Domincan Republic Day Three

Today was a relaxing day around the beach house. There was no agenda and no planned activities. Everyone just sort of did what they wanted to. A lot of time was spent relaxing on the beach, walking, reading, napping, playing cards and just sitting and laying around.

Ms. Edwards woke up around 8:00 AM and went for a swim before breakfast was served. Breakfast was made by the group of boys on the trip as well as Luis IV. We had bread, butter, bacon, eggs, and fruit prepared by the "Crew". Luis IV would not allow any of the women to help with the preparation of meals. He just wanted the assistance of the four boys who became known as the "crew" very quickly. They had to help prepare all the meals as well as clean up the kitchen.


Ms. Edwards spent some time relaxing in the beach house finishing a book and starting to read a book about the Korean War for TAH program that she is going to participate in this summer.

Ms. Beane made it possible for each individual in the group that wanted to to ride around the bay on a banana boat. Ms. Wood and Ms. Edwards went on the first ride and one of the students took pictures of them out in the bay. Upon returning to the starting point the group of students in the front decided to fall off. When they fell everyone fell off.





It was a nice day for a nap and Ms. Edwards took about an hour nap in the afternoon. Dominican time is completely different then time here in the states. Lunch was not served until 4:30 PM. Lunch was amazing. They took their time cooking the meal. There was pork, beans, and salad.

Ms. Edwards and a group of people walked down the street of the town. Ms. Edwards purchased two diet pepsi's for 50 pescos. On the walk back a child from the town tried to take the diet pepsi. The town had all types of different buildings. Below are some pictures of Ms. Edwards' walk through the town. There were a lot of people sitting outside their houses and talking in small groups. Some of the kids were playing on a tree near the beach. There was also a group of teenagers playing on a basketball court.








Ms. Wood search for a shell paid off. She found a conch shell for her mother. Check out the picture of her with the shell.



At the camp was a group of students working on on some sand castles. Near the beach was also a group of townspeople who were creating some sand castles to impress the girls. Below are both castles.





The plan was for a relaxing evening. Ms. Edwards, Ms. Wood, Mr. Swan and Mrs. Ray played spades. Dinner consisted of sandwiches. Ms. Edwards had peanut butter. The kids seemed to enjoy talking to the boys on the beach and relaxing around the fire.

Dominican Republic Day Two

We had to get up early because we were traveling to the beach house via a stop at La Isabella. Ms. Wood and Ms. Edwards went over to breakfast at the hotel with a bunch of students. They left Kennedy and myself in the lobby with the rest of their luggage. I guess we were suppose to stand guard

It was decided the night before that 1/2 the luggage would go to Luis's house and that people would only bring what was necessary to the beach house. This was due to lack of space in the bus. Thank goodness the bus company brought a small container to attach to the back of the vehicle.

We had to wait in the lobby for the group to come back with the bus from Luis's house. Here is a picture of my new little buddy. His name is Kaedan. He is sporting our logo for the trip. Can't wait to see him walking.

The driving of the vehicle was really nice to me. He let me ride up at the very front looking out the window. I was hoping for a seat belt but it appears that they don't wear them down there like we do in the States. The driver was great though. Every time I feel over he would pick me back up and set me in the window again.

It was a long drive to La Isabella. We made a stop at a small store and picked up snacks and used the restroom. Had Ms. Edwards known how long it was going to be she probably would have ordered lunch instead of just a small snack. I was good though. I had bear snacks in the backpack.

On the way to the beach house we stopped at La Isabella. It is believed to be the first landing site for Christopher Columbus. We were able to walk around a see what was the outline structure for the town hall, graves, a dead guy (Spanish), Columbus's house, trees, a burrow owl and his nest and the museum. The reason we knew that the skeleton was a Spanish was because of how he was positioned. Natives were buried in the fetal position and Spaniards were buried with their arms crossed over their chest. We had a tour guide walk around with us. Ms. Beane had to translate for him because he only spoke in Spanish.

The tour guide walked us around the museum and showed us different artifacts that were found during an archeological dig. There were examples of Native American jewelry, carvings, and pottery. There were also artifacts from the Spanish.

At one time there might have been more structures at the site. It appears that the Dictator in charge of the country wanted the area cleaned up. Someone took that to mean totally destroyed. Needless to say that person did not live long. All that remains now is the grave sites and the outline of the structures.

After leaving La Isabella we got back into the bus and headed to the beach house. We were in the car for a total of six hours. The bus driver kept indicating that the beach house was a lot closer then it actually ended up being. Ms. Edwards napped in the car so she didn't realize that it took almost six hours total for us to reach the beach house. A lot of many animals were seen on the ride to the beach house. The group was able to see dogs, cows, donkeys, horses, goats, roosters, and chicken on the side of the road.

Right before we got to the beach house we came upon an parade. It was a political rally for the purple party. We ended up in the middle of the parade while trying to drive down the street. There were a lot of people riding around in the back of trucks and on motorcycles.

After getting passed the political rally and driving down a short road we finally made it to the beach house at 5:30 PM. The group worked at setting up the camp and deciding where people would sleep. The Swan's were given a room for themselves and Kaedan. The kids slept outside in tents that were set up by the group. Ms. Beane and Mrs. Bolduc stayed outside as well. Ms. Wood, Ms. Edwards, Kennedy and I crashed in one room and the ladies crashed in a second. The men were given the living room space.

Everyone quickly made their way into the water and enjoyed swimming around in the nice blue ocean. Dinner was prepared for the group by Luis IV with the assistance of some of the men from the town. It was an amazing meal. They cooked pasta and a sauce with sausage, onions, garlic and other herbs.


After dinner people walked on the beach and relaxed around the beach house. On the beach were a lot of stray dogs. Some of the girls in the group took an interest in the dogs and feed them the scraps from dinner.
Ms. Edwards played a card game of Phase 10 with a group. Everyone sat around the fire enjoying the night air and went to bed when they were ready.

Dominican Republic: Day One

Since Ms. Wood, Ms. Edwards, Kennedy and I slept in Boston we met the group at Logan Airport. There was a long line waiting at the hotel to get to the airport. It looks like everyone plans to go away on vacation somewhere. The group from Dirigo actually arrived before us and were waiting in line to check their luggage.

Ms. Beane assigned each student to an adult to act as buddies. Mackin was Ms. Edwards buddy. We had to wait in line for a long period of time due to the fact that there was a problem with the computers. The group also had a lot of luggage to check in. Ms. Beane arranged it so that each individual on the trip could check two bags. One bag had all of our personal items and the other bag held the items that were being donated.

We flew from Boston to Miami. I think that everyone slept on the way down. In Miami we had just enough time to use the rest rooms and grab a bit to eat. This was because of the walk across the terminal. We even got to ride a train in the airport. It is a good thing our layover was about an hour.

Our second flight was from Miami to Santiago, Dominican Republic. The flight lasted about two hours and Ms. Edwards decided to read on the flight as well as listen to music. She also had to fill out her customs form. I didn't get a form to fill out. I guess they don't have forms for animals.

The airport we arrived in was Cibao International Airport in Santiago de los Caballeros. This airport was the third international airport created in the country. The airport has only been in existence since 2002. The airport was beautiful on the inside. The first thing that we had to do was go through customs. Ms. Beane had to purchase visas for all of us and we had to wait in line to receive the cards and then stand in another line and give the card and our passports to someone else. They asked questions about our purpose for being in the country and where we planned to visit. After going through customs we each picked up a chart to put our luggage on. I have never seen Ms. Edwards have SO much luggage. We were supposed to then have our luggage searched one more time before leaving the airport. They waived us through instead and we were able to finally go outside and enjoy the fresh Dominican HOT air.



Waiting for us outside was Luis and a group of his students. They brought two buses for the luggage and us. Each student also brought a Dominican flag for us. It was great being greeted by the students and Luis. We should be greeted like that on all our trips.


We were able to cram everyone into one bus. Our luggage was put into the other bus and any remaining luggage went in Luis's car our the bus with us. The bus was a crowded with people and luggage. It is a good think that we are all such a close group. Kennedy and I were able to ride up front with the bus driver and Mr. Swan. The buses do not have seat belts.



Our first stop in the Dominican Republic was a store where Luis purchased everyone a beverage of their choice. Ms. Edwards got an amazing lemonade. A lot of the other adults purchased soda that had REAL sugar in it. They said it reminded them of Coke from the 80s. I think there will be a lot of soda drinking going on this week. The store was set up a lot different from our quick shops. Everything was behind a counter and you had to ask the clerk for the items that you wanted. They also had warm food sitting in heaters like you would see in the school kitchen. The food looked really good and definitely Dominican.



The ride to our hotel lasted 20 minutes. It was our first experience in the city and we were able to experience a lot in that 20 minutes. It appears that they don't follow the same rules of the road that we have. The biggest vehicle seems to always have the right of way. It is amazing what you can fit on a moped. That seemed to be a favorite mode of transportation down there. We saw multiple people (little kids included) riding together. We also saw someone carrying a picture as well as a someone traveling with a fridge. We also saw an individual driving around with goat in their car.

We saw a variety of structures along the way. We saw small stores, people selling fruit and vegetables on the streets, a variety of mopeds, trucks with people crammed into them, hotels that could be rented by the hour, political signs for the upcoming election and much more.


We arrived at our hotel and checked into our rooms. Ms. Wood, Kennedy, Ms. Edwards and I shared a room. Ms. Beane said that we had to stay in the hotel and couldn't explore the surrounding area. We had a few hours to rest from our trip, take showers, prepare for dinner and pack our bags for either the beach or to keep at Luis's house. We had limited space in the bus for luggage so we were asked to bring the bare minimum.





For dinner we board our bus again and went to an area near Luis's house. The group was given the option of a restaurant that focused on hamburgers, sushi, or Italian food. Ms. Wood, Ms. Edwards, Kennedy and I went for hamburgers. A group of students, parents, teachers, and Luis joined us. Luis showed us two beautiful stones that are found in the Dominican Republic. The first is Larmar and the second is Amber.

Larmar is a rare blue stone. It is usually white, light-blue, green-blue or deep blue. The rock is composed of acid silicate hydrate of calcium and sodium (pectolite). It was named by a Peace Corp volunteer and Miguel Mendez. It was named after Miguel's daughter Larissa and the word for sea (mar). People tend to purchase this stone in the form of jewelry. (wikipedia)

Amber is a fossilized tree resin. It can be different colors but is usually associated as yellow-orange-brown. It is usually purchased as jewelry or decoration.

Dinner was a blast. Luis told us stories about the Dominican Republic and gave everyone a pin to wear that had the Dominican Republic and the flag. Everyone ordered huge hamburgers and fries.




After dinner we walked back to Luis's house where we were able to make phone calls home through the computer. On the walk to his house we came across an amazing monument/memorial to Dominican Freedom. It was written completely in Spanish so neither Ms. Edwards or I could read the information.

We returned to the hotel and relaxed for a while. There were several channels that could be watched. Unfortunately they were all in Spanish. We were able to find CNN in English. We watched CNN for a little while, wrote in our journals, and went to sleep.