Snorkel with the Fishies!!

Happy December, everybody! Here is my attempt to catch up with my ever-so-behind poor, dejected blog. Bear with me.

So on November 12, we had a trip to Playa Ensenada. Playa Ensenada is a beach in the Dominican Republic that, as far as I can tell, is not a huge tourist destination, and the beach is not the best beach I have visited in this country, but you can take a boat to this sandbar that is about a 10 minute boat ride away from the beach, where you can snorkel with all of the little fishies in the deep blue sea! We left early in the morning, and drove a couple of hours to Playa Ensenada. We spent the morning on the beach, swimming and sunbathing, and then everyone who wanted to went on the boat to the sandbar, and we all snorkeled to our hearts content. It was a lot of fun, and since the sandbar is next to a coral reef, there were tons of beautiful fish! Then we all piled back in the car, and drove back to Santiago. It was a long day, but totally worth it!

Fishies!!!

The coral reef next to the sandbar

The sandbar!

On the way back from the sandbar!

The next day, I just lounged around Santiago, and that evening I went to see "Eat, Pray, Love" with some friends of mine from the program. I had fun, although that is not really my type of movie. The next day was devoted to homework, as most Sundays, unfortunately, are, although I made time to go and see "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." I really enjoyed that! It made me wish I had the economic skills and prowess of Gordon Gekko!

The next weekend, November 19-21, we had our last excursion to Samaná! Samaná is a beach town in the Dominican Republic, and a lot of tourists go there. It was a 5 hour bus ride to Samaná, which is a LONG time to spend in a crowded bus! Part of the reason it was so long was because on the way, we had to stop and wait for a truck that had 540 wheels on it to go by. And you may think I am exaggerating, because I thought the workers who told us the truck with 540 wheels was coming was exaggerating, but after seeing it, I honestly believe it had 540 wheels. It was RIDICULOUS!!! I wish I had taken a picture!

After we finally made it to Samaná, we had lunch and then I went to this native English speaking community in Samaná. This native English speaking community exists because back in the early 1800s, when Haiti and the Dominican Republic were one country, the president, who was Haitian, told free slaves in the US that if they came to the island, they would get large amounts of land per person. The reason he wanted free US slaves is because the free slaves were the same skin color as the Haitian people, and since the president was Haitian, he wanted to outnumber the Dominicans on the island. This community was very isolated for a long time, and until the early 20th century, the people in this community had virtually no contact with the Dominican or Haitian people. They even sent their children to the US for college instead of sending them to college on the island. We had a lady talk to us for a while about the history of the community and what it was like living in the community. Now, a lot of the people there do not speak English because they want to blend in to the Dominicans living in Samaná, but she told us that she did not speak a word of Spanish until she started kindergarten. Also, the food they make is not Dominican food, but Southern food, such as grits. It was really interesting to listen to her.

The woman who spoke to us

The food she served us

That evening, we had a delicious dinner that started out on the beach, but then it started raining, so we had to run inside and eat under a roof, unfortunately. It was still a lot of fun, and the food was fabulous! After, I went and chilled with some of my friends, listening to music before I went to sleep.

The next day was a very busy one. It started with a wonderful breakfast of bread, jam, fruit, and Frosted Mini Wheats (yay!). Then we piled in the bus to go to the Parque Nacional de los Haities, which is a place with a lot of birds and other animals and is only accessible by boat. The boat trip out was a lot of fun, and I got to sit in the front of the boat, and then on the second level, where the driver was. And I love being on a boat in the middle of open water, so I had a great time!

Me and the ocean!

Parque Nacional de los Haities

When we got to the national park, we anchored the boat, and broke up into two groups. My group started out kayaking! I had been looking forward to the kayaking for weeks, and was super excited, and it did not disappoint! We went kayaking through the mangroves, which was amazing and beautiful. There were all these little crabs on the mangroves, and they went scurrying whenever the kayaks went by. I shared a kayak with my friend Carina, and she had never been kayaking before, but by the end, we were world class kayakers. I think we earned a gold medal in kayaking, if there is such a thing. After the kayaking, we ate lunch on the boat, and then I went swimming off of the side of the boat. After my swim, the two groups switched activities, and it was our turn to go explore the cave! The cave was enormous, and I had such a good time. And we only had to crawl through one tight spot! I even found a fossilized shell in the cave, which I brought home as a souvenir. Then we went back to the boat, and sadly it was time to go back to the hotel.

World class kayakers

The cave!

That night, we once again went to eat on the beach, and once again it started raining and we had to run for cover! However, this night the power was also out. I had ordered pasta, and so I had to eat it without seeing what I was looking at. But the pasta was DELICIOUS!! And about halfway through the meal, the lights turned back on, but by that time, I was mostly done eating. It felt like a game show: Eating in the Dark! After dinner, I was really tired (hey, it had been a really long day. See above) so I went back to my room, and started watching "Prince Caspian." It's cool, I know you're jealous. Anyway, three of my awesome friends came and joined me, and we all curled up on the bed to watch Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian. It was a lot of fun! And it got me in the mood for "Voyage of the Dawn Treader," which opens Thursday here, and Friday back in the good 'ole USA.

My delicious pasta

The next day was our last day, sadly, in Samaná. I once again had a delicious breakfast that included Frosted Mini Wheats. I had some homework to do, but I decided to go downtown for about an hour to look around and see if I saw any good souvenirs. Unfortunately, it started to rain as soon as we got downtown, so we spent most of the hour running from store to store, avoiding the rain. But it was still a lot of fun. And, in keeping with Murphy's Law, as soon as we returned back to the hotel, the rain stopped. I then had a homework party with some of my friends (hey, it can't all be fun), but after about an hour, we decided it was time to take a walk on the beach and eat lunch. I had a cheese sandwich with amazing chinola, or passion fruit, juice. That is one thing I am definitely going to miss once I go back home: fresh chinola juice! After lunch, we all piled back into the bus for the 4 hour drive back to Santiago. All in all, a fantastic weekend!

Now, I know this has nothing to do with my weekend, but it is something that is very important in my life here. As you may or may not know, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" opened in the US (and most everywhere in the world) on November 19. But that movie has STILL not made it to la República Dominicana. However, next week "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" opens in both the US AND the DR. Someone needs to explain this to me. Why does the newest Narnia movie open the same day here, but Harry Potter opens way later?? Because Harry Potter isn't opening here next weekend, either. I think this means that I need to go convert the people of the Dominican Republic into fanatic Harry Potter fans.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Beating Harry Potter in the Caribbean