Club Lookea Samana Las Galeras

... Brigada Verde meeting that was very inspirational. I hope to plan a couple of charlas in celebration of Earth Day, April 22, 2009. Finally, I'm waiting on approval for grant money for the stove projects, but when that happens, I'll be in a new direction there too. Okay, I promise to write more later, but I just wanted to give you all a taste of what's going on in Samana. Sincerely, Jennifer

... all sensitive to motion sickness. We saw a pair of whales spout & dive several times, so that was neat. Saturday night was so much fun for me because we found some live music at a bar that was playing merengue and bachata. I got to do a lot of dancing, including one song with the ensemble's lead singer...who was highly impressed by my bachata skills. Not so cool were the several pairings of old ...

... interest in learning makes my job fun and rewarding. It is likely that I'll continue teaching English to older folks, kids and everyone in between for much of my service. The days that I don't teach English, I work with the women's group to support their small business activities and work on the implementation of a cook stove project. This is a specific type of cook stove designed with ceramic pieces to improve the quantity ...

I've decided to spend 3-4 days in Las Terrenas before returning to Santo Domingo. I've noticed it's a heavily developed area in Dominican Republic with many expats from France, Italy and Germany. In fact, when I held a conversation with a local Dominican women she assumed I was French! Major restaurants and buildings in the area seem to be owned by many French people so she just assumed. Although the beaches are beautiful here I find myself missing ...

... There are many fanatics here and lots of rallies with hundreds of thousands of people involved. To that end, this week Peace Corps has issued a "standfast" to all volunteers in the country. This means, that we are to stay in sites or wherever we may be and are not permitted to travel. It should be exciting this week in the country. I just hope everything goes smoothly! And, if the elections aren't news enough, gas and food prices have ...

... boys have been the lowlights of the trip. (it´s disconcerting when ten year old boys are calling out "hey mama, hey mamita (little mama)" when you walk past them. I now turn and scowl at them (as I do the men) and say in English "don´t be rude!". P.S I´m NOT your mama! On the not horrible but interesting note: spouting. To "have a spout" is something one should do regularly if one wants to keep clean and as stink-free as possible in the tropics. It involves ...

... most people in Cabarete speak English. And Frank was happy and thought my Spanish is pretty good. Well, I still feel I have a long way to go though... An hour later we arrived in Las Galeras, which is a very small sleepy town. That's the reason why we picked Las Galeras instead of Las Terranas. Las Terranas is a lot more developed, and most of the hotels there are all-inclusive resorts. There's not much tourism in Las Galeras, see pic. We walked ...

... polished off the lot. Backpacks and a Rum Buzz in the morning. I am sure Goatgirl is tipsy. We wave au revoir to Dominique and his apartments, giggling as we walk up the street towards the Gua Gua stop. An hour later we are in Samana swapping Gua Guas. There are two forms of Gua Gua transport here - the minibus style and the open utility truck style. Goatgirl is determined to experience life in the back, so we take the open air option in a truck. The fast right handers are ...

... of bad souvenir and painting stalls, and be privvy to that other form of Whale watching - the overweight European package tourist. It was a disappointing experience in the end. Expensive, and limited Humpback whale watching. They never tell you about the **** parts of the tours upfront. But that is the same in most parts of the world. Back into a Gua Gua, back in La Galleras, Goatgirl and I continue our search for the perfect Sangria blend and more home cooking ...

... bank branch, where 3 security guards with pump action shotguns are required. Some Moto Concho riders find us a 'taxi' - a guy named Rapheal who has a small truck like a Suzuki Mightyboy from the 80's. Rapheal drives us into the country and out to the National Park where the Cando Hondo is located. It is a modern rustic style place to stay, with great wooden cabins and waterfall rock pools filled with water from a nearby river. The also have three Wild ...