Friday, June 18, 2010

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.

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