HAIIII! Its Lupe! Today we started our day earlier because we were leaders and had to knock on everyone’s door to wake them all up! We then had breakfast at 8:00 am which was pretty yummy(it was a sandwich with turkey or ham with lettuce and tomato YUMMMMMMM), we then did a mental warmup, discussing the culture of the Dominican Republic specifically the Carnaval where different parts of the city have different masks to represent their cultures. To dig into their culture, we walked to a Mask Shop with ”El Gato”, someone who has been practicing sculpting from a very young age to emphasize the importance of culture. We then worked with clay to create our own unique masks which was a super cool and fun experience because we were able to have fun with it and release our own creativity (El gato was really funny too).  We walked back to the hotel! And got ready for LUNCHHH! Which was locrio de cerdo, platano maduro, and yummy salad!

RASHA HERE!!!! 🙂 After lunch we gathered as a group to discuss the mental warm-up regarding cultural dances, including traditional merengue, salsa, and bachata. After reviewing the cultural significance and context of these dances, we made our way to the dance studio early, which allowed us to play several games including Black Magic which had the entire cohort confuzzled. After several games, Paul Pink entered the dance studio and shared his story of his passion for teaching low-income youth and locals the beauty of Dominican dances. After several songs of merengue, bachata, salsa, and even zumba (a personal favorite) we all were hyped, sweaty, and excited for his next move. The group created a Big Love card, sharing their thanks to Paul for his willingness to teach and his passion for dance.

A surprise greeted us on our walk back, as the leaders led us to the ice cream shop where we all enjoyed some nice cool popsicles (mine was passion fruit flavored!). The supermarket was a new stop on our way to the hotel and we were able to buy Dominican snacks!!! As we made our way back to the hotel we realized that a puppy had been following us from the dance studio!!

After our two-hour break, we enjoyed a lovely dinner from the chef consisting of Mangu, salami, eggs, and vegetables!

After we had our full of dinner and laughing we enjoyed our nightly meeting where we reflected on the quote and question of the day and Lupe and I passed out torches to the next Leaders of the Day.

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