Week #8

November 12 - 19

Just yesterday, on Monday, we started volunteering at the International School here in Las Terrenas! Last week we had a talk with Paul and Audrey about our schedules at the dive shop, and it was agreed that Kira and I will only come in when specifically told to for diving or if they really need hands doing something else. This gave us a lot more free time to do other, more productive things with our time here. Kira reached out the Mahatma Gandhi foundation here in Las Terrenas about us possibly volunteering with them. They run the international school with the goal of giving an equal education to students of all races, backgrounds, and socioeconomic statuses. The school is 50% lower income local Dominican and Haitian students and 50% other students- mostly European students with families that moved here. Kira and I are helping with the pre-school and kindergarten classes because it seems that is where they need the most help.





It has been a challenge, because it is always hard to get kids this age to listen, but it is especially difficult when they speak different languages! Some of whom don't speak English or Spanish but only Haitian French or Turkish! It has been a good, fun challenge though and we both feel like we're being more effective at the school than sitting around the dive shop. It is nice to be around laughter and kids playing for a change.







On Saturday we went to Samana. I got to do my first deep dive to 40 meters at the first dive site which was super cool. We went to the normal wall there, but then kept going deeper past 18 meters until 25 to the bottom of it, and then into a trench bellow all the way down to 40 meters. Thinking about going down that deep seems pretty scary but it actually wasn't bad at all. It was quieter down deep and was also easier to equalize my ears. On the second dive, Kira and I again dove around the coral gardens near the wreck and stood up coral that had fallen over.

On Monday night the residents of Las Terrenas held a candle light vigil protest here. In 2012, the hospital that used to be here was knocked down with the promise that a new one would be built right away. The government started construction on it, but stopped in 2016 and hasn't started up again since. So, before sundown, people went up and down the streets setting up candles along the curb. When it got dark these thousands of candles were lit and the streets had a magical yet sad glow. There are about 25,00 people in Las Terrenas during the low season and this number almost doubles during high season, yet there is still not big public hospital, which is unacceptable. I am so grateful for my access to medical care and all the resources we have back home. It was powerful to watch the whole city come together though in support of this cause.







We still go to the beach a lot. I am definitely going to miss being able to pay $1 and be at the beach five minutes after leaving my house! Missing fall is hard but I assure you I am still loving the warm weather here!!

Week #7

November 7 - 11

Sorry it had been so long since I have written! It’s crazy to me that we’re more than halfway through and the weeks are going by faster now. I miss people at home a lot and I will miss thanksgiving with everybody, but it is definitely still so nice to be in the warmth of the tropics!

This week I had three more dives, meaning I have now been on seven dives total. After Samana on Monday and Playa Eden on Tuesday (which are in the last post), I went to Samana on Thursday to begin training for my advanced certification. I was able to count the two dives towards two of my training dives - a boat dive and a wreck dive. I really feel now that I am able and confident diving on my own which is exciting for me! Then, Kira and I went back to Samana on Sunday. For the first dive, Kira, Wendy, and I snorkeled and went on land to the little island in the bay there called La Farola. There are paths made and a lookout point for whale watching season. It takes probably less than 15 minutes to walk around the whole island but there are beautiful rock faces and butterflies all over. Then we dove at the wreck and Kira and I spent about 50 minutes standing up corals that had fallen over in the coral gardens all around the wreck. The day was tiring, but satisfying and it was cool to try some new things and do some marine conservation as well!







On Friday we went to a nearby freshwater lake for the first time. It's called La Noria and it is quite small but beautiful and the freshwater felt great! It is somewhat hidden down a path off the road and there is a tree you can jump off of into the water which is fun.



On Saturday I went to get my nails done (after Kira got hers done on Thursday without me while I was at Samana haha) at the O.P.I. nail salon here in Las Terrenas which is super nice and clean and organized and cheaper than at home!

Week #6

October 29 - November 6

Hard to believe but halfway through! 6 weeks down and 6 to go and I finally got my open water diving certification this week!!! 

I did 3 more dives this week- one at Playa Eden, the same place as my first dive, and two at Samana, where I had snorkeled before but never dove. On the first dive at Samana you can swim over to a wall of coral and the second dive is a shallow wreck dive. I practiced more skills on each of these dives. At the wall we saw a bunch of brightly colored fish and awesome brain coral. The wreck at Samana is a ferry that sunk about 15 years ago carrying too much cement over to the island nearby- Cayo Levantado- for the all-inclusive resort. It is covered in fish and surrounded by coral gardens as well which is awesome! It felt good to see interesting things on my dives this week.

Besides diving, we didn’t do that much at work this week. We went a couple times to check the visibility at the beaches near the dive shop by snorkeling because Paul told us to, but it was pretty much busy work to get us out of the way. The visibility was not clear at all, and so we were unable to get in more dives in Las Terrenas. 

In unrelated to work news- the real date of Halloween was this week, and the main tourist clubs had Halloween costume parties with full out skeleton and spider web decorations. All the Dominicans were in costumes even though it was a Wednesday, but they didn’t care! 

In other news we also mailed in our absentee ballots this week! 

Week #5

October 22- 28

(Sorry there are more pictures coming!)

So sorry everybody it has been so long since I've written!! I am still alive and happy and having a good and busy time here in Las Terrenas surviving the heat and mosquitoes! As for our fifth week here, we didn’t actually do that much, although I did also have my first real dive in the ocean which was exciting! We did some skills but mostly just swam around at the beach close to the dive shop called Playa Eden (it was a shore dive). There isn't much to see there, but it was good to get more skills in. This dive isn't that deep, only around 7 meters at the maximum depth which was actually good for my first dive. The visibility was much clearer than I have seen it before, but not as clear as it could have been. 

Although the actual date of Halloween wasn’t this week, on Saturday the volunteers had a Halloween costume party where we carved pineapples and watermelons! (Almostttt as good as my moms party - just kidding it was nowhere close, but we still had fun!) 

We spent our time off this week at Playa Bonita almost every day, as it is super easy for us to get to and still always amazing to jump into the refreshing ocean! We love staying at the beach to watch the sunset even though there are many many mosquitoes out as it gets dark! Watching the sun come down through the palm trees though is always beautiful.