Hotel El Colibri Resort Sosua

... somewhat explains the blank stares when I asked for frijoles), and within minutes of asking the Comedor lady about Emma (a.k.a. la gringa que cuida a los perros), we were on a motoconcho heading to her house. Surprise!!

I felt bad dropping in on her unannounced, but it was great to see her. We knew we were at the right house when five dogs bounded out to greet us. Emma arrived in Cabrera more than two years ago with virtually no Spanish, but ...

... were shocked - shocked! - that the terrace-level rooms were $15 for the two of us. The rooms are basic and the terrace isn't well-maintained, but we walked out of our room to a wide expanse of ocean and a little beach off to the side. Really, the hotel made my week.

As soon as we checked in we headed back out for Playa Grande, supposedly one of the prettiest beaches in the area. It's hard to know how ...

... has
changed me, and has offered me a new perspective on what is really important in
life.  Sometimes I wonder if the past two years of struggling through this
doctoral program has been worth it.  So many sacrifices on the part of my
family.  Time away from Ellie--
I know that when she gets older, I will tell her about the kind, selfless people
who live in a different part of the world.  I hope that, if anything, this
Sosua, Dominican Republic lstockwell

Hi everyone,
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.
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 ...

... never get dessert,
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
Who watch their parents watch them die.
We pray for those who can't find any bread to steal,
Who don't have any rooms to clean up,
Whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
Whose monsters are real,
Whose nightmares come in the daytime.
And we pray for those who will eat anything,
Who have never seen a dentist,
Santiago, Dominican Republic lstockwell

Hola Todos-
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 ...

On Monday I headed to Sosua for my first day at Spanish school, at the Instituto Intercultural del Caribe (IIC), also known as Casa Goethe. It is about 20km or so away so I couldn't walk to school. I needed to take some type of public transport, as I wasn't about to pay $10-$15 for a taxi each way! The school told me that I could catch the local transportation, the carro publico, or guagua, as the locals call it, from ...

... 45pm. Tonight's theme was all different traditional music from the Dominican Republic. Very good! After that we went to bed - I was tired, still not feeling well. I hope I feel better tomorrow and I hope that it gets sunny tomorrow (despite the negative weather forecast) because I really want to go swimming again. On Sunday we are going to Cabarete and Monday Ocean World, so that doesn't give us much time left and today was a waste due to the bad weather.

... much colour I got on my skin but I don't really seem tanned yet. After spending the whole afternoon at the beach, we went back to the room to shower and change, to get ready for meeting Tony and his family, who were due to arrive around 6:30pm. It turns out they had arrived early though, at 5pm, and no one knew it. Lynette and my dad ran into them, so I missed the reunion. Tony and Julie surprised everyone by also bringing also Julie's parents, Gordon and ...

... Our life is simple out here. We have lucked in with our accomodation. We have found an apartment surrounded by lush palms and tropical vegatation, complete with pool, air con, cable TV and lots of space. James laptop has now given up the ghost so I wont be able to add any photos to the rest of our travelpods until I get back to England. Hopefully you can paint a picture in your mind of where we are.