DR Email #7

Hello all,
 
Just letting you know I am now officially and safely back home.  I am very excited to see my family and friends, but I am definitely already missing the DR.  Funny story…to ensure my last strenuous cultural experience the airline decided to lose all of our luggage in flight, not just mine but the entire plane’s…not sure how that happened.  However, hopefully my bags will be returned to me so I can share some pictures!  If you in Dallas, call to hang out.
 
Thanks for listening,
 
Taylor

DR Email #6

Hey Guys,
 
Wow there’s a lot to catch you guys up on so I will try my best to be as concise and thorough as possible.  Last time we talked I was spending the night in a Save the Children dormitory/hostel type of thing waiting to take a bus the next morning for Jarbaracoa.  Well, more tragic bus stories…
 
Chago, an employee of Save the Children, told us that the bus to Jarabacoa left at 7.  However, to our horror, Lacy and I discovered that the bus actually left at 6.  So I missed my third bus of this trip.  We decided to take a guagua, which is a public bus for the two hour trip to La Vega followed by another guagua to Jarbaracoa, which turned out to be not the best idea.  The guagua was completely packed when it picked us up in Partido (with all of our luggage) and for the first 45 minutes we had to stand up in the aisle of the bus.  Finally we got to sit down, but what should have been a two hour bus ride lasted four hours because people can just yell out whenever they want to stop and the driver will stop.  Plus all these military police continually stop us on the way to check for drug smugglers.  Oh and there was no air conditioning.  But it ended up being rather fun and we made some good friends on the ride.
 
So they drop us off on the side of the highway in La Vega and we catch another guagua into Jarbaracoa.  This guagua was about the size of an Astro Van and somehow we managed to fit 20 people inside along with all of our luggage, and of course no air conditioning.  It was a little cramped and hot and this one Dominican girl was really getting a kick out of the gringos (white-peoples) cultural experience.
 
So we met up with two other girls in Jarbaracoa and we decided to stay at the Hotel California.  The first afternoon we took a ride on these canchos to this national park and hiked up a small hill to this waterfall.  I swam around with the tour guide while the girls laid in the sun.  The next day we decided to go hiking up one of the mountains in Jarbaracoa.  If I would have known what I was getting myself into I probably would have backed out.  The mountain was 1400 m tall and the hike took about six hours.  It was very hard and I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it.  But I did and I’m still pretty proud of myself.  It was definitely hard work…I fell a lot.
 
After our mountain adventure we caught a bus back to Santo Domingo.  I stayed the night with a host family in Santo Domingo and the next morning we left for Bavaro to stay at an all inclusive resort.  So the past three days I have had all you can eat, drink, and do with an amazing hotel room on the beach all included in the cost of my trip.  It was a lot of fun.
 
Now I am back in Santo Domingo to get everything packed and ready to go.  I leave on Friday and will be taking flights all day.  So only two more days to soak up all the DR I can.  I probably wont have much to send out until I get home.  Thanks for listening and I’ll see you guys soon!
 
Love yall,
 
Taylor

DR Email #5

Hello Friends and Family,

 

Sorry it has been so long since I have sent out an email.   I meant to do so in Santo Domingo, but we had internet connection troubles. 

 

The past weekend we spent in Samana was absolutely amazing.  The first day we arrived they took us to this private beach in this cover in the mountains.  The sand was white and the water was clear.  The second day we went hiking through the mountains up to this 120 ft. waterfall and afterwards we went to yet another beach.  The final day we took a boat to this exclusive island resort just to hang out with a little shopping afterwards.  All in all it was a lot of fun.

 

We returned to Santo Domingo on Sunday and I spent the afternoon there resting and hanging out with some friends before I left for Agua Clara on Monday.  One of the girls on the trip finished her internship early and was asking me about what I was doing in Agua Clara.  After telling her about my job, she thought it sounded fun and decided to make the trip out there with me.  So it was nice to have company for the second bus trip, which was much more successful than the first.

 

On Tuesday I had my presentation over children’s rights.  It went very well.  Most of the kids in the community showed up and the dramas planned by the youth group were very effective.  Lacy (my friend) was able to help out with the presentation and seemed to enjoy it very much.

 

Right now, I am in the Save the Children office in Partido with Lacy, waiting to take a bus (tomorrow) to Jarabacoa, where we are going to go white-water rafting with some of the kids from the group.  Afterwards, we are returning to Santo Domingo to make a trip with the entire group to an all inclusive resort.  It’s all you can eat, drink, and do for three days.

 

I had to say goodbye to all the kids in the community and it was really sad.  They threw a party for lacy and I and had all these poems and such planned out for us.  It was really nice.  All the guys gave Lacy love letters and such before we headed out.

 

Sorry this email has been so brief and filled with grammatical errors.  I wrote it in about 2 minutes because Lacy needs a turn before the office closes in about 5 minutes.  You guys take care.  Love you and miss you.

 

Taylor