Snorkeling, Dinner and Dancing the Merengue.....but not Goodbye

Today was our last day in the Dominican Republic. We have been working hard all week and today we finally got a full day of free time to relax and enjoy the beauty of the island.

We started the morning off with snorkeling along the coral reef. When we arrived we were all fitted for masks, life vests, and flippers! We were able to see a variety of different fish and some people even spotted barracuda. The dive team also took us to an underwater statue museum where they let people take turns diving to the bottom to touch the figures.

 

 

By the end of the trip, about half of our teens and some of the adults were sea sick so we headed in to shore for stable ground.

After snorkeling, we had the day free to lay by the pool or enjoy the sandy beach. Most of our group ended up in the pool where we decided to attempt to stack a tower of 4 people on each other’s shoulders. We also got to take a lot of underwater pictures. It was a great last day full of team bonding.

We ended our evening by attending dinner at the Guidicelli’s home. They served us pork and moro (rice dish), along with mashed yucca and an avocado salad - a delicious, authentic Dominican meal.  They also taught us many Dominican dances, including merengue, the National Dance. We were also able to teach them a few moves of our own! The dancing was interrupted by the singing of Happy Birthday for Niki’s 17^th birthday. She said she was very excited and happy to be spending her birthday in the Dominican Republic.

 It was very difficult for some of us to say goodbye to our Dominican friends. One thing we all learned this week is that friends become family very quickly in the Dominican Republic.

We are all headed back to the states with a new family that lives miles away. Many of us exchanged information in the hopes of staying connected throughout the year. Many of the teens have decided the trip went so well, they are returning next year to pick up where they left off! Our 4-H group left the Guidicelli’s saying, “This is goodnight and not goodbye.”

Dakota Funkhouser, from Shenandoah County

Trip to Higuey

Today was a wonderful and culture filled day. This morning we took a chartered bus to Higuey via the scenic route and the Dominican teens went with us. It took us an hour and a half to get there, but we got to see the country side.

When we got to Higuey we went into the farmer’s market to see what people did every day. The worst part about the farmer’s market is the horrendous smell of the meat sitting out.

 

The next thing we did was visit gift shops. At the gift shops there were many things. Some of us purchased machetes for ourselves or someone else. A great thing about the gift shops is the haggling.  You would have to haggle, or barter, for everything because they would try to make you pay extreme prices for the smallest of things.

After the markets we went to the Basilica, which was the religious capital building of this area. We only stayed there for about 15 minutes, but it was nice seeing the amazing architecture of the building.

Next we went to Wellinton’s parents house, who is the Logistical Coordinator we worked with from the PuntaCana Ecological Foundation. We had an amazing meal, tried new types of fruit, and really enjoyed Dominican culture there. Our final stop of the day was a Dominican super market. It was interesting to see all the different types of food and items they have for sale. It really puts your mind into perspective.

Garrett Rife and Wyatt Gray, from Alleghany County

 

Service Project Day

Today we went to the village of Domingo Maiz to help clean up trash.  The Dominican kids were very helpful and excited when we came because we got to see them one last time.  We handed out candy as we went past the kids.  I loved the look on their faces when they got the candy.   I loved helping pick up trash because It felt nice to help others.  When we came back we went to dinner and listened to very nice jazz music.  The guy that was playing came directly to our table.

Gabriella Pichette, from Alleghany Co.

Today we visited a village outside of Punta Cana called Domingo Maiz. We saw a handful of our campers from our previous two days while we were picking up trash there. They were very nice and helpful. Later we went to two different schools and dropped of school supplies for each of the schools.  At one of the schools we dropped off some of my old baseball gear there and we gave candy to the kids. A couple of hours later we saw a guy playing covers to modern day electronic music. The guy was very nice and came to our table multiple times and got us to dance one time.   

Danny Cayelli, from Fairfax Co.

The highlight of my day today was going back to the village of Domingo Maiz and seeing that the 4-H Clover our group painted on the wall in the community park last year was still there!  We were able to add the 2016 4-H and Dominican participants names to the wall after we completed our trash pick up project with the community children and our Dominican teen counselors. 

 

Our lunch was cooked and served to us in a private home in Domingo Maiz.  We ate a typical Dominican lunch of rice, beans and meat (chicken)  and it was delicious.  I must say that I was a little surprised when one of the pieces of chicken I was served was a chicken foot.....  Since we were a large group, our host borrowed chairs from neighbors and we sat inside and outside her small home to eat. 

We were also able to drop off the school supplies we brought to two different schools.  The first one was an elementary school in Veron with 5 teachers and 160+ students in grades pre-k to 4.  The school is not large enough to handle that many students at once, so they attend in 2 shifts - either in the morning or in the afternoon, but not all day.  

The second school is Juanillo, in Cap Cana - a village near the ocean that was displaced when developers bought their land and built large homes near the beach.  The developers moved the entire village further inland and the homeowners formed a foundation to help the people rebuild in the village.  They built a school with money from the foundation.  We brought them school supplies and baseball gear.  Their school houses about 120 students from pre-k through 8th grade.  This area is more remote and we really got a sense of community as we walked through the village and stopped at the little convenience store to buy cold drinks. 

 

During our evening reflection time tonight, the overall assessment of the day was that the 4-H'ers truly enjoyed giving of themselves through service and also appreciated being immersed in village life.  They were able to see the contrast between life in a resort and in a local village.  They loved walking through the villages talking to children and their parents and they felt a sense of happiness among the people they saw.  The 4-H'ers also had a chance to see several domino games being played in the village streets - another contrast because most American kids would be playing video games.

It was a productive, and a good, day!

Carol Nansel, Shenandoah Co