The following day, after our group's visit to Centro Leon, we drove to a school called "Niños con Esperanza," located in a very poor area of the city, where kids are provided with an education while their parents work. In this specific area, we were told that most of the parents of the children worked in a nearby dump. Before the establishment of this education center, the kids were forced to accompany their parents to the dump, jeopardizing their health. Now, they are able to spend their day in a much healthier environment. When we arrived, a stampede of children ran towards us and greeted us with smiles and lots of hugs. They absolutely loved taking pictures with our cameras. I have yet to go through mine to see what surprises I'll find! It was such a rewarding experience getting to visit them! We'll be returning to Niños con Esperanza this week to visit again. One little girl in particular stuck by my side for nearly the entire visit:
The next day, we once again visited Centro Leon for a conference with author and poet, Angela Hernandez. In our culture class, we read a short story by Hernandez titled, "Masticar una rosa." She spoke about the role of women in the Dominican Republic throughout history and their importance to and influence on society.
Friday, the group met up after class to take a bus to the city of Puerto Plata, where we would visit Los Charcos and hike to the 27 waterfalls of Rio Damajagua. When we arrived, everyone was surprised to find that the site was closed! Our professor realized that the bus driver had known all along that it was closed and that he had taken advantage of us in order to get paid for the drive. Needless to say, Profe Willis was beyond furious. However, we made the best of the situation and spent most of the day swimming in a nearby river.
The group spent Saturday in La Isabela, a city about 2 hours away from Santiago, and La Ensenada Beach. We left around 7:00 in the morning to have all day there. It was absolutely beautiful, and the weather could not have been more perfect. The day was extremely relaxing and much needed. I got to go snorkeling with a group of students along with one of our professors, but unfortunately, we found hardly any wildlife. I saw one fish and a crab. Hopefully, we'll be able to see more wildlife next time we go snorkeling at a different beach. That night after we returned home, most of the students, including myself, met up at a restaurant called Cucara Macara. The restaurant was cowboy themed, and we all enjoyed taking pictures with our dressed up waiters. After dinner, we took a taxi to a discoteca, or a night club, and got a taste of Dominican night life. Everyone had a blast dancing the night away to the bachata, merengue, and reggaeton!
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| La Ensenada |
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| Cucara Macara |
Today was a day off from the excursions, and it mostly consisted of going to a nearby restaurant, Puerto del Sol, to do homework with some of the other students. My host mom is taking English classes, so I was able to help her with the homework that she had. The assignment was to write about an unusual encounter or event, and she chose to write about a particular time she spent on the beach with friends. I can tell that my Spanish-speaking skills are getting better, and I'm beyond thrilled that I'm already improving.
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