Back to La Isabela

If you remember this post a while back, then this one should look a little familiar...

There was a "co-pay" (meaning CIEE arranges transportation and we pay for food and any entrance fees) trip to La Isabela and Playa el Castillo (for us gappers, a return trip). The day was like a shot-for-shot remake of the first time just us gap year students went - the same story about Columbus and the other early settlers, the ruins of La Isabela being bullzoed into the ocean on multiple occasions, and a walk through the little museum in the park. A group shot of the (remaining) gap year and liberal arts students:

Hopefully you can still recognize me. 

Just like our first visit, we headed to Playa el Castillo after el Parque Nacional La Isabela, and this time I actually have photos to prove it! (I also opted for the fish for lunch - which was amazing and one of the best decisions I've ever made. I really cannot get enough of the food here; it's always incredible!) 

Crystal clear waters here. I didn't think places like this really existed either.

I was actually there!

And, of course, just like the first time, we headed to another beach - Playa Grande - for only an hour or so afterwards and walked around on rocks:

Me, Cricket, and Anna - one of the liberal arts students - trying to find the best place to step without crushing too many hermit crabs.

And, as expected, we all felt the same way me, Cricket, and Avy felt after our initial trip to La Isabela and the beaches - exhausted. Spending the entire day at the beach is hard work. 

Cricket and I rested up, though, and went out the following night with two other liberal arts kids, Jaime and Emery, both of whom are hilariously entertaining (and, unbeknownst to us, both of them live literally down the street). We walked down to the monument where everybody else hangs out - families, friends, couples - and walked around for a while before the boys had to get their first round of food. There are dozens of pop-up restaurants and food carts in the parking lots around the monument, so we headed there. Good and fed, we walked a few blocks away to a pool hall to meet up with a girl from another study abroad program who was friends with Jaime and afterwards headed to a bar to hang out with the manager, José, another friend of Jaime and Emery and also a student at PUCMM. Somehow several hours had passed, so another feeding was in order. Headed back to the monument and got to have my first taste of yaroa - possibly the most magnificent street food in the world. Basically, it's just plantains (or FRENCH FRIES) topped with ground beef and tomato sauce, and cheese all over the top. It's amazing. 

The following weekend we got to go on another beach trip (I'm actually learning things here too) to one of the more isolated beaches on the island, Playa Ensenada. Like all the other beaches here, Playa Ensenada was beautiful, but what was really awesome about it was that you could take a half hour boat ride out to this tiny island and snorkel in the coral reefs around it for about $10 USD. 

 On our way to snorkel!

The tiny island. I told you it was tiny.

Lynne brought her waterproof camera so she got some really cool underwater shots:

...so you get an idea of what we got to see. You can't tell from these pictures but the current and the waves that day were strong. It was actually slightly terrifying trying to swim and also snorkel for the first time. But also awesome! Happy to pay the ten bucks to do it.

Unfortunately, after feeling completely fine and healthy during my day at the beach, the rest of my Halloween weekend did not go so smoothly...got to enjoy a bout of food poisoning/stomach flu/something equally horrible Saturday and Sunday - which I'm not pretty sure I caught from one of the kids at the guardaría...but I felt completely fine by Monday. Glad the first time I was sick here only lasted for a day or so! It's no fun being sick when it's warm out.

You can expect a slew of posts over the next few days - I've got to catch before I leave for my rural week in La Piedra on Saturday! More details to come...

Charcos!

Let's start with this: www.27charcos.com

The Friday after our weekend in Constanza, we headed north for a day trip to the 27 Charcos near Puerto Plata. "Charco" translates to "puddle" or "pool" - as in the pool beneath a waterfall. So the 27 Charcos is basically a connecting group of 27 waterfalls and the "charcos" beneath them - all of which are a part of the Río Damajagua that runs through Puerto Plata.

Anyway, we brought our river shoes, got our life jackets and helmets and started our hike to the first waterfall. There are no pictures from this excursion, unfortunately - we had to do a lot of swimming along the way and no one's camera would've survived. But the pictures on their website give you a good idea. It's also hard to capture the terror you feel when standing almost thirty feet above a pool you're about to jump into to in a picture. Yes, thirty feet. (Well, I think it was more like twenty-six.) That was the highest jump we made of the day and it was pretty terrifying. And awesome. It's a weird feeling, that moment before you jump, because it feels so against your human nature to just wildly jump off of something when you know you're already safe where you are! But it was still very, very fun.

We also got to slide down some of the smaller waterfalls, which was also amazing. (Even though I hit my head on the last one...) Afterwards we headed back to the visitor's center for a fabulous buffet lunch (all the food here is incredible, all the time in case I haven't made that clear) just as it started to rain. All in all a pretty amazing day. The first of many more awesome excursions.

Unfortunately, the next week's excursion I wasn't able to go on because I was sick...This one was to another waterfall/charco, actually - Charco de los Indios.

Stolen from Cricket.

Cricket went and said it was pretty sweet - and it looks like it. There's a big reddish colored rock in the center of the photo that archaeologists believe is was remains of a face sculpted by the Taínos, the native people of Hispaniola. I wish I had more to say about this place but I just don´t know much else about it unfortunately - I missed the lecture everyone got on the way there....but I know it sure looks interesting!

It's been forever, I know.

And I'm sorry about that. So. I don't really have an excuse...I've been busy? Somewhat true.

This weekend the Liberal Arts students, me, and Cricket are going to Samaná, a town in the east on the Samaná peninsula. We'll be there the whole weekend, so hopefully on Monday I will have plenty of pictures and stories to make a blog post...

Anyway, as far as anyone reading this is concerned, I'm still in Constanza. So, day two:

A delicious buffet breakfast (of course) before we set off for the Aguas Blancas waterfall nearly an hour-and-a-half away. We drove up bumpy, bumpy roads in "safari" style, meaning in seats in the bed of a pick-up. It's hard to explain exactly...this is where taking more pictures probably would've come in handy. Here's a view from said safari truck though:

What an ugly country. (Kidding!)

I did take pictures of the waterfall that we got to though...

 You'll notice some people swimming in the pool beneath the waterfall in this one. There's a reason I wasn't - it was freezing. Literally, it was below 32 degrees.

Taken by Lynne Guitar. 

Me, Sarah, and Andrea.

We stayed at the waterfall for about an hour, had some ham&cheese sandwiches and juice boxes, felt like we were in second grade, it was awesome.

That was pretty much the highlight of that day...had lunch back at the hotel, took a nap in the afternoon, BBQ-style dinner...The next day we were all super tired but me and pretty much all of the other girls decided to go into the actual town of Constanza which was pretty uneventful and *ahem* boring. It really is just a town in the middle of nowhere - what's exciting there is all the outdoorsy activities, not the little town.

And now I'll be taking a quick homework break (which I actually have today, crazy, I know) and then I'll be back to write another post...