What day is it?

I seem to never know what day it is anymore, and I am liking that. There haven't been any exciting excursions in the past week, but tomorrow I am going on a catamaran/snorkel/booze cruise. Should be fun!

Last Sunday, pretty much everyone I have seen in the past 2 weeks was at a party down the street from us. There were a couple baseball games being played, lots of beer being served, and a bunch of Dominican food to eat. I had fried chicken and rice & beans; which I realized is one of my absolute favorite meals ever.

So other than that, there has been a lot of rum consumption, followed by sleeping until 1pm, which is a habit I am planning to break this week. Or at least I will choose to sleep in the sun rather than indoors.

27 Waterfalls

Today I hiked a mountain and descended 27 waterfalls, these waterfalls: http://27charcos.com/index.php

It was quite amazing (pictures to come to Facebook soon). The hike was great because it was a perfect combination of hiking up + a little bit of flat land + up a little more. Coming down the waterfalls was even better though. When we came upon the first waterfall I looked at it and said "heck no!" But after a little bit of peer pressure, I climbed on up and jumped. The feeling of falling then being caught by the water was totally exhilarating, and there was no pain or discomfort that I expected to feel from a 10+ foot jump. The whole experience felt like one accomplishment after another, from hiking up, to every waterfall and natural slide that made me want to say "ya right!" It was AWESOME. I'm planning to do it again before I leave because there was one jump that I skipped, opting for the natural slide instead, because it was really freaking high (20+ feet I think?). Next time, I'm jumping off that sucker and getting a picture of it for sure!

Check out pictures from the link above for now, the scenery is pretty spectacular! Oh, we didn't actually get to jump/slide down 27 waterfalls, some of them were small enough to walk through. I'd say there were only about 10 or 12 big ones.

One Week Update

Now that I have been here for a little over a week, it seems like a good time to do an update.

I had a pretty good weekend; I got to Skype with my bff Sarah on Friday night! :) Then on Saturday I walked to Playa Dorado, which is a beach were there are several resorts, as well as a shopping plaza. I'm estimating that its about 4 km away, but I'm not totally sure about that... it seems really long and takes 45 min to an hour to walk there. Anyway, on Saturday I walked around the shops and drank some coffee, then on Sunday I sat at the beach (Playa Dorado) for a couple hours, then watched the Seahawks game. We seem to have a more steady internet connection now, so I can watch Netflix when its raining or when I need a break from rum. I really, really appreciate having access to civilization.

I also got my stove working, so now I am can make coffee and food! Today I am going to drink my cup of coffee, then sit in the sun and read. I think some girls from the community are going to come make bracelets so I'll sit with them, even though I will be of no help, maybe I will learn something from them.

Bug Bites and Horse Rides... and Gangham Style

I think I am getting more used to this place, but I certainly still have my gripes, the biggest being that I have about a million bug bites and I’m about to scratch all my skin off. It’s like having the chicken pox, but I already lived through that mess, YUCK.

 I’m also pretty frustrated because today was the first day I planned to stay at the camp all day, and I was hoping to FaceTime/Skype, and do some research…  and of course the @%!# internet stopped working shortly after I got up. Unacceptable.

 Final gripe: I’ve now been to the disco twice, and both times they played Gangham Style more than once… WTF. I thought the United States was the only non-Asian country crazy enough to like that crap? I don’t get it.

 Now on to more positive occurrences: I really liked horseback riding. We rode for a couple hours on a trail around the mountains and it was pretty relaxing. I think my horse hates people because he kept walking under branches that were exactly the height of my face. I can’t blame him though, that’s not really the life.

 As soon as the internet starts working again/immediately after this is posted, I’m going to look into traveling around the DR. I’d like to see Santo Domingo, supposedly they have some cool colonial buildings, and there is a place called Rio San Juan that I’ve been told is really pretty. And maybe either/both of those places will be a little less rustic than where I am now  :x

This is what I came for

Today I went to the community center with a couple other volunteers, and that expericence certainly made my trip worthwhile.

We first stopped at another community center to drop off some shoes that had been donated. This turned into a literal brawl. About 8 kids and a couple adults came out to the truck and were pushing each other out of the way to get shoes. Diane (the creator of the community center and the place I am staying) was yelling in french and trying to tell them to make a line, but that was completely hopeless. I've heard that this is how it goes when donations come in down here, expecially in Haitian communities, but it was still surprising to see it in person.

When we got to Diane's community center, I found that the kids are pretty agressive and physical toward each other, and no one ever tells them to act any different. It was my natural reflex to tell them not to push and hit each other, but that was also hopeless. So they colored pictures and did a couple rather challenging puzzles, and we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The kids seemed to like all of these activites, and I guess anything is better than running around the streets unsupervised. They were constantly asking if they could braid my hair, so don't be surprised if I come back with some sort of braided 'do :x

Finally, I was very happy to find that the kids LOVE the volunteers. They were constantly holding my hands, hugging me, and holding on to my clothes. I accidentally gave one of them my watch, with the plan of just showing it to her, but she was so happy (literally had tears in her eyes) that I didn't have the heart to ask for it back. The kids are totally adorable and I will post pictures as soon as I get them from Diane, but for now: more rhum!

My Journey

I had an uneventful 12 hour trip from Seattle to the DR, via Newark, aside from the  many times I wondered "what was I thinking?!"

But now that I'm here, I realize why I didn't really know what I was going to be doing all along... its because (from what I hear) no one really goes there or does anything at this 'community center' I've been reading about. It seems like a few volunteers have been there a couple times, but apparently the kids just run wild and don't take anyone seriously. I'm going to see the place on Tuesday, and maybe do some puzzles with the kids, so we'll see...

Now the real story will be based on how I pass the time (drinking beer and rum) and how quickly I will run out of money. I could be home sooner than expected! Stay tuned for more uneventful tales of Katie's DR adventure!  womp womp...