica is sporting a temporary tattoo of Fathom’s logo. This was the “prize” I won during a shipboard activity during the sailaway.

Rayna, and her dad, Carl, came aboard with Mom and Sis. Like Jessica and Len, they were table mates during the cruise.

Our last sunset in the DR

Arriving in Miami

Quite another perspective from our cabin window!

PUERTO PLATA AND AMBER COVE

Posted on January 29, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

The last time I was in the Dominican Republic was the summer of 1977 when I was fifteen years old and getting ready to enter the 11^th grade of high school. It still boggles my mind to think that was forty(!) years ago. How can that be? I don’t even feel forty years old!

That summer of 1977, my parents took us four kids on a cruise aboard NCL’s MS Skyward. It was our first (and only) cruise as a family, and it was my first time out of the country.

That’s me with our tour guide in Puerto Plata, 40 years ago at the age of 15 (with a little more hair, and a few more pounds on my frame).

I was curious to see if I would remember any of Puerto Plata, and Bruce had never been there before. Not knowing what to spend our Vacations to Go shipboard credit on, we decided to take a Fathom excursion, “Best of Puerto Plata,” on our free afternoon in the DR.

The great thing about historical sites is they don’t change. I was sure to recognize Fort San Felipe since it was built 1564-1577! I did (sort of) remember it. Here is what it looked like from the eyes of a fifty-five-year-old:

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We also visited the Brugal Rum Factory. Unfortunately, the factory was closed for the day, so we didn’t get to see it in action.

Here are more scenes from Puerto Plata:

Plaza Independencia

Back at the port, Amber Cove was bustling when Carnival or Holland America shared the pier with Fathom’s Adonia and increased the tourist population by thousands. A well-designed port with a variety of recreational activities covering 25 acres, Carnival Cruises sunk $90 million dollars into the facility and opened it for their ten cruises lines’ ships in 2015.

Amber Cove features a gorgeous meandering pool that is free to use, and other activities for a charge, including: zipline, kayak and other watersport rentals, and cabana rentals. There is also a restaurant, bars, and a shopping village.

I had my eye on the pool, so I spent one late afternoon swimming while Bruce kicked back on a lounger.

Shopping options included a mercado with local handicrafts, so I picked up this purse made from coconut palms for Melody back in Vero Beach. For me, I added to my chocolate label collection by picking up a couple of chocolate bars produced by one of Chocal’s competitors. Shhh!

We were impressed with Amber Cove. It was a beautiful place to relax and enjoy during our free time in Puerto Plata!

Next up: It’s a Wrap: Fathom’s Impact on the Dominican Republic

RECYCLING PAPER WITH REPAPEL

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Elaine-iaK's Travels

When Bruce and I first committed to traveling to the Dominican Republic (the DR) aboard the Adonia and participating in Fathom’s Impact Travel program, our vision was locked on Chocal. Volunteering at the cacao plantation and chocolate factory was what I had my heart set on, and Bruce was pleased with the plan.

Once aboard ship, though, our cohort leader, Colin, persuasively talked us into signing up to volunteer at the paper recycling co-op. RePapel is a women’s entrepreneurship initiative which turns wasted paper from the local community into recycled paper products that are sold to consumers.

We told Colin there was no way we would give up one of our Chocal activities, though, and RePapel was booked solid for our only available time—the Friday morning before the Adonia would set sail for her return to Miami. Sitting at 7^th and 8^th on the waitlist didn’t look promising; so, we opted on Friday to see if there were some no shows out at the RePapel bus.

As it turned out, we were in luck! A lady on our Chocal bus the previous day overheard us talking about our plan. At breakfast on Friday morning, she came over to our table to say her husband didn’t want to go; so, she wouldn’t go either. Would we like her tickets? Heck yeah!

Off we went to RePapel where we would help produce paper beads for jewelry and recycled paper for handicrafts to be sold by the women.

By working with the women of RePapel, we would help the ladies generate more income for their families. The co-op allows for flexible work schedules, so the women can spend more time at home caring for their children. Fathom’s website states, “Unemployed or underemployed local residents are able to transition to self-supporting entrepreneurs, proving that community-driven economic initiatives empower and sustain communities.”

Upon arrival at RePapel, we could hear the ladies singing. Our group of volunteers broke out in big smiles, looked at each other, and laughed. These ladies were having FUN! They were very happy to see us and gave us a warm welcome, as we made our way to the courtyard where we were split up into small groups.

Bruce and I were first sent to the jewelry workshop where we used strips of colorful paper that had been torn out from discarded magazines. We were shown how to make paper beads; however, Bruce and I were old pros at this task, since we had taught the handicraft in arts and crafts classes aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Line cruises.

Next, we were given a piece of cord to string a necklace from the paper beads and a variety of other beads made from dried tree seeds. These necklaces would be sold in their gift shop. Time was quite limited at this station, so I quickly assembled this necklace before our group was transferred to the paper recycling station:

The first step in this process is separating the clean portions of used paper from the portions with ink. We sat on the patio in a circle with one of the ladies while we tore sheets of the paper apart to separate these portions into different bins. While we worked, our guide answered questions about life in the DR.

The next step in their paper recycling process was to mix the small bits of torn paper with water in a washing machine to begin breaking down the fibers in the paper.

The wet, pulpy mixture is then scooped out of the machine and dumped in a blender (yes, the same kind you have at home to make your smoothies) to further break apart the fibers.

The fun part in the process came next. We were given a wooden-framed screen to use as a sifter to extract the cleaned recycled paper pulp from a huge sink where it was dumped from the blender. We then took it over to a table where we turned the screen over onto a piece of cardboard, pressed the screen, and then carefully lifted the screen off the wet paper. The newly-created paper was transferred to the cardboard to dry on racks out in the sun.

Once the paper is dried, it is removed from the cardboard and stacked onto another table. Here, used roll-on deodorant bottles get a second life as a manual “iron” to smooth out the screen pattern marks and wrinkles in the paper. This required some muscle—a great dryland workout to keep my swimmers’ shoulders and arms in shape!

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These sheets of paper were ready for the women to make stationary, greeting cards, and other handicrafts for sale. I bought a five-pack of some cute little greeting cards with matching envelopes.

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The entire time we worked side-by-side with the ladies, they sang and danced. From what I read from another blog, this isn’t their usual workday routine. When the Fathom volunteers come to help (for a couple of days every other week), though, they are just so happy to have us there!

Bruce and I were happy to be there to help these entrepreneurial women, and we were thankful we had the opportunity to do one last Impact Travel activity before the ship set sail for home.

The following are scenes from the neighborhood around RePapel:

Just outside of the co-op where they were drying work gloves and clothes out in the sun.

I photographed this cute little barbershop from the bus window.

Elaine-iaK's Travels: A Traveler's Tales of People, Places, Photos, Pools… and CHOCOLATE!

Tag Archives: Dominican Republic

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