Beach, Beach, Playa, Beach

Yep, that pretty much sums up the weekend right there--lots of sunshine and sand! The way it works here is that we volunteers are on for 11 days and then we get 3 days off. So I had this weekend off, which was pretty much my first chance to explore the DR a bit, and explore I did. We left Friday morning and headed straight for the beach in Juan Dolio, which is just west of San Pedro. We took guaguas (small buses) there, checked into a super cheap hotel (it definitely cost me $7 for the night), and hit the playa for the afternoon. This including getting a batida de lechosa (papaya smoothie—not my favorite), some sweets made of coconut, and a nice suntan. It’s interesting being on the beach here, because you get solicited for EVERYTHING—the vendors just come up to you and try to sell you shrimp, a massage, homemade goods, all sorts of things. Then Friday night, Michelle and I hung out with two Peace Corps volunteers and we all got the best burgers EVER from a street stand and went out to the beach to eat. Pretty ideal!

            Saturday morning, Michelle and I met Avriel as we had previously arranged to go help out YWAM (Youth With a Mission—another non-profit in the area) with a build they were doing. Getting out to this build was something else. The barrio where the house was being constructed was way way WAY on the outskirts of San Pedro. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such an impoverished place. Literally a bunch of tin shacks and a few concrete buildings. Obviously, this isn’t a place many people need to get to so it took us a couple guagua rides to get out there. So we spent the morning out there with some volunteers from Washington and Iowa doing lots and lots of painting of the house boards and the trim (yes, we decided to use our weekend off to work some more—just shows you the AWESOME people I’m volunteering here with). It was fun to chat with the locals. One guy was telling us there is a 14-year old girl in that neighborhood with two kids already. Wow.

            So early afternoon we decided to head back to town. How did we manage this? Hitchhiking. Yep, we start walking down the road. About 10 minutes later, here comes a truck in the direction we’re headed, so we flag them down, ask for a ride, and hop in the truck bed. Quite the adventure! (Don’t worry, mom—it sounds way sketchier than it was!) We then got some pizza together and Michelle and I decided to head to Bayahibe, which is like the cutest little beach town ever. Basically a tourist town. So we took a few guaguas there (it’s located just east of La Romana) and of course, hit the beach again. One of the guagua rides there was pretty fun. I had my eyes closed and opened them to see this big black SUV in front of us with huge MN Twins sticker slapped on the back. It took me about five seconds to realize that that isn’t a normal sight anymore, and I woke all the way up. Next thing I know our bus pulls up right next to this SUV, but I can’t see in, because the windows are so tinted. All of a sudden, they’re rolling down the windows and waving at me! Except that they weren’t waving at me, I soon realized…they were waving at the guy sitting next to me, who is a somewhat famous player for the Toros of La Romana. This guy proceeds to tell me that that was Miguel de los Santos, a buddy of his, who is currently on the active roster or something like that for the Texas Rangers. Sweeeeeeeet!

            Ok, so we spend the evening in Bayahibe, get some sweet Italian food, bunk up again at a cheap hotel, and then hit the beach one last time Sunday morning. Around noon, we packed up and began the trip back. One of the guaguas was playing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in Spanish with a merengue twist. I rather liked it. So we make it back sometime after 2:00. The moto drops us off just outside the gate to NPH and within a few steps of getting inside, about ten girls from my casa are literally JUMPING all over me! SUCH a fun welcome back. They definitely missed me (I missed them too!) So on that note, I’m all pumped up for my next 11 days with them! As fun as it is to explore the country and hang out on the beaches, I like even more being here :) Now I just have to get over this stupid cold I somehow acquired in 85-degree weather and we’ll be golden…

 Not the best map, but you can see Juan Dolio, San Pedro, and Bayahibe on the south coast there (from west to east).