Hotel Orchidee Sosua

... guys, who actually lives in New Jersey, offered to go up with him. It was funny, because clearly no one thought he would jump - after he walked away, there was a chorus of, "Look! The gringo is going up to the cliff! Snicker snicker snicker.." Shen is definitely not one to show off, but the poor expectations made it totally necessary, so he did a back flip off a 35-foot cliff. The group made several comments about how the gringos never jump, they had ...

... seen. They almost have a strip-mall feel to them - shop after shop, power cables criss-crossing the street all over the place, and no real center. There's nothing pretty about them. The towns we've seen do have a Plaza Central, but life doesn't seem to revolve around it as it does in many places. I can't seem to find the town's anchor. One thing that does give a sense of character is that everyone is out on ...

... gives me the fortitude to be a good mother and role model for my
daughter.  Someday I'll share stories about these people, and I hope that
by doing so, my daughter will grow up to be sensitive and caring, and
hopefully, will have the same opportunity to offer her time and expertise to
those less fortunate than her.
I'm certain that I will be staying home for a while.  Only two semesters left
until graduation, so I have a long haul ...

... he said, "I don't have the money or the time."  It was maddening.  I truly believe in my heart that this child will not survive this illness, just because of his living situation.  It was difficult to walk away-
Please offer your positive thoughts, good karma, prayers, or wishful thinking to this little one tonight.  Maybe they will help.
Missing all of you,
Love,
Lani

... to Sosua for about 20 pesos. We also verified this info with the hotel, so I felt fairly comfortable in getting to school. The guidebook said when getting on the guaguas, don't ask how much the fare is, just hand the money over, and if they try to ask for more, get out of the car and wait for the next one. So I was ready to do this just in case... I walked over to the main road in the morning and saw one of the guagua vans ...

... then go and meet them, but I didn't want to swim yet since I had just had a shower and didn't want to get dirty again right away and then need another shower. I wanted to see more of the resort though (the 'beach' side of our 2 part resort - we're on the 'reef' side - but they are practically one and the same since it's all in the same general area). We passed by a guy near the pool on the 'beach' side selling the water sports at the hotel and I asked him about ...

... who seem very nice (except I can barely understand a word they say). We had dinner then at the buffet. I had rice, stewed beans and a few roast potatoes. We were going to see the dancing show again at 9:45pm, but first I wanted to go back to the room for awhile. Leanna and I left to go but I wanted to take a look first at the vendors that had set up tables between the dinner area and the theatre, since it seemed like they weren't trying to ...

Well greetings once again! I'm currently in a most excellent air-conditioned internet cafe place that makes you want to stay super long, just to stay cool. It's the group's last adventure to Sosua Beach... we leave Friday morning for the next leg of our time here. Monday, we went to work at Nazaret. My job was pick-axing and shoveling... hard work. And then in the afternoon, we went over to Ascension and shopped at their FairTrade Co ...

Hello, I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is this coming week. At this time last year, I was running from place to place like a chicken with it's head cut off. There was just so much going on that I do not think any of us had a single moment to breath. Our swearing-in ceremony was the day before Thanksgiving as it is once again this year, Thanksgiving is the next-day, and then the all-volunteer conference is the following-day. For the new volunteers it is a ...

Saludos How is everyone? I am currently at a HIV/AIDS conference in the second biggest city in the country, Santiago. Occassionally, we have some breaks and I have to chance to jump on a computer and do some quick e-mailing or just finding out what is happening in the work or in the Dominican Republic. I figure that you will know if a hurricane is going to hit the island before I will find out. One of the things I would like to do in my travel logs is give you a since ...