Hotel Condado Puerto Plata

... we were off to the north. I was quite tired after a draining week of work, and passed out in the back for the first hour or so, which was during travelling on the new highway towards Samana (for those of you who were tuned in last year, you may remember pictures of this drive through the mountains and palm tree sanctuary). It was rainy and dreary, so not a good day for picture-taking. <br><br>Our first stop was to be at another friend's house, who has a ...

<!--StartFragment--><br><br>Greetings,< br><br>Sitting<br>in the sun in Sosua, it's a little seaside town about 2 hours from Santiago.<br> It's beautiful here.  We have had access to a private beach, which<br>has been so relaxing.  We've been sunning for a few days now, and are<br>headed back to Santiago this afternoon.  One more night in the Dominican<br>Republic, and back on a airplane tomorrow, headed home to my family!  It's<br>been a long trip and ...

Hi everyone,<br>Just when I thought I had seen what living in destitution represented, I walked into a neighborhood this morning that redefined the word "poor" for me.  It seems that this redefinition is a consistent happening here.<br>This community lives in squalor, not only in ramshackle "buildings" but in filth.  In fact, their homes are literally built upon a dump. So, you ...

We pray for children<br>Who sneak popsicles before supper,<br>Who erase holes in math workbooks,<br>Who can never find their shoes.<br>And we pray for those<br>Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,<br>Who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,<br>Who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead.<br>We pray for those who never go to the circus,<br>Who live in an X-rated world,<br ...

Hola Todos-<br>Have you ever thought of how fortunate you are, just because you were born in a certain geographic location?  We went to a Haitian Batey today.  The Bateys in the DR are kind of like a no-man's land, not recognized by the DR, or by Haiti.  Consequently, the people who live in them are literally without a country.  These people live very poorly, and are rarely allowed out of ...

Hi Everyone!<br>Very busy Monday.  We started out doing home visits with the International Child Care Center.  My group saw two children.  One child was so neurologically unstable, that he really wasn't a great candidate for "therapy" per se.  He is being raised by his grandmother/father, who told us that he has at least nine seizures a day.  In fact, while we were assessing him, he had two.  Not a pleasant sight, and as you can ...

Well this is my first week without the beloved Miriam (tear) but I have been brave and as savvy a traveler as one could be. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I spent the mornings out at an orphanage for children with disabilities. The orphanage is called Mustard Seed, which comes from the new testament passage (somewhere in there) that all you need to walk on water is have faith as small as a mustard seed (and for those of you who haven't seen a mustard seed ...

... night and the impact of the sleep deprivation immediately started to sink in. As soon as we got on the plane I easily fell asleep, which is quite a feat for me on an airplane, but I was THAT tired! I slept for most of the flight - about the first 5 hours - and then woke up feeling fairly refreshed. The airline screwed up mine and Leanna's special meal order (Asian Vegetarian, which I like to get because it's a little more interesting than just plain "vegan") - meaning ...

... meeting about all the fun we will be having and all this stuff when we had just said good-bye to our new Dominican and Haitian friends. The tourist areas are completely different worlds... So far, I think there are WAY too many white people here. TOO many! Hanging around darker skinned people have made me appreciate the dark pigment and wish that the Dominican landscape here had less white freckles. I don´t know.. We are ...

... have to climb that." I came out of the river with some minor cuts and bruises. We were just at the river. After expending all my energy, I still had to make it back to Moca. It was a miracle. We made it back to Moca. Majority ruled on wanting to go out for<br>drink then dancing. We hooked up with some other PCV's who took us to<br>this upscale place. it would appear that the DR's more affluent<br>individual's hung out at the place (Neoarte ...