Samaná

Whenever I ask people where the most beautiful part of the Dominican Republic is, they say Samaná. 

And now I know why. The above photo is the view from another intern's (her name is Lucy too!) host family's house. That's right, this is the view from your average everyday Dominican house in Samaná, not from some resort or after hiking deep into the middle of the jungle. This is normal.

This is Playa Rincón. Someone somewhere rated it as one of the best beaches in the world, so we (the interns) just had to go. Again, no resorts or development, few tourists, and a whole lot of beauty. When we got there initially the beach was practically empty, which is when I took this picture. To get there we braved a rather bumpy ride in the back of a pick-up truck on unpaved roads (my guide book recommends going by boat because driving there requires "patience and will" haha) but despite the bruises it was a fun ride with beautiful scenery along the way.

We spent all of last Saturday at the beach and then on Sunday walked around the more central area of the town. Saturday and Sunday nights were spent dancing Dominican style with Lucy's host brothers. As you may know, dancing is not really my thing, but maybe if enough Dominicans teach me I will suddenly become awesome at it. Maybe.

Long story short: if you plan on taking a vacation in the Dominican Republic, skip the random resorts on every other coast in the country and go straight for Samaná. The entire peninsula has awesome sights and from the two parts I saw I'd say it's well worth it!

Just Another Weekend in the Dominican Republic

This is another post I wrote for our intern blog! No pictures because I didn't want to get my camera soaking wet!

Last weekend was an adventure. We (the interns) had been planning it for weeks, but we still weren’t really sure what to expect. All I knew was that we would be hiking up a mountain in order to jump off some waterfalls on the way back down. I was excited.

At 5am on Saturday morning we took taxis to a random address in Santo Domingo which turned out to be a sort of restaurant/bar. Being gringos, we arrived way before everyone else, wondering if we were really in the right place. While waiting, some of us walked down the street to buy tacos from a stand that for some reason was open at that hour. I can’t say I’ve ever eaten a taco for breakfast before, but at the time it tasted delicious! By the time we walked back a small bus had arrived as well as about a dozen other people going on the excursion with us. I could not wait to get into that bus and fall right asleep for a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, sleeping proved near impossible as soon as our guides started blasting music from the speakers in the bus. I decided to take the opportunity to stare out the windows instead, and got to see some beautiful scenery. We were heading up north to the more mountainous part of the country that I had not seen yet. The lush green hills and valleys were definitely a change from the flat coastline and beaches I was used to seeing near La Romana. Eventually we made it to our destination: the 27 Charcos.

Armed with life jackets and helmets, we started our trek into the woods with our guides. After hiking for a while we came upon our first waterfall where we could jump off a rock into a deep pool. Swimming around in the cold water was such a relief after weeks of Dominican heat! Twenty-six other jumps and slides followed, one of which was tall enough to make most people uncomfortable and some people opted to skip it altogether. There was plenty of time for suspense to build as we squeezed together in a line leading up the cliff to where we would jump. We watched each person before us jump off without really being able to see how high it actually was. Then came the moment of truth as I stepped up to the edge and looked down at the pool below. The guide gave me a countdown and off I went, screaming the whole way down. That one was definitely my favorite!

Doing things like this really makes me marvel at how incredible it is to be here in the Dominican Republic. Before coming here this summer I had no idea that I would be jumping off waterfalls in the middle of the woods, but half the fun is not knowing what to expect. Even though we planned this excursion well in advance, so many things happened that we didn’t plan for. Crazy experiences are around every corner, and I’ve definitely been learning to sit back and take it all in instead of trying to control and prepare for everything. That’s what makes this summer an adventure!

How to Eat a Mango

Alternate title: Reason #2435876 Why I Am a Gringa

If you know me, or especially if you have ever lived with me, you may know that I sometimes spill food while eating. Let's be honest, by sometimes, I mean all the time. I rarely eat a meal without getting some part of it on myself, my clothes, the table, the floor, etc. For this reason I always carry around a Tide to Go pen and like to keep a constant supply of napkins at hand. You may be wondering, "Did this girl's parents not teach her to use a fork?" Why yes, they did. In fact, I have not always been a messy eater. I'm not sure what happened between then and now but the fact is that spilling food everywhere is currently part of my daily life. And it's hilarious.

Given that I already have difficulties eating like a normal person, you can only imagine how difficult it is for me to eat a whole mango. First of all, I had never eaten a whole mango before coming to the DR, only nicely sliced pieces that I could easily spear with a fork. So when one of my coworkers brought fresh mangoes from her mango tree to the office for everyone, I knew I was in for it. Long story short, after eating our mangoes my coworkers stood there with slightly sticky hands while I sat there staring at a desk, a plate, my own hands, my shirt, and about 1.5 billion napkins, all covered in mango. And it was hilarious.

The mango I ate, from someone's tree at home, is on the right.
The one on the left is normal sized from a store/street vendor.

So later in the week the same coworker brought mangoes from her tree and decided to teach me how to eat a mango. Because I clearly needed teaching, it was that ridiculous. She taught me how to peel it properly, how to cut out the bad parts, and how to avoid getting it all over yourself. By the end of my second Dominican mango, I had managed to forgo the plate and desk, spared my shirt from destruction, and limited myself to only two napkins! Such progress! My coworkers still made fun of me, but I claimed that I kept getting the exploding mangoes and that's why it was so messy. If only that were a legitimate excuse! I'll just have to keep practicing...

Villa Panty

This past weekend was my first full weekend spent in La Romana with my host family. Since my host siblings are around my age, I was interested to see what weekend activities look like around here. On Saturday afternoon I went over to the house of my host sister's friend. We hung out for a bit talking with her family, and by the end of the visit we had been invited back for dinner that night.


First I need to address the title of this post, which does in fact translate to something like Panty Village. If I told you I spent Saturday night in panty village, what would you think? As is turns out, Villa Panty is actually a very nice neighborhood with beautiful houses that just happens to have many lingerie stores on its streets. When my host sister drove me by the dozen or so lingerie stores and told me that that's what the neighborhood was called, I thought she was kidding. It was not until I heard my host brother telling his friend that that's where we were going that I understood that people seriously, with a straight face, refer to this place as Villa Panty. And that is where my host sister's friend lives.


So I went with my host siblings, my host sister's boyfriend, and another friend to Villa Panty for dinner. We decided to make "frito," which is the general word for fried everything. First, we walked down to the nearest colmado. Colmados are small convenience stores that are everywhere in the DR. There are three within a block of my house, for example. At this particular colmado we bought green/unripe plantains to make tostones. When we got back to the house the girls taught me how to make them. 


Every time I've eaten tostones I've wondered why there is that poofy part on the outside. I soon found out that after you fry the plantain slices, you take them out and smush them so that the insides come out the sides, and then you fry them again so the whole thing gets cooked. This blew my mind, although in hindsight I don't know why I couldn't figure it out in the first place. We also fried longaniza, a type of sausage. Altogether it was a fun time, there were a bunch of friends and family hanging around the house so I got to interact with many different people even if i couldn't really understand what they were saying. And now I know how to cook at least one Dominican dish!

When It Rains, Go To An Outdoor Concert

Last Saturday, Juan Luis Guerra came to Santo Domingo for a concert. In case you have no idea who he is (like I didn’t before hearing about the concert), he is super popular throughout the world in the Latin music genre. And he’s Dominican, so it was kind of a big deal. Therefore, all of us interns convened in La Capital for the weekend.

The other interns and I went to a friend’s house beforehand that was really close to the arena where the concert was. As soon as we got out of the taxi at his house, it started sprinkling. By the time we left the house with everyone to walk to the arena, the sprinkling had increased, and by the time we got there, it was clearly raining.

The place was packed with people, so looking for space enough for nine gringo interns to sit proved impossible. We ended up at the very top of the stadium, not in the very last row, but behind the last row in a tiny space between the highest seats and the wall that ensured we did not fall to our deaths. So there we were, in the pouring rain, with barely enough space to stand, and it was awesome.

The view was incredible. Could we see Juan Luis Guerra? Not really. But between us and him were hundreds of Dominicans singing and dancing to every one of his songs. Not one person remained seated while he and his band were playing; it was like a giant party. Behind us we could see Santo Domingo (mostly a lot of trees from where we were) from a bird’s eye view. We could feel the breeze blowing more rain into our faces, we could hear the collective voice of everyone around us, we could laugh at how crazy the Dominican adventure was turning out to be.

During the concert they had to take a break to deal with all the water on the stage and whatnot, at which point a lot of people left early and we were able to take their seats. This made it a lot easier to dance around and try to avoid catching pneumonia.* Other highlights included Juanes showing up to sing a song (cue hysterical screaming by the women in the crowd), as well as another guy named Romeo Santos (more hysterical screaming). It turned out to be a good thing that I accidently left my camera at the hotel, since it would have gotten completely soaked like the rest of my belongings, but that also means that I have no pictures from the concert to share. So you’ll just have to take my word for it! Or read this: http://www.hoy.com.do/el-pais/2012/6/17/432881/Juan-Luis-Al-son-deguerra-en-el-Olimpico 

*exaggeration: It was not actually that cold.