Heading
Today started even before the sun had peaked over the horizon. All 15 of us (plus our faithful translators Elias and Willie) enjoyed the peaceful sound of waves crashing against the shore as the sun slowly began to shine brightly over the city of San Pedro. After a quick breakfast at the guest house, we finished packing up our belongings and headed back to the Bates. When we arrived we were met with excited children who were eager to hold our hands and touch our hair. We were informed that one of the teachers had not shown up to teach so we had to go gather up the children ourselves. While some of the girls read a bible story and did a craft with the kids, a few of the other girls worked their magic in painting a stunning mural on the school wall. The message that they portrayed was “hope”, which is very important in the sad conditions of this community. Before leaving the community, we had a delicious lunch of rice and chicken, a Dominican classic. We sent off heartfelt Adios’ to the kids and then drove off through endless fields of sugar cane. Finally we emerged onto the highway which took us to a grocery store where we bought all the groceries we would need. With much anticipation, we happily drove to our oceanside AirBnB. Upon arriving, we noticed it was a very unrealistic representation of the Dominican it was. Without seeing the core of the country, it is impossible to know what it truly is like to live there. We all immediately changed into our swimsuits and hit the pool without a splash because “no no no” to jumping. Before the sun set we played an uncoordinated game of beach volleyball in which we all can agree Willie was the real winner. Then Anita and BJ cooked us up a delicious meal of Spaghetti for all of us. Then we all relaxed and enjoyed the sound of waves crashing upon the sandy shore and we look forward to our tour of the beautiful Catalina Island tomorrrow!
