So the highlight of the
last couple weeks has by far been a visit from my uncle Rick and cousins
Brianna and Chrissy (“that would be the daughters of Rick and Jane, grandchildren
of Barbara and the late Alphonse…” hehe, gotta love those introductions!) After
all the stress and craziness of the end of the school year, prep for the summer
and the anticipation that I’ll be leaving in a couple months, some quality
Mages time was exactly what I needed!
Anyways, the three of them
arrived to the DR last Wednesday (in the midst of a tropical storm) and were
here at the home Thursday morning within less than 24 hours of their plane
touching down. I was excitedly waiting for them that morning just hoping that
my directions (look for a giant Presidente sign, turn right at a roadside
shack, etc.) would get them here safely when I saw a car pull in and I ran out
to greet them! They did a great job navigating and were here by mid-morning. So
we started off by taking a tour of the grounds. We went to the school and hung
out with first grade for a while. Then we went up to all of the houses and
looked around there and even had the Dominican specialty of sancocho for lunch in Santa Ana. The
girls also got lucky as Brianna had thought to bring some dulces to share… Plus I think my favorite part was kid after kid
pulling me over to ask if the man I was with was 1) my dad or 2) my dad’s twin.
I had almost forgotten how much those Mages brothers look alike and especially
Rick and my dad. The kids DEFINTIELY caught onto that as well…They have good
memories for sure!
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| Photo in front of the volunteer house! |
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| Ditania and Brianna! |
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| La escuela! |
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| Chrissy and Arturo! |
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| Milagritos!! |
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| Rick and Milagros (he and my dad do really look a lot alike, don't they??) |
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| First grade at their finest! |
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| Preschool/kingergarten at nap time! |
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| Jesus (newest addition to NPH) with Brianna! |
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| Chrissy, Rick, and I in front of Santa Ana! |
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| Mmmmm...Chrissy and her sancocho! |
Later that afternoon,
after showing them around the home, we took off for San Pedro and did a little
tour there. We checked out the cemetery (apparently all of us Mages’ agree that
checking out cemeteries in other countries is a great way to get some insight
on the culture), happened to see a funeral procession and drove by the baseball
stadium. Then, of course, we had to make a quick pit stop for ice cream before
heading over to Bayahibe where their resort was.
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| Artsy pic of the cemetery...most of the graves are above ground here... |
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| Paying a visit to the 4 NPH kids that have passed on (you can't see their graves in this photo...) |
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| Funeral procession in San Pedro headed out to the cemetery... |
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| HELADO! |
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| At the know-all end-all of ice cream in the DR, Bon. |
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| View from Bayahibe... |
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| Cangrejos (crabs!) |
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| Rick and his Presidente beer (looking more and more like my dad by the minute, right??) |
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| Hey paradise! |
That evening we took full
advantage of the resort by experiencing some fine dining at the Italian place
and catching the evening show, La Pareja
Ideal, plus we had to check out the bar and we got some yummy mojitos! It
was a great start to the relaxing :)
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| Resort pool (biggest pool I've seen in my life...people were kayaking in it during the day!) |
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| Twilight photo... |
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| Evening show...it was audience participation, but thank God, we missed out on that this time around. (Can't say the same for my parents when they first visited the DR...) |
On Friday morning, we got
up, had an amazing breakfast (make-your-own omelet style) and then spent the
entire day on an excursion to Isla Saona. This island is rumored to be one of
the best snorkeling spots in the DR plus has a beach that can be described no
other way than a tropical paradise. We took a big catamaran out to the island
and started off by going through the national park area and seeing some
starfish. Then we went to an abandoned, GOREGOUS beach for awhile to do some
snorkeling. For lunch, we hopped over to another beach on the island attached
to the village of Mano Juan. I think our favorite part of this stop was getting
to go into the school there and see the kids. Since Brianna teaches
kindergarten, it was especially interesting for her and she even met a student
named Brianna! The kids all sang the National Anthem for us and were happy to
take a couple photos together. We finished up with some more crazy-awesome
snorkeling and then headed back to the resort for an evening of Spanish food
and a Michael Jackson show. Not to mention, we were all fried to a CRISP and
redder than tomatoes.
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| Family photo! |
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| Me with the starfish! |
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| The water was super clear! |
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| Brianna got caught by the trip photographer and ended up doing some unexpected modeling poses...hahaha! |
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| Boat! |
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| Abandoned beach! |
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| Lobster lunch in Mano Juan! |
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| A Dominican meal complete with rice, pork, and potato salad! |
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| I found a friend! |
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| The Mano Juan school! |
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| 2nd through 6th grade shouting "Minnesota!!" |
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| Brianna and Brianna! |
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| School bathrooms... |
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| And Brianna found a friend...with a hula hoop... |
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| Walking through the village! |
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| How cute is this pup?!? |
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| Taking a tour of town... |
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| Snorkeling! |
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| Ready to meet Michael Jackson! |
Saturday was the last day
I got to spend with them as I had to head back to NPH to be with the kids on
Mother’s Day on Sunday (all the tias got the day off, so the volunteers filled
in as the caregivers for the day!) We started off the morning on the beach
(after finally getting some towels at the towel shack) and then switched over
to the jacuzzi a little later. We also found the crepe bar and had fun watching
some of those cheesy resort audience-participation activities leisurely from
our beach chairs as we tried to stay in the shade as much of possible (did I
mention we got super super sunburnt?!?) Around 3:00pm that afternoon, we hopped
back in the car and headed back to San Pedro to drop me off and on Sunday, the
crew went back to MN in order to be there for Memorial Day.
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| Have I mentioned that I live in a paradise?!?! (Although don't be fooled, I don't actually see the 'paradise' part of the island that much!) |
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| Jacuzzi time! |
Overall, it was an awesome
couple days! For me, it was a great break and it felt really good to see some
of the Mages’! Also, it was once again a reminder, that I am so blessed to 1)
have a family and 2) have a family that cares so much about each other. I
couldn’t be happier! Thanks Rick, Brianna, and Chrissy for an awesome couple
days!!!!
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| This was a fun photo shoot! |
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| This was ALSO a fun photo shoot! |
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| Que tranquilo... |
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