Day 3-040
4 hrs, 3 .8 kms
Day totals: 16 hrs, 12.1 kms

Dusk is setting as I reach La Romana. First order of business: find a hotel, which proves to be more challenging then usual, as everyone I ask either doesn't know or tells me to go to a completely different part of town. Finally I do find a hotel just a few blocks from the plaza.

The plaza is a sort of "baseball hall of fame" with statues of the city's baseball stars spread all across it, in their various baseball poses. Baseball players are one of Dominican Republic's big "exports" to the US as well...

Here in the plaza, I finally do something I've wanted to do all along: strike up a conversation with the Jehovah' Witnesses. I've been reluctant to do so because, well, in my experience, Jehovah's Witnesses tend to "stick to the script" and aren't very good at having real conversations... But since I'm here in DR to meet people... and Jehovah's Witnesses are here in the plaza for the same reason, there's really no excuse for us to not cross paths .

I'm pleasantly surprised to find these group to be quite cheerful and talkative--with no mention of the world ending or about the glories of living in paradise after I die. Instead I get another chance to practice my Italian--several of them are from Italy, and eager to chat about their home country. They've actually come to pastor (or whatever they call it) an Italian language "Kingdom Hall" here in La Romana. Never would of thought there'd be an Italian Jehovah's Witness community in a random town in Domincan Republic!

I ask why they just sit in the plaza with their magazine rack, rather than going door to door. They explain that this is just an "alternate method", in this method of proselytizing, they wait for people to approach them (which I've never seen happen here in DR).

I must begrudgingly admit, there is a similarity between me and them. Like them, I approach each town with a "sense of mission" and a message to share . Like them I sit in the plaza and transmit my message. I admire their discipline in carrying out this mission--although I do have to ask myself if they do this because they really want to, or because it's what their community expects--or even demands that they do...

And I still feel quite uneasy about the absolute control they hold over their members, dictating what holidays they can celebrate, what medical care they're allowed to have... and for those who don't follow the rules, the consequences can be pretty cruel: a JW is now allowed to socialize with or even attend the wedding or funeral of a backslidden member, even if that member be your immediate family.

When religion has that much control over people, frankly I find it frightening.

But right now I'm just having a friendly chat with a couple of friendly fellow "Parkbenchers"... They agree to pose for a picture... I agree to take one of their magazines ("so you can practice your Italian!" they tell me) I head on my way...