I'm on a boat

One of the highlights of the trip so far was our boat excursion out into the Caribbean. The 14 of us (plus our friendly driver) boarded a catamaran and started our trip along the beautiful coast. Luscious greenery, including palm and mangroves, continued up from the coastline and incredibly blue water to distant mountains. The captain stopped the boat at a sandbar a good distance from shore. With my snorkel gear all ready, I followed the rest as we swam from the back of the boat over numerous sea stars, sea urchins, and sand dollars that were scattered around the sandbar. I watched as one sea star made its way several feet across the sand. A big-eyed puffer fish remained still in the sea grass as we stared, hoping it would puff up for us.

After roaming around a bit there, we continued northwest towards the Samana Peninsula. We approached these huge cliffs, and a few of us through out the terrific idea to jump off of them. So we stopped there. No worries though, we stopped to snorkel – the only jumping was off the boat. The water was completely clear all the way to the bottom at least 40 feet below. It got shallower as we floated towards the rocky island, where numerous fish were tooling around. There were some brightly colored ones, and a school of at least one thousand of the tiniest of Silversides swam right below. We were careful to avoid the small jellyfish – only a few randomly lingered a couple feet below the surface, almost the perfect depth for us not to notice at all. We also saw an eel (ugh but cool).

Small town DR

Took this video as we drove through one of the few towns we passed on our drive to Miches.

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Introducing Miches

Just got back from Miches. It was amazing!

The roads were not in great condition so it took 4 hours for our bus to bump along about 60 miles. The scenery was beautiful. There were not many other cars along the drive – people travel mostly by motorcycle, scooter, horse or foot. After being at the hotel for two weeks I had almost forgotten this is still a third world country, but the drive down dirt roads and by the humble houses was a resounding reminder.

From the moment and we drove onto the beach to get to the Coco Loco Hotel I knew it was going to be a wild time. We were split into groups of threes and went to settle into our casitas, one-room mini houses, as a storm was approaching quickly. Of course I ran to the bathroom after the bumpy ride, and as I opened the toilet I startled the frog that apparently had been resting under the lid. It jumped way up and splashed into the pot as I maybe just slightly overreacted, and the lid went crashing down. We did not really know what to do about that situation and my roomie flushed the toilet only to find the frog back in there next time she opened the toilet haha. Next on the agenda was getting the cockroach out of the toilet. The extent of my participation in this was solely holding my camera to capture the moments.

Then, an intense thunderstorm rolled directly overhead and lightning even hit the side of one of the casitas, leaving a little burn in the grass next to the girl sitting on the porch.

Much more to follow soon…

Off to Miches

We are off to the small town of Miches tomorrow morning for the week. We were told there is one of the most beautiful beaches in the DR near it, so I’m really excited. It is unlikely there will be internet at the small hotel where we’ll be staying, but I’ll upload some pics as soon as I can :-)

Playa Blanca

A few of us girls took the free shuttle to relax at another beach in the resort for the afternoon. There were maybe eight other people on the beach or in the restaurant because it is still the ‘low’ season. Someone had the great idea of taking the lounge chairs into the water. The potential enjoyment of this situation quickly declined as the strong winds washed up bits of sea grass to stick to our legs and backs, the start to seriously distasteful tan lines.

From this beach you can make out the two bulges where the waves begin to break – there are two separated and overturned halves to a large boat that apparently came too shallow long ago. I heard it is pretty cool to snorkel out to and see, but from my previous experiences with the snorkel, I doubt I’ll be making that journey.

Another snorkeling spectacular

We headed back out to the water for another afternoon of gathering data as a class. This time my data-collecting partner and I got to stay closer to shore, meaning there was more sand available to stand on as opposed to the mysteriously swaying sea grasses. For sure an easier task…or so I thought. We took our transect out with plastic bags to collect seaman’s brushes, aka a stem with a big furry ball at the end. It was a tad difficult to get the transect situated. As soon as we managed to get one side down, the other would float up, quite the dilemma. As she was trying to put it down with her feet, I was doing my best to keep her from being carried away by the current. We could not stop laughing at ourselves as we were both flailing about trying to regain control of ourselves while we had no control of the transect and plastic bags calmly floating away. It must have been quite the scene, because in the midst of trying to keep my head above water as not to consume anymore saltwater while also preventing any contact with the sea grass (yes, I’m a little scared of it), I caught a glimpse of one of the resort supervisors – who says hello to us at breakfast every morning – laughing as he looked on from a gazebo on a nearby dock. He was probably thinking the only thing I can do well is eat an omelet.

Parking for the Preggers

Interesting discovery: According to the parking signs (the hotel entrance is a short walk to the left), a pregnant woman is more handicapped than a handicapped visitor.

"Indigenous Eyes"

Lunch by the Lagoons

We walked through the resort’s ecological reserve for the first time. It has occasional colorful flowers and some random termite hills, but its best features are the lagoons. There are about five throughout the reserve and all are perfectly clear and bright blue from the limestone rocks that make up much up the area. Tilapia live in them and one had a gang of turtles. You can jump into the largest one from a small platform above it, which was entertaining for all, and we spent the afternoon swimming there. I'm sure I'll be back there soon.

Passport to the Court

Coaches, not to worry.. I was pretty excited to discover this cute little basketball court. Now just need to find a basketball.

First day of "class"

Had our first lecture and ‘scholastic’ outing today. After learning about the basics of ecology and the geography and climate of the Dominican Republic we ventured to the shore with our snorkeling gear. I got to touch some red, green, and brown algae, very exciting stuff! Most humorous were the two crabs fighting/bickering at the shoreline. As much as I enjoyed swimming around the shallow waters observing the tiny fish scatter and an enormous sea cucumber below, I got some serious anxiety having to breath through the little air thing and slightly freaked out a couple times when a little water got in because we could only stop and stand on the sand, not the rocks…but I made it.

It started sprinkling when we got out and as we were returning to our rooms, some of us made a pit stop by the pool. It soon started to rain more, which was timed perfectly because right when we got out a mini dance session was beginning under the big roof over a stage adjacent to the pool. Couldn’t resist. Guess what…lady who led water aerobics yesterday, Julie is her American name ha, also leads the dancing! She taught us – and the four slightly coordinated Russian women who just got out of the pool also – some basics of the meringue.

School in the Pool

Went to relax at the pool with the group. Santo, one of the Dominicans who leads the daily water aerobics, invited us to join him. He put on some intense half-American/jock-jams, half-Dominican music and pumped us up as another woman led it in the water. We were the only 8 people doing it haha.

Mi Cuarto

Chess Anyone?

Here's a photo from the walk to the beach...

I have arrived!

I awoke up during the last half hour of the flight just as we began to fly over the island. The water is beautiful and clear along the coast. There were random little dirt roads scattered around the rural land, appearing to connect groupings of small houses to some distant destination. The terminal of Punta Cana International Airport is simply the walk down the plane’s stairs, across a sidewalk, by other planes and onto a line under the huge entirely open, thatched-roofed building to get a photo with two Dominican women dressed in their ruffled, festive attire. It was humorous to watch as they kept hurrying people through and pausing abruptly to smile for a half-second as another women, looking bored out of her mind, continuously clicked to take the photo from the camera propped on the counter.

Once I got my passport stamped and exchanged dollars for Dominican pesos, I took my two huge bags through customs where the guy took my apples and oranges. Sorry, Mom, didn’t have time to eat them all.

As we were warned, almost everyone from that point on was wearing a Punta Cana Resort shirt, but thankfully I quickly located the guy holding a sign with my name. Another student from our group was waiting with him, and he could not believe I had just gone through the whole process myself. Apparently he saw someone from the resort with his name immediately when he got off his plane who then whisked him through each part, minus the crowds and lines. I was most appreciative to hear this information as the perspiration continued to emerge across my forehead from the muggy weather I had been standing in for the past 25-30 minutes. ☺

After getting settled into my room and turning the fan on high, I got to explore for a bit. I headed straight down the road to see the beach. It looked amazing. You can see for yourself… I can’t wait to take out a kayak or snorkel.

Dinner was at the house where the workers eat, cafeteria style. I am expecting to see rice and beans at every meal for the next 34 days.