The Dominican Republic … And Homestays!

The Dominican Republic was definitely one of my favourite ports so far. We were docked at the end of a broken down concrete jetty in the middle of nowhere. On the first day in port, we found a pick-up truck taxi to take us into the city of Semana. I feel guilty to admit that, as always, our priority was food and internet. We found a beautiful resort on the top of this hill with an all-you-can-eat buffet. We must have had at least three dinners each. Plus dessert. After a long sail, we are ALWAYS hungry.

We were all very excited to head out on our three-night homestays. A couple of open-air busses came to pick us up at the ship and we headed off. Our first stop was a waterfall hike. We trudged through the mud and waded across rivers until we reached a beautiful waterfall. It was PACKED with people. We learned later that a private jet full of rich Europeans had landed for a forty-eight hour trip. They were all couples and several professional photographers were darting around taking very staged pictures that made their subjects look like models. You would have to be there to fully appreciate the humour of it, but it was HYSTERICAL.

We carried on in the busses for a couple more hours until we reached the community of Las Tarrenas. Las Tarrenas is a unique community comprised of touristy hotels, villas that house a very international community and native Dominicans, some of which live below the poverty line. Some social issues prevalent in the Dominican Republic include teenage and child prostitution as well as illiteracy. While we were there we worked with the Mahatma Ghandi Foundation (http://fundacionmahatmagandhi.com/) on a couple of short service projects. During our stay we volunteered at the local library and preschool, we painted several houses located in poor neighbourhoods around the community and we built a couple of teeter-totters (the first playground in Las Tarrenas). The volunteering that we did was really exciting and rewarding as the impact of our work on the community was very obvious.

I volunteered by painting houses and it was really fun. We painted one house that belonged to a young single woman with five children. We couldn’t get the whole story as we had a bit of a language barrier (the D.R. is a Spanish speaking country) but she was very grateful. Something as simple as a coat of paint can make a wooden shack look comfortable and inviting. However, this work did make a little uncomfortable. I felt as though we were these ‘rich people’ from America, storming into their barrios, painting houses and then leaving again. I suppose that’s just the reality when it comes to doing short-term service.

By the way, the beaches in Las Tarrena are INCREDIBLE. We had tons of fun splashing around in the shallows and lounging on the beach. In the evenings, we had dance lessons at an outdoor restaurant right on the water. We learned some merengue, bachata and salsa from a couple of (very attractive) professional dances. It was a riot!

Another wonderful aspect of our time in the Dominican Republic was our accommodation. We were really excited that we got to stay in actual homes for the first time in six months! Another girl and I stayed with a retired couple from France in a lovely villa. They were very generous. The homestay hostess, Annie, made us café au lait on the stove and fresh yogurt cake (don’t worry, I have the recipe) every morning. Added bonus … they had internet! It was also a great way for us to brush up on hour French as neither of them spoke very much English. C’était formidable!

All in all, it was a great visit. We topped it off our visit to the DR by marching in the local parade for “Carnival” with the foundation. It was all great fun. J I am definitely coming back.