Sosúa had a wonderful park built at the beginning of the 1940s. The park had two sections. One was diagonally across from the Colmado Sosúa and had two very large cement benches where people used to gather after they finished shopping. An inscription honoring Trujillo was on one of the lateral walls. A big bust of Trujillo was between the cement benches. It was removed after Trujillo was overthrown in 1961. The big esplanade in front of the Colmado was used for the “Manifestaciones a Trujillo”(Trujillo mass meetings ) and for military marches for the Dominican patriotic festivities like Independence Day on February 27 and “Restauracion” on August 16. The military also used it for training and marching.
The other section of the park had trees, trails, and green areas. The children used to go to this section of the park to climb the trees and play. Their favorite tree was a “Pink Shaving Tree”. Many inscriptions were made in the tree’s branches using the thorns from an aloe plant. Benches as well as some short trails were also located in the inner section of the park. The rear section of the park extended almost to the DORSA offices.
The Batey also had a lot of trees along its streets. Most of them were “javilla” trees. A “limoncillo” tree was also located at Pedro Clisante street to the delight of the children. Mango, cherry and lime trees grew in several places and in the yards and backyards of the settlers’ homes. A favorite tamarind tree, used for climbing, was behind the post office.
The children considered most of the fruit from these trees to belong to anyone clever enough to be able to obtain it. This caused some altercations between the children and adults, who considered what grew on their property to belong to them. The children saw it as communal, and invariably they won the battle when the adults were not looking. When the children went so far as to go into someone’s farm to get at the mangos growing there, trouble could ensue especially if the children were unaware that bulls or other animals were on those farms. Many races between animals and children luckily were won by the children.
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