Higuey!

today we took a trip to Higuey, the capital city of the province of La Altagracia, about an hour from Punta Cana.  it is different from every other city i have ever seen.  poverty is visible everywhere.  there are more people riding around on mopeds than cars and there are small disorganized shops everywhere.  there are stray dogs wandering around and sleeping everywhere too. it was so amazing though!  the first thing we did was walk around an open market.  smells of every kind of produce, dirty water, trash, blood, and fresh slaughtered meat. raw meat hanging out and bags of spices, wheat, and corn.  we definitely stuck out as foreigners. people came up to us a few times and asked us if we were from Germany.  Heyddy was with us so she was our tour guide.  next we went to the Basilica de Nuestra Senora ("Basilica of Our Lady") with the famous painting of the Virgin Mary.  the architecture of the cathedral is so strange, the top is a huge arc that is supposed to look like praying hands.  the inside is more traditional and there are stairs to walk up and look at the famous picture of Mary.  from the basilica there is a pathway to the old church in the city.  we followed it and there were random bridges along the way.  there was a small Dominican boy that took a picture with us and someone gave him a little bit of money so he followed us all the way to the old church.  a policeman kept twisting his ear and telling him to stop begging but he kept coming back.  he was so cute.  we ate lunch at Pollo Victorias, a kind of dominican chicken fast food place.  our last stop was a supermarket kind of store.  the store was pretty big and also sold clothes, shoes, and random things, kind of like a walmart.  so many new amazing sights and smells today! 

class on the beach

this morning we had class discussion on the beach.  we talked about the documentary !Salud! that we all watched last night.  it was about the Cuban healthcare system.  Cuban doctors travel to poor areas in other countries where the doctors there do not want to go.  In America people treat healthcare like a commodity and patients like customers.  In Cuba they teach people how to live healthy lives instead of just treating illness after it has manifested.  The doctors actually go door to door to make sure that kids have had their vaccines and teach exercise classes to promote complete healthy lifestyles.  People, especially in America, want to eat whatever they want and not exercise today without thinking about how it will affect them tomorrow.  They think that if they get sick, they just have to go to the doctor and he will "fix" them.  People in poorer countries may not have access to nutritional food or education about hygiene and exercise.  Health needs to be maintained, there is no "quick fix."  Doctors can be selfish because some are only practicing medicine for the money.  They won't go into poor areas because people cannot afford to pay them.  Cuban doctors went into Honduras to help these poor people but the Honduran doctors actually protested their mission.  The Honduran doctors had no shame is saying that they would rather live in the city in  a big house than help the people who need medical attention.  Health is a basic human right like food and water, without it we would die.  If the government exists to serve and protect its people, shouldn't it take care of them when they are hurt or sick?

Monte Cristo

1/24/08

class and beach.  after dinner at the "french" restaurant we went to a club in Bavaro called Monte Cristo.  Bavaro is another resort area about 20 minutes away.  Heyddy told us about this club and that on thursdays, they have a promotional thing where they have free vodka and whiskey drinks for two hours.  the club is not that big, but they had a huge screen playing "the best of the 80s" haha...awesome. We all showed off our new merengue skills on the dance floor and had a great night out.

Colmada

1/23/08

today I saw the ranch and petting zoo for the first time.  they have horses and they seem to be very well taken care of.  they also have mini horses and ducks and a donkeys and goats.  I tried talking to one of the workers at the ranch in spanish.  He did not speak english so it was fun/funny to try to see how much spanish i could speak and understand with him.  I was able to ask him about riding and how much it costs to ride on the beach. after lunch we went to the Colmada, a very small store that we can walk to from our building.  it is so small that you can not go inside.  they just have snacks, like cereal and cookies, and rum, and drinks, and flipflops.  it was surrounded by some very poor houses.  there were a few very cute children playing in the street.  they did not have a lot of clothes and they had no shoes.  two brothers were pushing each other around on a broken electric bike.

Tour of Punta Cana

1/22/08

class then beach. Today we went with Heyddy and Nancy and toured all around Punta Cana.  We saw Punta Cana village where our restaurants are as well as little stores, a movie rental place and a bowling alley.  We went to Punta Cana grade school and high school.  All the kids were happy and enthusiastic and school was so beautifully designed.  There are no indoor hallways, all the classrooms are connected by sidewalks.  The windows are wide open letting the tropical breeze blow through all day.  The kids were running around playing on playgrounds. The grass is so green everywhere.  We went to the Punta Cana golf course and clubhouse which was beautifully decorated and open aired as well.  The view from the clubhouse balcony is breathtaking.  You can see the pool below lined with palm trees and then white sand and the turquoise ocean just beyond.  You can see a lot of coastline and the golf course.  Punta Cana is extremely concerned with he environment so they are working hard to make their golf course eco-friendly.  Then we went to Tortuga Bay a separate resort but still owned by the Punta Cana group.  It is a very extravagant  resort with opulent villas that you can rent for $2,000 a night.  We took a tour of one and each room looked like a magazine cover.  All of the furniture was designed by Oscar de la Renta, a dominican designer, and many celebrities have stayed there.  Our last stop on the tour of Punta Cana was their ecological park with freshwater lagoons.  There are about 12 different lagoons and we can swim in 5 of them.  Dinner at le four pain, a "french restaurant" even though they have philly cheese steaks.  We watched “In the time of the butterflies,” a movie about the Dominican tyrant Trujillo and his assassination of the Mirabelle sisters.   After the movie Kristin, Brittany, Josh, Ben and I went to the employee club for some Dominican rum, or “ron” in spanish.  We went to the beach. We saw really dark greyish clouds and a rainstorm coming from the ocean.  and soon it started raining really hard.  We went under the pavillion near the pool and played foosball and pool.  

second day

1/21/08

 

first full day in Punta Cana.  Breakfast around 9 and we started Spanish class with Nancy at 10.  This was my first spanish class.  Lunch and break at 12.  Kristin and Katherine and I walked around the gardens surrounding our building. It is so beautiful, there are flower gardens and tropical plants everywhere.  More class.  There is a rhinoceros iguana habitat outside of our building to help repopulate them.  They are really big vicious iguanas that can get up to 100 lbs! For our first dinner out, we go into Punta Cana village where there are a few restaurants and little shops. We eat at Pizzarelli, one of the three restaurants that we can go to with our meal cards.  After dinner we went to the resort lobby with Nancy.  She took us to a lounge in the lobby that was empty but one of the hotel employees came and turned music on for us.  Nancy and the employee taught us how to dance merengue.  It was so much fun. There were old record covers on the wall of famous salsa, and merengue bands

finally started blogging

1/20/08

 

after hours of traveling we finally arrive at Punta Cana airport.  the second I get off the plane I can feel the tropical weather. no more snow!  The airport is picturesque: thatched roof and open aired.  As soon as we walk in we get a group picture with Dominican ladies dressed up in traditional Dominican outfits.  It is actually cloudy which is unusual for the dry season.  We have an orientation meeting and meet Heyddy, the coordinator for the Punta Cana ecological foundation.  We get our room assignments, and see our rooms for the first time.  My roommate is Kristin and she is really awesome.  We share a suite with Brittany and Kathrine.  We went to check out the resort and the beach for the first time.  We have to cross the road and take the employees entrance. The beach is less than a mile away down the employee road.  It was cloudy and looked like a storm was coming in.  We walk around the resort and stopped in La Yola, a restaurant right on the water.  We order our first beer, el presidente, a beer brewed in right in Santo Domingo.  We go back to the rooms and get ready for our first dinner. So hungry.  On our way it starts raining, downpour.  We walk down the employees road to the managers buffet.  After dinner we all hang out at the employees club and relax with some of the employees.  They teach some of us how to play dominos while other people play pool. It was still raining a little but the temperature was perfect.  The employees club is right across the street from our building.  I see fireworks coming from near the water. Bedtime.