Adventure Time

The past two weekends have been incredibly breathtaking. Last weekend, a visit to the island/national park right of the shore of La Romana: Isla Catalina. This weekend was a trip in the opposite direction, in the northern part of the country known for its mountainous terrain.

Isla Catalina

To get to this island, we essentially took a large party boat filled with other tourists from around the globe: Germany, France, U.S., the Dominican, etc. As we set out, the guides cranked up the music, and the other interns and I learned some new songs and dance moves (though we unfortunately lack that natural Dominican rhythm. I'm convinced you have to be born here in order to move like that!). After thoroughly embarrassing ourselves and entertaining the other tourists as we struggled to shimmy on a moving boat, we arrived just off the shore of Isla Catalina.


Here, we would be snorkeling for 45 minutes. The water was perfectly turquoise, and it was certainly a needed break from the heat. We jumped right in and then were surprised by what we saw all around us: jellyfish. Hundreds and hundreds of them! Small and clear, I tried to avoid them as much as possible at first. What the heck? Did the guides know the jellyfish were here? Were they dangerous? An assortment of fish swam beneath us, but all I could think about were avoiding those stingers!

Eventually, I found that they weren't poisonous (mainly because I had to swim through them, as I didn't have any other option). I then found myself enjoying it. I was swimming through hundreds of jellyfish, a coral reef below me, in the middle of the Caribbean. A dream I had never had, but a reality that I will remember forever! We spent the rest of the day on the beach, the softest white sand beneath our toes. A relaxing time if there ever was one.

The North

This weekend was a different sort of experience. The four other interns and I made our way up to Puerto Plata on Thursday, as this was a national holiday in the country, leaving the familiar South to head into the mountainous North of the DR. The drive was quite a ways, several hours from Santo Domingo, and we spent the day just walking around Puerto Plata, relaxing on the small beach by our hotel. The next day, we went to the place I've been waiting for since I left for the Dominican Republic: Los 27 Charcos. 27 Waterfalls!

Puerto Plata

The 27 Waterfalls

A natural rock slide

27 Waterfalls is located in the mountains near Puerto Plata. We took a guagua for most of the way, and then walked down a gravel road until another bus, this one full of our dearly missed English speakers, picked us up. Then, after we were armed with helmets, life vests, and old shoes, we started up the mountain. 20 minutes of climbing later, we
arrived!

The first few jumps off the waterfalls were small. You had to get warmed up, I suppose. But the place was beautiful. Rock rose up around us as we made our way down the river. Trees hung overhead as our hilarious guides joked with us in Spanish. And then we came upon our first, and the tallest, large waterfall. I wanted to be the first to jump, and the other interns let me take the risk! I climbed along a rocky ledge, aided by the guide, and then gazed down 25 ft. below me to the bottom. Under me, blue water. Beside me, large rocks. Don't jump too far! Jump straight in the middle! Surprisingly, I had no fear; just excitement. 3. 2. 1. ... Success! I plunged through the air, straight as a pencil, and landed safe and sound in the cool water below me. I came up laughing. The other interns followed suit!

We jumped off several more, and others we slid down, as the water shaped the rock into a perfect slide. Eventually, we reached the end, sliding down a rather long slope and plopping into the pool below us. This was one of my favorite parts. The area was beautiful. A wide and tall ledge loomed to our right, a large pocket carved into its side where we could sit and drink in the scenery. Large vines hung from the shrubbery above, and tree roots dangled like braids. We saw fish, shrimp, and crabs; dragonflies, butterflies, and all other kinds of insects. This place was beautiful, and I was so lucky to be able to experience it.

Jarabacoa

Jarabacoa is by far my favorite place that I have been able to visit in the DR. It's like a Dominican Colorado. It's the greenest place I've ever been in my life, with mountains looming on every side, and the feel of it is a tad different than most other Dominican cities. It's cleaner, for one; there are actually trash cans on the sidewalks for people to throw away their trash. There are less cat calls, which is always nice, and the air is cooler due to its high altitude. We also just happened to be there for the Festival de Flores (Flower Festival), which happens only once a year! There is a parade decorated with hundreds of flowers, complete with people dressed in bright colors and a Dominican marching band. At the actual festival, there are vendors selling flowers, jewelry, paintings, etc., and live music.

White Water Rafting

I can't decide if this was my favorite part of the trip or not, but it's definitely up there. Saturday morning, we set out for Rancho Baiguate, an adventure business in Jarabacoa that does everything from eco-walks to what we decided to do: rafting! We rode down the Yaque del Norte river, the longest in the Caribbean, to take on class 4 rapids with 5 girls and a tour guide. The Yaque river was...incredible. Everywhere here seems to be beautiful, but this river is almost indescribably beautiful. I saw more butterflies here than I have ever seen in one place in my life. Along the river, there would be 25 bright yellow butterflies swarming together in a bunch! They always flew past us, partnered with more dragonflies, guiding us further down the water's path. Mountains and trees surrounded us on every side as we weaved through the river. Rocks jutted up from the water, large and small, and the river itself was both very deep or very shallow depending on where you were along the path.

The rapids were fun! The first rapid that we came upon that was moderately difficult actually ended up halfway submerging our boat! No one fell out (yet), but we had to jump up and down to dislodge it from the rocks. There was one rapid that spun us around so fast I thought we would all fly out! We went through several, and then took a break on the shoreline for a snack. This is where I got to do another jump.

No one wanted to do this one with me, but I was excited. A large rock jutted up from the water, and I had to climb to the top, 30 or so feet up. I had seen the guide jump off (via back flip, which I would not be attempting), and asked if it was safe for me as well. Absolutely. You didn't have to tell me twice! This is the highest I had ever attempted before. I leapt, falling into the open air, whistling into the water. Despite the water that rushed up my nose, it was so worth it! A rush of adrenaline and laughter accompanied me the whole way.

After, we continued our way down the river. We came up on a particularly rocky and hard-to-navigate section of the river. "Down! Bajo!" the river guide demanded. Whoops! We lost one. There went Rebecca, over the side of the boat and into the river, practically in slow motion as we watched and tried to help. Thankfully, the river guide grabbed her life jacket and pulled her in before she got too far from the boat. Safe and sound, the rest of the way was fairly easy, and we took in the scenery around us. This day was an adventure for sure!

Salto de Jimenoa Uno

This morning, we set out at 9 a.m. to go find Salto de Jimenoa Uno, the largest waterfall in the area and the same one used in the Jurassic Park movie! We were told by a few locals that we might want to visit Salto de Jimenoa Dos because the trek was easier, but we were up for the challenge. In fact, we even convinced our taxi driver to come with us and be our guide (which is pretty cool that he agreed to come, seeing as he had a job to do. Go Dominicans!) The trail began high up in the mountains, and by foot we started down to the site, which we could see far off in the distance, already beautiful but nothing compared to up close. The descent was only slightly treacherous...we practically slid down 2,000+ ft. of rock. The path back up would be much harder.

When we got to the bottom, the trees broke and before us lay a wide expanse of massive rocks, the waterfall the perfect backdrop. A stream ran through the boulders, and we found a path that led to the small, rocky beach surrounding the giant falls. This place looked like it should have dinosaurs. I could almost see a pterodactyl sweep over above us. 

We took off our shoes and made our way into the water. It was icy cold, the coldest water we've had since arriving in the DR.  All around us was not so much greenery this time, but rocks. The massive stones were painted a myriad of different colors: purples, sand, browns, and golds. Trees gripped the rocks above the cliffs, and the sky was open above us. We stared for quite some time, awestruck.

I climbed a few of the boulders, feeling rather adventurous as I had no harness (sorry Mom and Dad), but the rocks had pretty good grips if you knew where to put your feet. Standing on the top, I could see in every direction of this place. The waterfall and the cliff, the stream that wandered into the distance, and the landscape of large boulders that crept around the unknowable corner. It was unlike any place I have seen before or am likely to see again.

Hesitant to leave, we started our way back up. I could now understand why the guides were reluctant to recommend the trek. It was almost completely vertical (or so it seemed)! We took several breaks, gulping down water and letting our hearts slow. By the time we reached our starting point, all 6 of us were drenched in sweat.

I think these have been the most venturesome days I've ever had! 

The Most Incredible Day

I woke up so early, 5:45 a.m., every part of my body groaning for more sleep. The heat, the long days, the strains of trying to understand a foreign language--they get to you. But man, am I glad now that I did get up. I had the most incredible day.

A Dominican guagua

I was at Mamá Tingó metro station at 7:00 a.m. and met my friend Megan and Cristian, the loan officer whose meeting we were going to that day. From the station, Cristian put us on a guagua that we were to ride all the way to the end of the route. (A guagua is basically a public van/bus. I've posted a pretty realistic picture of both the guaguas and motoconchos (see below) to the left and right!) We drove and drove and drove, and the further we went into the interior of the DR, the more I had the sense that I was on some sort of grand adventure, something reminiscent of King Kong or Narnia. Mountains rose up around me; greenery painted the landscape so rich a color it looked fake, like a Photoshopped image. I was already in awe, but little did I know what was in store for me next.

A motoconcho

We jumped off the guagua at the end of the route and soon thereafter located Cristian, who had arrived earlier by his motoconcho (motorcycle). Apparently, we hadn't arrived at the end of our route. At a colmado (corner store), we hired another motoconcho driver who Megan rode with while I hitchhiked with Cristian. I would have thought that I would be slightly afraid--even a little--but truly I was just excited. We were going up the mountain. And here I was, in the boondocks of the DR, riding on the back of a motoconcho, going up a mountain with the wind whipping past me and the sun (hopefully) tanning my skin.

As we rode up the mountain, what I saw astounded me. I was in the most beautiful place I have ever been. Mountains and pastures, cows and goats. I cannot describe to you the beauty of this place. The pictures taken from my iPhone don't do it justice. Not even close.

After a long trek up the mountain, dodging rocks and holes and who-knows-what-else, we arrived at the village. The main part of the town was located on a lower part of the mountain, complete with a small church, another colmado, and a few neighboring houses. We arrived quite early (as we didn't know how long the public transportation was going to take), so Cristian took us to meet some of Esperanza's associates that were receiving loans. At this point, we ditched the motoconchos and began up the mountain by foot.

The houses were small and spread out pretty far. The people in Yamasá mainly make their living from the cacao (coco) trees, but they also grow tobacco and yucca, a traditional Dominican food similar to potatoes. We met 5 associates as we made our way around the mountain. The thing that sticks with me about all of them is that upon our arrival, they immediately offered us their chairs. I don't know if it's just ingrained in the Dominican Way, but it touches me.

The associate that I most clearly remember was an old woman whose house was set against the slope of the mountain. Her home was made out of wood with a rusted tin roof. She was sweeping the dirt when we walked up. She greeted us with a smile, as all of the associates did, and showed us how she dried the cacao seeds to get them ready to sell. She then showed us inside her house. I only saw one room, the living room, which was small, only a wooden table and an old T.V. But there's an image that I want to describe to you. This woman was in front of her house, leaning against the old door that was almost off of its hinges, opening up into the small living room. A few bright streaks of paint still showed on the wood, though most of it had worn away from the weather, and the tin had streaks of rust that added to the charm of the house. She was standing there, broom in hand, smiling at us. I don't mean to sound overly romantic, but that smile was as beautiful as the greenery surrounding us.

I should have taken a picture. I didn't. I regret it.

We continued up the mountain, meeting more associates and learning about their lives (well, I was learning as much as I could with my language handicap). I saw the tobacco and yucca fields that stretched across the mountains, and I got to meet the families of the people who lived there. Coming back down the mountain, we ditched the dirt road and cut through the jungle. I'm not going to lie or hide my innate nerdiness, but I felt like Katniss in the jungle here. I even had my District 12 orange backpack on from my Halloween costume 2 years ago (Hey! I had to get some kind of use out of it!) Back down in the center of the village, we walked to the church to have the loan meeting. Roughly 10 people showed up, mainly women but 2 men in their midst, and followed the normal progression of the meetings: prayer, song, collection, chatting, and prayer. Sadly, our time in Yamasá was wrapping up.

We got back on the motoconchos and began to make our way back down the mountain. We stopped at another associate's house not far from the church, and they gave us a cacao fruit to try (which is incredibly sweet and delicious!). They gave us some to take home, along with other assorted fruits. I can't get over how giving these people are. They just want to share with us!

We started down again. However, a few minutes later, Megan and the other motorcyclist pulled up beside us. Did we want to go see the river before we left? You bet we did. We turned around and headed even deeper into the mountain, past the village and into the wilderness!

After a few minutes, we pulled off the dirt road and ditched the motorcycles again. We followed the river by foot, pushing aside brush and dirt, and eventually arrived at our destination: una cascada. A waterfall.

It was beyond beautiful. I wish the pictures portrayed even a 1/100th of the beauty of this place. Dragonflies glided alongside the water as the sun peaked through the trees. The waterfall fell into a pool below us, turquoise and deep. A large log was lodged in the pool just beneath the waterfall. We stayed for several minutes, and then our guide asked us if we could swim. Yup- we can! But apparently not here, because we started down another path alongside the river.

This path was harder. I actually fell into the river once--whoops--and my jeans were soaked. That didn't end up mattering, though, because a few minutes later we arrived at another waterfall, this one larger and taller. It, too, fell into a pool of water, close enough to wash our faces and arms. 10 minutes go by with laughs and smiles. And then we finally decided to actually do it: we jumped! Right into the pool of water beneath the waterfall, clothes and all. The cool water was such a respite from the heat, and there were no fish or snakes or any kind of animal swimming around with us; it was all ours.

If only every day were like this one!

First Impressions

My first week in the Dominican Republic is finally over, and wow-- what a week it has been! From merengue dancing in "Las Ruinas" to the small village of Duquesa that is located just a stone's throw away from the trash heap of all of Santo Domingo, I feel like I've seen it all, and yet I know that I've only scratched the surface of everything that the Dominican Republic has to offer.

I'd like to highlight just a few of the experiences that I've had that have really made an impact on me. I hope that what I have to share will somehow be valuable to those who are reading this.

1. God is with me.
The most prominent lesson that I have learned here was revealed to me in such a subtle way. Essentially, God has shown me that He is here with me. For those who don't know the level of my Spanish abilities, they are bad; really bad. Almost everyone has a hard time understanding what I'm saying, and I certainly have a hard time understanding them! This has been extremely frustrating to me because when you can't communicate with the people around you, 1) you don't know if you are misunderstanding something very important--to your safety, to the person who is talking, or to your understanding of the culture and its people; 2) it's a bit difficult to be yourself when you can't communicate through words. You have to resort to a lot of body language, smiling, and weird noises.

However, through all of that, God has had provisions for me in the most delicate of ways. I was originally placed in La Romana but was moved to Santo Domingo Norte because Esperanza has a lot of new staff in La Romana, and they wanted me to be with more experienced persons. Because Esperanza hadn't originally looked for a host-family for me there, I had to stay at Patricia's (one of Esperanza's employees that helps us interns get acquainted with the DR) house for one night. Patricia is fluent in English, and she could help translate when people spoke to me and it was obvious that I didn't understand. She explained a lot of things to me that would have been difficult to figure out on my own.

Also, another intern named Megan is working at Santo Domingo Norte for two weeks, which is incredibly helpful because Megan speaks Spanish very well (though she might disagree)! For those who are unfamiliar with the way this internship works, all of the interns are placed at different branches, so we are essentially alone in our respective offices, surrounded almost entirely by people who only speak Spanish. Though Megan is placed at the central office in central Santo Domingo, she is with me in the North for two weeks so she can visit some "campos" (the villages that we visit).  No other interns are together. So the fact that Megan and I are together right now is such a blessing from God! I have no idea how I would have figured out the metro, or where the office was, or what in the world people around me were saying without her! Another gift from God.

And lastly, when I was finally placed with my host-family in Santo Domingo Norte, I was placed with a family that is not only incredibly kind and helpful, but that has a son who speaks English very well. What a blessing! So while I'm still able to practice my Spanish all of the time, I know that I'm not missing something incredibly important because Javier (the son) can make sure that I understand by repeating it in English.

I know all of these things are a gift from God. He's showing me that He is taking care of me; that I can depend on Him even in a country where I know no one, when I don't speak the language (well), and in which whose customs are incredibly different from America's! So, for all of my friends and family who are reading this, I would encourage you to put your trust in God, as I have essentially been forced to do, because in the end, He is with you, too.

2. Work hard, but keep what is important in perspective.
If you have talked to me at any point in time over the last two years, I probably complained to you how stressed I was all of the time. Grades and school have been the primary stressor here, but there are other things as well, as with everyone's lives. Because I have been pushing myself so hard in school (usually a good thing, but it can [and most likely has] become a bad thing), I had essentially no time to focus on what was really important to me. These past two years I have hardly had any time to go to church (I don't even have a home church in Fort Worth) because I spend all of Sunday studying for school. While I have good friends at TCU, I hardly get to spend time with them outside of the classroom or take-home projects. I was able to see my roommates during short meals, but hanging out with them besides that was sparse. Robert and my family usually had to force me to relax and take a break.

And then I came here.

These people are some of the hardest working people I have seen, and yet they still make time for what is important. For example:

1) Esperanza has a mandatory 2-hour devotional every Monday in the office. That's right. Mandatory. 2 hours. In God's Word. A two-hour devotional is almost unheard of in America (at least in the places that I've been--get to an hour and 15 minutes and people start to get antsy). Despite everything that an organization like Esperanza needs to accomplish during the week, at the very beginning they start by centering themselves on Christ. That's a pretty amazing picture of devotion.

2) There is another employee at Esperanza that we will call "Jessica" because I didn't ask to share her story (so hopefully this is okay). Jessica shared her story of how she began working at the organization, and I was incredibly inspired and touched by it. Here's the short version, though some of my details might be a little shaky.

Jessica is incredibly intelligent (she didn't say so, but I thought you should know that about her). She works her butt off, but she gives all of her thanks to the Lord. But here's the thing: she didn't just say, "All thanks to God. I know it's from Him." Nope. I could tell, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she truly knew that God was the one who brought her to where she was today. She repeated it in her story several times. Jessica always knew that she wanted to work with microfinance, but of course right out of college that isn't what happened. Nope, God took her on a 12-year detour (or something close to that). She randomly heard about an interview with, we'll say, Super-Large-Company-X (aka: SLCX) and, not knowing what the company was, interviewed with them less than 2 hours after. Her interview, where she was dressed simply in what she had worn to work that day (not interview-ready), lasted only 15 minutes. She and one other got the job.

At SLCX, Jessica rotated jobs every 3-4 years not because she was bad at it, but because she always had another job offer within the company. The Lord gave her a ton of experience, and little did she know that she was being prepared for her work with Esperanza. Through a bit of a rabbit's trail, she met 2 men who wanted to start a micro-finance organization. Through them, she got connected with Esperanza. Just as she was offered another position at SLCX, one that she had been wanting for a very, very long time (where she had the ability to manage large projects), she was contacted by Esperanza for a job. She had to make a choice. Stay at SLCX, with a great career and great pay, or follow what she had always wanted to do? She chose the latter. Choose what is important to you.

All of this to say, Jessica worked incredibly hard, but she made time for what was truly important to her. Even while at SLCX, she used all of her vacation time to do missions. Wow. Okay--even with an incredibly busy schedule (and I can hardly say that my schedule compares to the weight of hers), she makes time for what she values. As should I.

3) My host family. The Guerrero family owns a restaurant, and the father also does freelance graphic design. My older sister here, Claudia, just graduated college on Saturday. Javier, my older brother here, is currently studying at a university. All members of the family help Nelly (my host-mother and the chef of the restaurant) run their business, and all help out at home. Even after their busy days (and Dominicans have very long days! My body is so tired!), they all come together in the evenings to spend time with one another. It's a beautiful family dynamic, and a great picture of a loving family centered on what is important.

4) "The poor" here are so...rich. I hate to be cliché, but I guess there's a reason that that is said so often. These people have so little materially, and yet they freely give me whatever they have. A chair, a mango, a tour of their home, their stories. While they work hard to grow their businesses and gain more materially, their goal is to support their family and friends. The goal is not to be richer; the goal is to more richly live. And they are living more richly than many of us in the United States. They sit out on their porches and laugh with each other. They take the time to care for those they don't even know (aka: me). They show me all that they have done and worked for, and then they tell me why the purpose behind it.

All of this is a challenge to me and everyone I know to survey the intentions behind our works. Our work can become so much more meaningful, and our lives so much richer, if we stay centered on what is important: loving God and loving others.

¿Qué es "Esperanza Internacional"?

¡Hola a todos!

This is going to be my official blog about my time in the Dominican Republic. For those of you who don't know, I am working with a micro-financing organization this summer called Esperanza Internacional (aka: "Hope International") as an intern in their Operations Department. What Esperanza does is pretty amazing--they provide small loans (usually around $250 dollars in the Dominican Republic) to local entrepreneurs who don't have the money nor resources that they need to start their own businesses and thus provide for their families. A large majority of their associates are women. This is because mothers are typically the ones who provide the money for their children to eat, become educated, etc. Esperanza also provides other services as well, such as health services, education, literacy classes, water filtration loans, etc. Their focus is on holistic transformational development that is centered on Christ; basically, this is the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to work with them, and I feel incredibly blessed that they let me come!

My main job while I'm here will be auditing one of their specific branches (more on this later), but I also will be able to go out into "el campo" (the field) to see the businesses of all of the local entrepreneurs that Esperanza works with. I'll get to record their stories, take their pictures, and just learn about their lives--and then send my findings to both Esperanza and Kiva, one of Esperanza's major partners. I'll also add some of those stories here :)

That's all for now! I'll be posting some of the experiences that I've already had in just a little while, but for now, I'm going to go make some more memories en este momento!