La Capital

On Saturday afternoon I arrived in Santo Domingo! Our intern coordinator Patricia picked up me as well as three other interns that arrived at about the same time and we rode with our van driver to the hotel. Later after some other interns had arrived we walked to the zona colonial for dinner. It was not yet Dominican food but still good. The next day some of us decided to go to mass in the morning at the cathedral, also in the zona colonial. To be honest I completely fell asleep and didn't really follow what was going on, but it was cool to be in such an old building doing what they've been doing there for centuries.

La zona colonial during the day

Later we had a historical walking tour of Santo Domingo where we got to see all the super old buildings and be told many times that Columbus' body is indeed in Santo Domingo, not Spain or Puerto Rico or whoever else claims to have it. That night Patricia and her coworker Marisa took us to eat typical Dominican food: chicken, rice and beans, tostones (my fave), yucca, and salad. We later all went dancing, which I suck at, but it was still a lot of fun!

The oldest street in the New World

Monday and Tuesday were our actual orientation, so we went to the main office and heard from various people about different aspects of the organization: microfinance, Kiva, media, and the other services Esperanza offers its clients like health care. We also learned the nuts and bolts about what exactly we'll be doing as interns for two months. What is that, you ask? Stay tuned for a future blog about my awesome internship responsibilities!

All in all my experience so far has been great! All eight of us interns (one of which is named Lucy too!) get along really well and it was cool getting to know the capital city for a little bit before I settle down in La Romana. First, however, all the staff from around the country are headed out to a resort for a retreat! It's beach time!