My wife and I just returned to the land of snow and ice on Feb. 14th. We spent 3 glorious weeks at Fun Tropicale in Playa Dorada. As always, our trip was fantastic. The Dominican people are such wonderful individuals. Their loving, caring attitude makes the trip so worthwhile.
I had two unique experiences on this trip. I had a chance to visit a school in Puerto Plata. What a fun few minutes. We had brought a large tote of basic supplies to be distributed to the local students. A guide at our hotel, Steady Eddie, made arrangements for us to visit a school that was in session. It was very moving to see the excitement in the eyes of the students and staff when they saw what we had brought to give to them. These kids deserve so much more than the country is able to provide. Any of you readers that are headed to the DR, please fill extra suitcases with school supplies that will be given to the students. There are quite a few ways and means to get them to those who need them. I will post information later about an organization that has been set up specifically for the Puerto Plata region. I will probably post the info in the General section.
My second moving experience was that I had a chance to help coach a local youth baseball group. I can't just say a team because there were about 80 young boys from 6-20, that were in this group. As you can imagine, the baseball skills of the young Dominican players are quite good. They, like all other young players, still need to be coached in order to improve. The neat thing was that these players, regardless of the language differences, were verrrry coachable. On my second to last day in the DR, this particular team won their local divisional championship. It was great to see the excitement, and pride on their faces. All the players came over to me as they were leaving, extended a hand, and said muchas gracias. That was so cool.
For the sake of brevity I will keep this short. I can only repeat what the title says...Another Fabulous Trip. We have been visiting for 7 years now, and plan to visit every year we are able.
If you plan to visit, bring school supplies for the kids, and make it a point to get out of your hotel and interact with the locals. You will enjoy your trip so much more.
I had two unique experiences on this trip. I had a chance to visit a school in Puerto Plata. What a fun few minutes. We had brought a large tote of basic supplies to be distributed to the local students. A guide at our hotel, Steady Eddie, made arrangements for us to visit a school that was in session. It was very moving to see the excitement in the eyes of the students and staff when they saw what we had brought to give to them. These kids deserve so much more than the country is able to provide. Any of you readers that are headed to the DR, please fill extra suitcases with school supplies that will be given to the students. There are quite a few ways and means to get them to those who need them. I will post information later about an organization that has been set up specifically for the Puerto Plata region. I will probably post the info in the General section.
My second moving experience was that I had a chance to help coach a local youth baseball group. I can't just say a team because there were about 80 young boys from 6-20, that were in this group. As you can imagine, the baseball skills of the young Dominican players are quite good. They, like all other young players, still need to be coached in order to improve. The neat thing was that these players, regardless of the language differences, were verrrry coachable. On my second to last day in the DR, this particular team won their local divisional championship. It was great to see the excitement, and pride on their faces. All the players came over to me as they were leaving, extended a hand, and said muchas gracias. That was so cool.
For the sake of brevity I will keep this short. I can only repeat what the title says...Another Fabulous Trip. We have been visiting for 7 years now, and plan to visit every year we are able.
If you plan to visit, bring school supplies for the kids, and make it a point to get out of your hotel and interact with the locals. You will enjoy your trip so much more.
