So this past week I was lucky enough to receive a
visit from my roommate from college, Leah! We had so SO much living together
senior year of college that we decided to continue the fun in the DR. Leah
actually came to the DR straight from a mission trip to Honduras with her
church so it worked out perfectly for her to hop an island over to come visit
me, get in some Dominican experiences and meet the kids!
On Tuesday, the 12th, I picked her up
the airport and we came straight back to the orphanage. There happened to be a
BBQ going on with the Canadian group that was here so we jumped in on that
right away and then caught up on life over supper with the other volunteers. On
Wednesday morning, we hopped on a few different guaguas and found ourselves up
on the Samana peninsula in Las Terrenas. I was there a year ago or so with some
of the other volunteers and I have to say that I think it’s my favorite part of
the island (and the prettiest part). We checked into our hotel, got some pizza,
and called it a night!
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| Hotel! |
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| Our little casita! |
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| View across the street of the ocean! You could hear the waves at night... |
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| Super pretty gardens...the flowers smelled so good! |
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| Pizza on the beach...YUM! |
On Thursday, we started off the day by sleeping in
and then hopping on another guagua to El Limón where this famous and gorgeous
waterfall is. Last year, when I visited it, we did the whole trek walking but
this year we were talked into doing the trek on horses by an excursion guy who
goes by the name ‘Leche’ (yeah, I have no idea what that was about). So we each
paid our $10 and off we went up the mountain on these horses. Mine was named
Moreno! It was a gorgeous trek with some absolutely amazing views. Once we
arrived to the waterfall, we got off the horses and hopped in the water and
swam around…we were actually able to swim under where the water falls down into
some underwater caves…it was pretty sweet!
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| Moreno and I crossing the river! |
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| The water was SO clear! |
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| Me and Leah in front of the falls! |
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| We did have to do a little climbing on foot! |
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| Stopping for a drink for the horses! |
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| Us with our guides as well as the horses! |
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| The photo on the left is from a year ago, the first time I went. Without even realizing it, I wore the EXACT same outfit and took a photo in the exact same spot. There was a lot less water this year I guess... |
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| View from afar...where we left the horses! |
We spent the rest of our time in Las Terrenas
finding some good food, zooming through the countryside on motorcyles (hands
down one of my favorite parts about the DR!!), beach-hopping, and dancing. It
was a BLAST!!! And neither Leah nor I was ready to leave Las Terrenas come Saturday
morning. But those darn kids are such a pull so of course, we headed back to
San Pedro just in time to catch the kids before it got dark out.
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| We checked out some cliffs near Playa Moron! |
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| At Playa Las Terrenas! |
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| More cliffs...seeing the waves roll in and crash against the rocks was insane! |
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| My new dog! We played fetch with a coconut for quite some time! |
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| The natural springs at the cliffs! |
On Sunday, we basically just hung out with the
kids, mainly Casa Santa Ana. Along with my tia, we took my girls to the nearby
batey to eat some sugar cane, play some basketball, and visit the people we
know there…they really enjoy those little outings and it’s a fun, simple
activity to do together. Since Sunday happened to be St. Patrick’s Day, there
was a supper at our director, Kieran’s, house, being as he is Irish and all. We
finished off the night eating Shepherd’s Pie, singing some Irish folk songs,
and doing some Irish dancing (compliments of Madelon).
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| I found a friend at the batey! |
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| Leah and her sugar cane! |
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| The boys also went to the batey on their bikes! |
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| St. Patrick's Day party at Kieran's with the visitors from California! |
I hopped back over to the office on Monday morning
and then Leah and I ate lunch with the girls in my house. That afternoon we
said goodbye and then Tuesday morning, we were off back to the airport. So
here’s a fun story…as I’m coming back from the airport after dropping Leah off,
I’m on the last leg (no pun intended…you’ll see what I mean in a sec) of the
journey on a mototaxi when it runs out of gas, dang. Luckily, we’re near a
little stand on the side of the road that sells gasoline out of old empty beer
bottles. So I hop off the back of the moto and before I know it the driver is
backing it up so he can fill up and BAM, he brushes the muffler against my leg.
Instant burn. I saw it before I felt it, and kinda wondered what it was. And
then the pain hit me…ouch. Before I fully even realized what was happening, the
driver was rubbing gasoline on it so it dries out (that’s common sense when it
comes to motor burns for Dominicans apparently). Interesting…So needless to
say, ever since Tuesday I’ve been working on keeping that bad boy clean and
uninfected and perfecting the act of not limping when people are watching me. I
do have to say though that I am getting rather experienced in the area of
motorcycle burns…it’s actually my third one. Whoops. Everyone tells me they’re
Dominican tattoos. Sure, I suppose so. This one’s not going to be nearly as
cool-looking as my moon one though. Haha…I promise not to post photos of this.
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| Here's some happier moments on motos from throughout the year... |
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| Here's another one from the ''highway'' near NPH... |
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| Apparently I have very few shirts I wear out...hehe.. |
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| Yep...this is what i mean when I say roadside stand... |
