After 10 months of planning I embarked along with 27 others from my school from Boston to Santiago.
We spent the first night at La Colonial hotel which was completely adequate for our needs, serving breakfast. For dinner, we went to La Locanda, next to a sushi and burger place. Plenty of food, very yummy. Across the street a great park and exhibit, a short walk to HB's where kids used MagicJack to call home.
The next day our contracted bus driver picked us up and we proceeded on to Punta Rusia via El Castillo, La Isabela. This was a great side trip to see remains of Columbus' second landing in the New World. He had a home, a town hall, a church and 200 men there. We saw skeletons. Nice.
We landed in Punta Rucia and set up a nice camp, using a beach house as home base, with tents in the side, all of the property was gated so it was nicely contained. The grills were set up, we hauled (I say WE I mean Hillbilly squared it all away for us, dear fellow!) food in large coolers. The cooking was all done outside over the fire and it was delicious. We camped for three days, went to Cayo Arena using Damary as a tour. We had a beach clean up organized. It was solid camping, good thing we are from Maine. No sweat really.
After that a nice bus ride back to the city. My group stayed at a retreat center, a great price per person per night (under $20). Linens, towels provided. Kitchen with everything including freezer. Each room had two twin beds and private bath. The grounds were protected and there were priests in the next house on the property. It was ideal for our group, again we cooked and brought in what we needed.
We made this our home base and made several adventures.
First we went outside of Jarabacoa to Manabo up to a little village called Marranitos. We were met there by a Middlebury grad/volunteer and we split our group of 27 into two. One group toured the coffee plantation and the other began painting the village school. We met for a home cooked lunch (good price, 300 pesos for the meal and it was divine) in the large meeting area at Villa Altagracia, Julia' Alvarez's finca. It was so wonderful. Then we switched and the second group began to paint.
This ended with a small ceremony of my students and the village students making handprints on the freshpaint wall. We sang, played, worked and left there with big smiles, everyone was happy.
We stopped at Hermanos Ramirez for the Monte Alto coffee, and I personally had to buy 20 pounds of the stuff. We bought them out. 27 people will do that
The next day we went to PUCMM for a nice botanical intro to the flora and fauna of DR. Our guide was Lourdes Tapa Benoit and she did a wonderful powerpoint intro and then a campus walk. My students learned so much and it was a beautiful green space. We ate at the cafe, went to the bookstore and then enjoyed the rest of the day shopping. I went to Pricemart with Hillbilly and the kids hit the mall with the other chaperones. Back at our retreat center it was homemade pasta and garlic bread and salad. We ate like kings all week! Traveling as a group is advantageous if you are organized in this department.
The last day we went to Centro Leon and had such a positive experience interacting with the museum. Hillbilly gave us a personal tour of the first floor which was priceless beyond measure. The entrance was free because we were a school group, I just paid for the second floor guide, she was a real gem and very didactic in her interpretations.
Lunch there was tasty and well-organized (the kitchen manager had me pass out menus in the morning and had each person circle the meal they wanted, by 12 30 these meals were all ready for our group and on one tab, very organized!). We spent a good deal of time in the cigar portion of the museum grounds.
The afternoon was a whirlwind as we went downtown to Caritas for more of our service portion. We had brought 815 pounds of donations with us, and some were going here. The second stop was Club Mambuiche run by a parish in Santiago serving 328 kids with three goals. One was to develop human potential through sports, that was the goal we helped with, donating many dozens of bats, gloves, cleats, some catchers kits and many baseballs.
After all that we hit two markets! The downtown market was busy, chaotic and fun, the second place was El Nacional, a beacon of cleanliness and order that my group appreciated as the bought up coffee and other local treats!
I would give the trip an A+ and will have pictures up sometime soon after finding the cords...
Many thinks to HB and his endless encouragement and support of our service club!
We spent the first night at La Colonial hotel which was completely adequate for our needs, serving breakfast. For dinner, we went to La Locanda, next to a sushi and burger place. Plenty of food, very yummy. Across the street a great park and exhibit, a short walk to HB's where kids used MagicJack to call home.
The next day our contracted bus driver picked us up and we proceeded on to Punta Rusia via El Castillo, La Isabela. This was a great side trip to see remains of Columbus' second landing in the New World. He had a home, a town hall, a church and 200 men there. We saw skeletons. Nice.
We landed in Punta Rucia and set up a nice camp, using a beach house as home base, with tents in the side, all of the property was gated so it was nicely contained. The grills were set up, we hauled (I say WE I mean Hillbilly squared it all away for us, dear fellow!) food in large coolers. The cooking was all done outside over the fire and it was delicious. We camped for three days, went to Cayo Arena using Damary as a tour. We had a beach clean up organized. It was solid camping, good thing we are from Maine. No sweat really.
After that a nice bus ride back to the city. My group stayed at a retreat center, a great price per person per night (under $20). Linens, towels provided. Kitchen with everything including freezer. Each room had two twin beds and private bath. The grounds were protected and there were priests in the next house on the property. It was ideal for our group, again we cooked and brought in what we needed.
We made this our home base and made several adventures.
First we went outside of Jarabacoa to Manabo up to a little village called Marranitos. We were met there by a Middlebury grad/volunteer and we split our group of 27 into two. One group toured the coffee plantation and the other began painting the village school. We met for a home cooked lunch (good price, 300 pesos for the meal and it was divine) in the large meeting area at Villa Altagracia, Julia' Alvarez's finca. It was so wonderful. Then we switched and the second group began to paint.
This ended with a small ceremony of my students and the village students making handprints on the freshpaint wall. We sang, played, worked and left there with big smiles, everyone was happy.
We stopped at Hermanos Ramirez for the Monte Alto coffee, and I personally had to buy 20 pounds of the stuff. We bought them out. 27 people will do that
The next day we went to PUCMM for a nice botanical intro to the flora and fauna of DR. Our guide was Lourdes Tapa Benoit and she did a wonderful powerpoint intro and then a campus walk. My students learned so much and it was a beautiful green space. We ate at the cafe, went to the bookstore and then enjoyed the rest of the day shopping. I went to Pricemart with Hillbilly and the kids hit the mall with the other chaperones. Back at our retreat center it was homemade pasta and garlic bread and salad. We ate like kings all week! Traveling as a group is advantageous if you are organized in this department.
The last day we went to Centro Leon and had such a positive experience interacting with the museum. Hillbilly gave us a personal tour of the first floor which was priceless beyond measure. The entrance was free because we were a school group, I just paid for the second floor guide, she was a real gem and very didactic in her interpretations.
Lunch there was tasty and well-organized (the kitchen manager had me pass out menus in the morning and had each person circle the meal they wanted, by 12 30 these meals were all ready for our group and on one tab, very organized!). We spent a good deal of time in the cigar portion of the museum grounds.
The afternoon was a whirlwind as we went downtown to Caritas for more of our service portion. We had brought 815 pounds of donations with us, and some were going here. The second stop was Club Mambuiche run by a parish in Santiago serving 328 kids with three goals. One was to develop human potential through sports, that was the goal we helped with, donating many dozens of bats, gloves, cleats, some catchers kits and many baseballs.
After all that we hit two markets! The downtown market was busy, chaotic and fun, the second place was El Nacional, a beacon of cleanliness and order that my group appreciated as the bought up coffee and other local treats!
I would give the trip an A+ and will have pictures up sometime soon after finding the cords...
Many thinks to HB and his endless encouragement and support of our service club!
