Good morning Jarabacoa!

We apologize for the late post! It was a very busy day!!

Today we started with…you guessed it! Our amazing frutas which was paired with ham and cheese sandwiches and a nice cherry juice to go along with it.

After cleaning up, we hurried to our CAP site to finish off the job strong. Here, the lovely Crucero community joined us in helping dig trenches, lay pipes, and helping cover these pipes with dirt. They showed their gratitude to us by providing HOMEMADE bolis/ ice cream along with some tasty Dominican-style coffee.

We had a satisfying finish as we covered the last pipe and allowed for some BIG LOVE to the community first from them and then to us as representatives of the community also after we opened it up to the students to share their gratitude.

Feeling accomplished, the GG leaders and PCs surprised us with ice cream from a local shop and we enjoyed every well-deserved bite of it. When we arrived back at Rancho Ruiseñor, we had a small CAP Debrief and reflected on the project individually and as a group. Many students had very interesting takeaways from the project: from learning how to correctly use tools, such as pickaxes and shovels, to understanding the privileges they take for granted as Americans. We think we can speak for the entire group— this was an unforgettable experience and we are SO grateful we were able to help out the local community in solving a prolonged problem. In addition to this, we learned the importance of teamwork, and organization which helped integrate community bonding with hard labor. The best feeling was definitely seeing the bright smiles on each of the community members’ faces.

We had an interesting dinner with mashed potatoes, carrots, and scrambled eggs with a side of frutas. Our wonderful PC, Marcos, went out and got us fried chicken to fulfill our appetites! We had our nightly meeting shortly after and prepared ourselves for a fun final day ahead, where the next LDDs, Milo and Sze will lead! Please look forward to their blog soon!

This was an amazing and indescribable experience that none of us will ever regret. We are so grateful that this opportunity presented itself to us and we made the best out of it, no matter what. We love the JA1A team!

-From Kristy and Teyo, your lovely LDDs <3