Una Aventura Maravillosa

Our final day in the Dominican Republic sent us back to Punta Plata for a snorkeling excursion. Once again I regretted not bringing my waterproof phone pouch as I was not able to get underwater photos. The underwater photos you see here are courtesy of Connie Short. We took a boat to La Isla Bonita, which is a protected reef off shore of Punta Plata. Nothing is allowed on the sand of the island, so we left our shoes on the bus and had to put our towels in one of the provided shelters on the island. And of course, you’re not allowed to touch the coral. I’ve snorkeled several times before but never on a coral reef so this was a new experience. It was incredible. After our thirty minutes was up we stayed and relaxed on the beach for a couple of hours. Our boat ride back to shore took us through some mangroves, which were fascinating. Mangroves are necessary to protect the species diversity of the area.

Bladimir being a really good sport and allowing the kids to bury him in the sand. 

From Punta Plata we returned to Santiago and the Hotel Platino. We had a different room this time- under street level actually, so there wasn’t as much noise as our prior stay there. For dinner that night we went to a plaza that had at least a dozen food trucks and everyone was allowed to go to whichever one they chose.

Then it was on to Bon for celebratory ice cream before our final group goodbye at the Hotel. As the trip ended I found myself grateful for several things: for getting to experience a new country in an authentic way, as opposed to the typical tourist manner. I am grateful for the people I traveled with- Connie Short, my former colleague who loves collecting new experiences, and one inquisitive, adventurous student, Layla, who’s pure joy at doing so many new things gave me a new perspective. I’m grateful for the connections I made and the people I met, including a pair of adorable middle school girls, Abbie and Aanya. And I am especially grateful for our guide and driver who kept us safe and who listened to our concerns. And I am grateful that I was able to put my fledgling Spanish skills to the test in an authentic environment. Until the next adventure, Adiós!

Un Dia Muy Divertida!

Sunday, June 11th, was our last full day of activities on the island, but it was a day full of fun, adventure, and trying new things. We first went to Academia de la Costa, where we saw a jujitsu demonstration, and then partnered up to learn a few escape moves. The number one rule in jujitsu is survive long enough to get away. You only fight if there is no option, and you only fight until you’re in a position to escape. The children get REALLY into the jujitsu lesson, particularly the middle school boys. The lesson really hits home when the instructor informs us at the end of the lesson that the escape positions he’s been teaching us are mainly used for people who are in a potential rape situation.  

                 

After jujitsu we head to Playa Encuentro for a surfing lesson. We’re split into two groups and I’m in the first group so I unfortunately don’t have any pictures of myself. I’m MUCH better at getting both feet on the board on land than I am in the water. LOL. I only attempt five passes at catching a wave before the water stings my contacts to the point that I have to get out of the water. I’m only successful in getting both feet on the board twice, but I never fully stand up into the correct posture. It’s still a blast though, and some of the kids look like they’ve been doing this for years. 

       

                              

We stop for lunch at Confluencia Restaurant in Sosúa. It’s an outdoor restaurant at the confluence of two rivers, and it is a welcome respite from an already busy day. We were supposed to go to Puerto Plata for our next activity, a cable car ride that I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately, just as we arrived in town, Bladimir received a call from the cable car company telling him that the cable car is having difficulties and is being shut down for the day. We end up doing a very American thing and going shopping at what was essentially a "big box" store. It has a little bit of everything from groceries to clothing and some of the kids wanted to get snacks. I buy a tote bag, a tank top (because I got so sweaty and stinky during jujitsu that I refuse to put my shirt back on), and a swimsuit that turns out to be too small. Dominican sizes are NOT the same as US sizes! We return to the Beachcomber, where I was given the option of switching rooms. I took the opportunity and had a much better night than the previous night. 

The view at Confluencia Restaurant

Cabarete

Saturday, June 10th, we checked out of the Platino Hotel and left Santiago for a day that mixed adventure and culture. Our first activity was zip lining at Monkey Jungle. Monkey Jungle is a non- profit, run by an expat from North Carolina that uses its proceeds to provide free medical and dental services to the people of the area. The zip line course included seven zip lines of various speeds and lengths. It was a blast! Some of our group had a fear of heights but were willing to try it in a tandem fashion with one of our guides. This included Mrs. Gloria, who became everyone’s honorary G-Ma during the seven day adventure. Because our group was so large it took us a little longer than the allotted 90 minutes.

                                   

                             

 We left  Monkey Jungle and headed to Cabarete, a beach town that is well liked by tourists to the island who want a more authentic DR experience and to avoid the real touristy areas like Punta Cana. Our first stop in Cabarete is lunch at Mojitos, a restaurant right on the beach. Upstairs from Mojitos is Ojo Club, and this is where we have our dance lesson. We learn the basic steps for bachata and merengue, the national dances. Of course, this makes my Zumba heart sing! We partner up and dance with varying levels of grace. Our dance instructors were a mother and son team. Some of our female students were VERY taken by the male dance instructor. LOL! 

Kiteboarders in Cabarete

 

 

Following the dance lesson we went to a different part of town for our Carnival experience. The Carnival costumes were very vibrant and colorful. We had learned on the day of our street art tour that a Carnival costume can cost $150 US dollars, so they are very expensive. Today we also learn that they are only used once and then they are considered “dead” and not to be used for Carnival again. The costumes that the students are dressing up in today were from the most recent Carnival. There are a variety of themes: there’s a pirate, a kite boarder, a dragon, a couple that look like kabuki masks, and other things. The masks are made of paper, and glued together with a cassava paste because otherwise they would be too heavy for the revelers to support on their head. The students who volunteer are lead through a series of dances and then they dress up and lead a mini- parade. 

                         

                

Do it for the culture!

Today, June 9th,  we left Jarabacoa for a day of cultural activities in Santiago. Our first stop was to be in Higüerito for a ceramics activity and pottery workshop, but low and behold the cats were cooperating and we were early, so we made an unscheduled stop at Iglesia Corazón de Jésus in Moca and were able to take some pictures there.

                           

At Artesanos Higüerito we learned about the history of the Faceless Woman figurine, and we got to try our hands at it. The Faceless Woman is  a traditional Dominican craft. and the figurine represents the three aspects of the Dominican woman- indigenous, African, and European. We also learned how they make clay bricks and spin pots on a pottery wheel. We all had a good time mixing the different types of clays and sawdust that they use to make bricks, but no one was very good with the pottery wheel. We had lunch at the house of a family in Higüerito before going on to Santiago to the Centro Leon Museo. Lunch was the typical fare of plantains, rice, beans, salad, meat that I can’t eat, and a spicy stewed eggplant dish. There were also fresh mangoes available right from their trees. It being mango season, there were unfortunately also a lot of flies around while we were eating. 

                                                 

We were late arriving to the Centro Leon Museo (herding cats), so our tour was cut short. We learned about the history of the Dominican Republic, starting with its first inhabitants, the Taino. The museum is a fascinating space, with life size displays of daily life throughout the history of the island. You begin in a room with a video screen that scrolls through images of the Dominican Republic, past and present, before you enter into the first exhibit, which is a stylistic representation of a mangrove forest, using light, sound, and structural pieces. Parts of the museum are interactive, which is interesting until all of the interactive figures are talking at once thanks to the cats, then it just becomes a cacophony of noise.

                           

After the museum we took a walking tour of street art in Santiago in the neighborhood known as Los Pepines. It’s a great idea, but it was HOT. We started the walking tour at Columbus Park, named after the first of the European colonizers of the island. The tour guide talked about how he didn’t like the name of the park- justifiably so- which has murals that display Columbus’ ships, as well as his interactions with the Taino. The guide says in his opinion the park should be renamed for the Taino, to honor their painful journey, but too many in the Dominican Republic still want to honor the Spanish culture, and not their indigenous culture. The street art on the walking tour was indeed beautiful. This project has been a work in process for several years.   The tour took us through the Los Pepines neighborhood, which has Victorian style houses built over 100 years ago in what is known as the patrimony style.  During the tour our guide takes us to a local community center where our students can interact with some local children, and they join them in a very competitive basketball game. Our Layla is really the only player we have but she gives it her all!                                We arrived to the end of our route and were greeted by a group dressed up in Carnival attire who put on a performance for us right there in the street. All of the people on the street came outside of their houses once they heard the music start to watch the dancing and whip cracking performance with us. There is so much vibrancy and color in the lives of the people here. We went back to the park to conclude our tour, loaded the bus, and went to our hotel for the night, the Platino Hotel and Casino. There was nothing "platinum" about the hotel. The room was comfortable enough, but there was entirely too much street noise, and the night staff was very loud. I could hear them in the hallways all through the night. On top of that, in the middle of the night, the garbage truck, with all of its loud beeping, showed up to collect the garbage. I swear it must have been right outside of our room. I got no sleep that night, and was glad to check out the next morning.

Adventure Calls!

June 8

Today's focus was on adventure and education. We made a wrong turn trying to find the white water rafting venue. But that gave us time to listen to a lot of reggaeton and dembow music. White water rafting was everything that was advertised. We had a lot of fun, and our guide, Eric, was amazing! I forgot to bring my waterproof case for my phone so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. I also didn't get to participate in the afternoon activities because I had a sick student to take care of at the hotel. That means I missed the waterfall hike and the visit to the environmental school, but enjoy these photos of today's events taken by my co-worker and Spanish teacher extraordinaire, Connie Short. 

Jimenoa Waterfall

            

 

Bienvenidos Republica Dominica

We arrived in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic yesterday after an unexpectedly long travel day. (It seems like all my first day adventures start like that at this point!) we had a four hour travel delay in Miami that lead to us de-planing and then re-planing. So instead of a bright and hot afternoon we entered into DR just as the sun was setting over the Carribean Sea. Upon arrival at the hotel we had just enough time to get to our rooms and freshen up before a group dinner at the Museo de la Gastronómica. Our hotel, the Gran Europa, is in the colonial part of Santo Domingo. The streets here are narrow and stone with limestone sidewalks. The buildings feature beautiful ironwork on the windows and doors. 

On our way!

The pedestrian only street in Santo Domingo

A painting on the wall of the restaurant that looks suspiciously like my mother. 

  

This morning we had a chance to explore the colonial area of the city with a tour guide who talked about the history of the area. According to our guide there is only one square kilometer of walking area in the old city. I didn’t get to hear much of the history because, during the advisor meeting, I had volunteered to be the caboose on our train of approximately 30 individuals. And if you’ve ever been a chaperone of a group of middle school and high school students then you’ll know it’s a bit like herding cats. No one EVER stays together. 

Statue outside of Choco Pick chocolate factory and store

We started with the remnants of the first colonial city, which was built in America in 1602. Parts of the San Francisco convent and church are still standing. This was the first church built in the Americas and has an aqueduct behind it. We also saw the first hospital and the first university that were built in the Americas. The original buildings of the old city were made of limestone, which was plentiful, but the limestone had mostly been covered over with cement as buildings have been restored and renovated to make them suitable for modern living. The buildings now feature colorful facades with very individual doors. 

San Francisco convent and church in colonial Santo Domingo

Some of the brick of the original structure is deliberately left exposed

                          

During the tour I learned that the national dances are merengue and bachata and that the national tree is the mahogany tree. The bougainvillea tree is known as the trinity and also holds a special place in Dominican history. It has something to do with the expelling of the Spanish in 1821 and later the Africans from Haiti, but I missed most of this portion of the talk trying to herd the cats. 

We walk down a pedestrian only street that was once upon a time only for VIPs. And then we come to the Calle Las Damas. The military building on this street was where the Spanish conquistadores came before they went out and subjugated indigenous people in other parts of the Spanish “empire”. 

After lunch at El Conde Restaurant we checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus for a harrowing thirty minute ride through city traffic to get to Parque National de Tres Ojos. These are underground lakes inside of caverns that opened up during an earthquake over 100 years ago. Everything in the caves is carved from natural materials. Millions of years ago this area was underwater and there is a lot of dead coral reef down here. Our guide says it took twelve years to carve the stairs from the coral reef. There are also a lot of stalactites and stalagmites which you are not supposed to touch because it could interrupt their growth. The original people of the island, the Taino, used these caves, but the Taino were killed by Spanish conquistadors and the caves disappeared from human knowledge until a collapse caused by the earthquake opened them up again. The three lakes are Los Azules, Los Nevera, and Los Damas, and they are all actually clear lakes. Los Azules appears blue at times and green at times but that is because it reflects the light that comes through the trees. Los Nevera doesn’t get any natural light and appears black. The water in Los Nevera gets down to 20° Celsius in the winter. There is a boat ride that you can take across the lake that is operated by a pulley system. They don’t allow any motorboats. 

  

We got back on the bus to take the three and a half hour trip to Jarabacoa, which is in the mountainous northern part of. Once out of the city the drive was scenic. We stopped about halfway through for a break and I had a refreshing piña colada. Upon arriving in Jaracoboa we
check into the beautiful Hotel Pinar Dorado for the night.