A trip out east

Don't you just love 4 day weekends?!

So school ended on Wednesday with many blows into the handkerchief, and it truly was a sad occasion. To say goodbye and not know if that will be the last hug shared is quite a depressing thought. My students and I were all a mess of teary eyes, and it was so touching just to see them understand and feel so moved remembering all the times we've shared together. I had trouble finding the words to express just how much I love them. I've been blessed to have had the best 2nd grade classes ever to exist during my 2 years here!

Luckily I had an exciting weekend to look forward to, so I didn't have too much time to dwell in misery before it was off to Samana! Specifically we were headed to Las Terrenas, a cute little touristy town with a big French influence located right on the water. I went with my frie

nd Katie who borrowed her ex-bf's car for the trip so we wouldn't have to deal with public transportation (riding 26 to a van meant for 10? nooooo thank you). It was a great drive and the views are amazing

from the mountains you cross right before you get to Las Terrenas. There are just palm trees and rolling hills of green grass everywhere. Beautiful countryside.

Now we had 2 goals for this trip-we wanted to go see El Salto de Limón (a gigantic waterfall) and Los Haitises (a national park made up of mangrove forests and cool caves). And we accomplished them both! We were so impressed, because 1/2 of the time when you travel you just have to accept that not everything you want to do is going to become a reality. But we got lucky this time!

To get to El Salto de Limón we had to take a short horse ride with a guide through the forest, and that was probably the worst part for me. The horse I got stuck with was a jerk, plain and simple. He didn't seem to understand that I didn't enjoy riding with my legs scrapping along the barbed wire fence, or that galloping over logs at full speed without a helmet wa

s not my ideal way to go. On the way back I happily switched horses, and I got to ride on one named Mantequilla (Butter). And he was appropriately named-smooooth! Much better experience on the return trip.

So after a 45 minute horse ride we got to the top of the mountain and could see the waterfall gushing down below. We climbe

d down and were just stunned into silence by this waterfall. I've never seen anything like it. It's not really 1 waterfall but more like hundreds of tiny little ones because of all the rocks jutting out that split the river into more and more cascades. Most of the rocks are covered with green moss, so it gives a beautiful color to the whole waterfall.

After an easy horse ride back, the ranch feeds you a delicious (and BIG) Dominican lunch of rice, beans, salad, and chicken. Yum!

We were feeling pretty pumped after that and wanted to check out a nearby beach our guide book had recommended. We asked the cook how to get there and she just stared at us with her mouth open. "You want to go there?!? Just the two of you?!? But that's so dangerous!" She told us that we needed to take a guide to protect us because it's a beach just in the middle of

nowhere. Someone else had told us we needed a guide, but we assumed they were just looking for money and a job. This woman we trusted though, and she recommended her friend who came along with us. It was a little weird thinking back, because essentially we paid a man $6 to be our bodyguard for the afternoon while we bathed in the ocean. I feel like that's something P. Diddy does, not 2 nobodies from the States! But I'm glad we had him along because it literally was in the middle of NOTHING. Of course, that meant it was untouched by tourists and just gorgeous :D

Then the next day we set off early in the morning for Los Haitises. I've been told you can

walk in the park, but we were going mainly through the mangrove forests so it was more or less just a boat ride for us. The boat took us to some different teeny tiny beaches and a bunch of big caves. We got to see some cool Taino (the "Indian" natives to the island) drawings on the walls, though at times I doubted the authenticity of some of them...No placards around, and the guide couldn't really remember much about their discovery. Hmmm...tourist trap?!

But all in all it was just a fantastic trip. Hostel on the beach, some killer shopping deals, plus a couple close calls...

And just when I thought this country couldn't get any more fantastic!