Kaoba Cabarete

... ed to Laguna Dudu, an unfortunately named but really magical spot. It's a natural pool set at the bottom of 30-40 foot cliffs, with vines and plants hanging down the cliff walls all the way to the water. We were again impressed with the level of investment in tourism infrastructure. One side of the pool has a concrete platform with a ladder going down to the water, and there are several rope swings. When we arrived there were about a dozen locals ...

... for the guy to come the next day, and we walked over to Playa Preciosa, where the waves are usually a little better. It was still pretty bad - he caught a few waves on Thursday, but overall it was a bust.

We got back to the hotel right in time to have a drink on the terrace and watch the sun set over the ocean. Perfect! We went out for dinner and finally found food that wasn't of animal provenance. I ...

... 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 ...

... the words "buena negociadora" he stretched out his hand with respect and in the recognition of the fact that it was indeed a pleasure to deal with an equal, she smiled and shook it... We met him a couple of times later that week. He always recognized us and looked very happy to see us again, like we were sort of mates, he even once turned out to be very helpful, having got my little friend into the front row of a crowd who was there to witness hatching of the little turtles ...

... day. School includes a daily recess, and about 5 sessions daily. There are two sessions of school and kids will either go to the morning session or the afternoon session. As you might imagine, four hours of learning gives kids a great deal of free time and few responsibilities as there is little homework here. One of the benefits of this is that when I get to my future community, I'll get to work with the youth and take advantage of their free ...

... hard and fly the kite in the sine wave pattern all the time. Well, it still was good to be out there... Sat Feb-23 - Best Session so far & Hip Pain The wind forecast did not look to good. But Shari joined me and we walked over to Kite Club anyway around 2pm. To my surprise the wind was stronger than yesterday, maybe around 15kts, and side onshore. Great conditions! A quick lunch and off I went. I picked a harness and board but Jose, who helped me ...

... enough to live in those conditions. Not to fire off a total cliche, but seeing that made me realize how good we have it in the States. While American children are off at piano lessons and ballet class, there are little kids in the world who don't have clothes and whose living comes from gatherine garbage. Kind of makes your head spin to think about. On a less depressing note, last week we had our gardening workshop and learned to build ...