Community Day! (No. 16)

WHATS GOODDD GLIMPSER PARENTSSS!

Unfortunately due to a power outage last night, we were not able to post the nightly blog on time. We lost power for 3-4 hours with no water or electricity ? #theDominicanRepublicexperience but we are back and better than ever.

Anyways, we started off the day pretty late because we woke up at 10:30 am instead of 6:00 am. With a group discussion, we decided it was best to give all of us the rest we needed due some people feeling sick. We took those extra hours to sleep and recover. Our entire schedule had to get shifted down a few hours, which did not leave us much time for our activities, but we made the most of it.

The first thing we did was go to El Somido Del Yaque. We had to hike down a mountain of 300 stairs to reach our destination. Once we reached it, we met the self-sustaining community that lives there.  It was really interesting to see how they are able to use their environment to help provide for themselves. For example, they used the water from the river (El Yaque) to create energy and power. At the community, they were also selling handmade jewelry and bags which a lot of us bought. After visiting the host families, we indulged in their delicious cuisine for lunch which was prepared by the community. Then, we headed down to the river where some of the students and staff took a swim (T.J & Marcos). It was great to see everyone relaxing and having a good time with the community.

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After a long hike back up the mountain, we waited for our bus which took us back to our base home (Rancho Ruiseñor). We had some free time before prepping for our presentation to the community leader, Almedo, about our CAP (community action project). A group of students created a poster that demonstrated our mission statement for the project and what we need to create a sustainable environment for the community. After prepping for the presentation, we actually presented our ideas to Señor Almedo and took a few pictures with him.

We believed we would end the day with a great dinner of hamburgers, french fries, fruit, and coke but got surprised with a power outage YAYYYYY. We lit some candles and got some flashlights. After playing a round of hide and seek, our ears were blessed with the voice of Marcos and his guitar. We listened to some of his songs and had our nightly meeting in the gazebo where we passed the torch of leadership to today’s LDDs. Bye parents, we hope you miss us a lot.

• Thanks for reading our blog,

Anvi and Diego

Shoutout to my mom for commenting on the last post. Love you and miss you a lot!!