Today we finally started our Community Action Project (CAP) project in Rio Grande. We started the day with a crisp wake up call at 7:00 AM and a simple toast and egg breakfast. It was okay to be honest. My stomach kind of hurts. After breakfast we took the party bus down the hill and around the corner to Rio Grande. All the locals were waiting eagerly with shovels and pickaxes.

We broke our backs whacking away at the weeds and shrubberies for like 6 hours. Or like 3 I don’t know, could be either. I got a blister. Then we ate some lunch with the community and cleaned up the worksite to continue tomorrow. While we were packing up, we saw the local Dominican army training and marching nearby. We were able to get some good photos of them.

We made good progress on the CAP project. Everyone cleared out the grass, rocks, and weeds with the tools. With the help of Santos, the local contractor, we were able to lay the concrete foundations for the benches. The whole site is set up and ready to continue tomorrow!

After riding the party bus back to the pad we popped in the showers to freshen up. On our free time we went to the pastry shop where we were caught in a wild thunderstorm. It was lit. No for real it was raining cats and dogs and we had to wait for a while until it calmed down.

Then we returned to the hotel to write our letters of appreciation to the donors. Not everyone finished. But we did.

We ended the night with a crisp nightly meeting and glass of champagne. Just kidding. We had pineapple juice.

For both of us being the leader of the day was a fun time. We enjoyed ourselves and gained valuable leadership skills. Tomorrow will be a big day and I’m tired so goodnight. Go to bed.