Hola! Today we had a fantastic time celebrating Culture Day. Last night Nacelí passed the torch as Líder del Día (LDD) to Ashley and Devin. Tomorrow will be the first day that our Global Glimpsers will be acting as LDD, so look forward to the next blog post!

We started out today with a delicious breakfast and then had a mental warm up on the significance of culture in the 21^st century. Delbi Reyes visited us to share the tradition of Santos de Palo, a tradition that dates back to colonial times. People that were unable to afford expensive religious relics would make their own with whatever materials they had available. Delbi demonstrated how to carve a small block of wood in order to express something meaningful in your life. We learned how to hold the wood, position different carving tools, and use hammers to create our own carvings. This proved to be a little more challenging than initially expected!

After a nutritious lunch, everyone had the opportunity to go out into Bonao for a snack run with our Program Coordinator Zoe. Although it was raining a little bit, everyone used ponchos and umbrellas to stay dry!

Our wonderful bus driver Javier took us to Plaza de la Cultura, where we played a fun game together outside before heading in for a dance class. Some of Global Glimpse’s local ambassadors did a fantastic job teaching us the basic moves needed to dance the merengue and bachata. We discovered our “tumbao,” or inner rhythm, as we moved to the music.

Once our dance lessons were complete, we took a short walk over to Piro’s workshop. Piro is well known for his artistic and political creations for Bonao’s Carnaval troupe. We were able to look at a variety of pieces that have been made to comment on the social realities in the Dominican Republic. Two of the GG Ambassadors surprised our group by dancing through the workshop dressed in one of the Carnaval costumes!

After a full day of adventure and learning, we had time to reflect within groups and wrap up the day during the nightly meeting. The LDD torch has been passed on to Camille and Baylee. We look forward to seeing them lead tomorrow’s  Aid and Development Day!