¡Hola! Saludos de la Republica Dominicana. I have been in the Dominican Republic for nearly a week now and it's already starting to feel like home away from home. After arriving in Jarabacoa, the other 12 students and I spent a few days at the base school for orientation and moved in with our host families on Saturday. I'll be honest -- the first few days with my host family were rough. My family only speaks Spanish so communication is difficult. I haven't grown into my "Spanish ears" yet so I am constantly saying "No intiendo" (I don't understand). Hopefully communication will come more naturally in the weeks to come.
I had my first Dominican adventure on Saturday after I moved in with my host family. A friend of theirs, Carlos, took me and two other students to Salto Jimenoa, a beautiful waterfall in the mountains. It is actually a set of 2 waterfalls - the lower falls and upper falls. To get to the lower falls, we had to walk across several rickety wooden plank bridges that swayed when you walked on them. This was especially exciting because of the large rocks and fast-moving water beneath the bridges. The first set of falls were amazing. (Sorry I don't have pictures -- I didn't understand where we were going when my family told me.) Feeling adventurous, we decided to hike up to the second waterfall. And when I say hike, I mean hike. We literally used vines to pull ourselves up the side of the mountain and inched across ledges that were barely wide enough to step on. Oh, and don't forget about the bridges made out of rotten logs and PVC pipe :) When we finally reached the second falls, the sight was incredible. You could actually swim beneath the waterfall. We didn't swim that day but are planning on going back some weekend to spend a whole day there. The entire way up (which took at least an hour) we constantly shouted "La aventura!" (Adventure!) to keep our mind off of the dangers that lay below us. "La aventura" became our mantra and we still say it when we are doing something exciting.
Some other adventures that I have experienced so far:
- Watching a Dominican softball game (my family goes to watch every night).
- Playing and winning at dominoes, the official game of the DR.
- Taking walks around the "campo" (countryside).
- Spending the day at the river swimming and cooking on the shore.
I only have Internet access 1 hour each day, and most of that time is used to do homework. However, I will try to update as often as I can, hopefully once or twice a week. Thanks to all of you who are reading this because I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. I appreciate you :)
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