Republica Dominicana

One of the highlights of our job is the opportunity to work with students from all over the world. After three months of learning about their cultures, their languages, and their personalities, these students become part of our family, our international summer family, as we call them. When the summer has ended and they tearfully leave Creede to return home, we part with promises that Marc and I will come visit them in their home countries someday. In February 2016, we got our first chance to make good on one of these promises. 

While planning our trip to Puerto Rico, one of our servers, Antonio was adamant, "No, you must come to Dominican Republic instead! Our beaches are much more beautiful!" he gushed. Well, who are we to say no to a pitch like that? So we hopped a quick one-hour flight to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. We're not that good at saying goodbye to vacation, anyway, so we figured we'd extend it!

While these two islands are less than 250 miles apart, roughly the distance from St. Louis to Kansas City, they are uniquely distinctive in many ways. Upon arriving at the airport in Santo Domingo, I realized that this was the place that I would get the chance to practice my Spanish! The woman at the car rental company looked upon us with the eyes of a concerned mother. "Es tu primera vez aqui?" Yes, it was our first time there. It seemed she felt she should shoulder a bit of the responsibility for renting us a car and sending us out onto the dark streets of the Dominican Republic to find a "friend's house" where we were allegedly staying.

Luckily for us, Antonio and his mother and father, the accommodating hosts that they are, were meeting us outside the airport. 

Our first stop? A late-night dinner, of course! Apparently we had arrived in another country that feels very passionately about its food, and for good reason! 

According to Antonio and his family, the D.R. is the TRUE birthplace of mofongo. 

 Now we knew from experience that Antonio was pure hospitality, but it was clear to us after a day with his family that he came by it naturally. He put us up at his home in San Pedro de Macoris, and his mother cooked extravagant meals for us!

On the second day there, we were joined by Antonio's partner in crime, Sharina. Sharina worked for me as a cook at Cascada, and we were beyond thrilled to reconnect with her!

We loved the D.R., as the locals call it. At the risk of sounding redundant, this is an extremely colorful country full of life, in love with food and dancing, and exceptionally welcoming. Sharina, Antonio, and family took us to tour the capital, Santo Domingo and the Cueva de las Maravillas (the cave of wonders), which was remarkably reminiscent of the caves of the Midwestern US. 

We joined in the festivities of Antonio's sister's birthday party, complete with all the traditional food of the D.R. 

And we ate more than our fair share of street food- empanadas, tostones. Yum! We were in food heaven.

Santo Domingo is a stunning city with cobblestone streets lined with old Spanish architecture. This city is home to the oldest paved street in the New World, dating back to 1502.

As we traveled through the streets of the D.R. with our resident tour guides, we counted ourselves lucky to be able to experience this place off the beaten tourist path. We realized that the majority of tourists who visit this beauty island were more or less contained to the resorts. Beautiful, sprawling complexes in locations such as Punta Cana and Puerto Plata house everything you need for a tropical beach vacation, all without ever having to travel outside the walls of the resort. 

Visiting the D.R. and staying with friends enabled us to navigate the hectic local roads by car, weaving between mopeds loaded down with a family of four, two bags of groceries, and a full propane tank. And let me tell you, Marc drove like a true Dominican. He forever has my respect for his ability to mange those roads with a cool head.

We got to experience el Malecon, the ocean boardwalk, on a Friday night, so packed with cars and people playing music, dancing in the street, yelling to one another, that you could barely make your way through. This way of visiting another country, through the eyes of its local residents, gave us a new appreciation for travel.

We had the joy of meeting Sharina's mother and father at their home in the country where they cooked us a hearty stew, fed us sugar cane, and treated us as if we were their own. It is clear to me now why when I asked Sharina in Creede what she missed most about home she said without hesitation, "mi familia." Her family. Yes, her family is one to be missed.

 

We wrapped up our last night in the D.R. in a manner that would make any Dominican proud, dancing the bachata. And no party is complete without a friendly game of limbo, which I dominated, of course!

Our trip to the D.R. was one that will stay with us forever. The warmth and hospitality that we felt not only from our friends but their families and friends, as well, was way beyond anything we could have expected. It reaffirmed something that I already knew in my heart to be true, these people are our family.

Puerto Rico!

After reconnecting with Jody and Carter in Creede, we decided that we should all venture out together for a beach vacation. What better place than Puerto Rico! Beautiful beaches, tropical rain forest, and apparently no threat of poisonous spiders or snakes (big plus in Marc's book). 

It was a no-brainer.

We flew into San Juan and stayed for a night before meeting up at the art museum to pose for some artsy photos. 

San Juan is a vibrant, colorful city full of good food, music, and active people. The art museum was beautiful as were the many street art murals that we encountered on our walks. 

After our night in San Juan, we met up with Jody's friend Victorino and his wife Gloria. They were very gracious hosts, putting us up in their beach condo and taking us on a tour of their beautiful island.

One of our day trips was to El Yunque forest. This is the only tropical rain forest within the national forest system. We enjoyed a breathtaking hike up through the forest to a peak overlooking the vast expanse of trees.

Arriving at the top, the clouds were as thick as a wall making it impossible to see the land and sea below. But as we sat to catch our breath, the clouds suddenly cleared revealing a lush landscape of green covered mountains cascading down to the piercing blue water of the Atlantic.

 

 

Puerto Rico is a island steeped in rich culture, much of which revolves around food. We enjoyed tender white fish with savory coconut rice, decadent mofongo, and of course, our share of pina coladas. Mm-mm! Now I am not much for too-sweet drinks, but a pina colada made with fresh pineapple juice and cream of coconut, that's island life.

Puerto Rico is a fascinating crossroads of American conveniences and tropical island nuances. We were incredibly comfortable traveling here, a short flight- no currency exchange, and even though I wanted to practice my Spanish, I was hard-pressed to find someone who didn't want to speak English with me.

On the other hand, the Puerto Rican people identify strongly with their culture, their history, and their island. Although they are enduring an increasingly difficult economic situation, the sense of pride was palpable. And we were, in turn, proud to visit such a place.

After a few days on the main island, we boarded an island hopper and flew the eight bumpy miles to the Isla de Vieques. 

Vieques is a small island measuring 21 miles long and 4 miles wide. Many wild horses and roosters call Vieques their home, and the island is mainly undeveloped, free from any large resorts or fancy hotels. 

One of the most stunning sights on Vieques is the bioluminescent bay. This bay full of microscopic dinoflagellates was recorded as the brightest in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2008. We were fortunate enough to book our kayak tour of the bay on a moonless night in February when the sky was clear and the stars mirrored the water in a glittering show of lights. This was by far the highlight of our trip to Vieques, although it's something you will have to go and discover for yourself as cameras do little to capture this phenomenon.

If the tiny Isla de Vieques isn't on your vacation radar, you're not alone. This island has only been open to the public since 2003. Before 2003, Vieques was home to the Puerto Rico Naval Training Range. The eastern end of the island was used for live training exercises, ship-to-ship gunfire, air-to-ground bombing, and US Marine amphibious landings starting in the 1940's. Over ten years have passed since the departure of the Navy, and the island is still undergoing the slow cleanup process. Sadly, the residents of Vieques suffer from higher than normal rates of illness such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The US Navy eventually conceded to using depleted uranium and Agent Orange on the island but to this day fail to acknowledge any link between the use of these toxins and the increased rate of illness on the island.

Hearing this may deter some visitors, but there is a flipside to the US Navy's sordid past in Vieques. The eastern half of the island has been set aside as a National Wildlife Refuge as the Navy continues to clean up its mess. This area is free of development and is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. 

The past is never far from your mind, however, as signs like these warning of the dangers that may lay on the ocean floor are posted throughout the Wildlife Refuge. We can only hope that the Navy will continue to try to rectify its actions and do right by the beautiful Isla de Vieques.

No beach vacation is complete without a human sandcastle! 

Vieques is a colorful island in many ways. 

"My mother taught me to love this land."

This tree deserves a jump. It is the revered Ceiba Tree, and it is just over 300 years old!

Some of the local residents of Vieques having lunch.

We hike through the ruins of a sugar mill...

and visited a spooky old military bunker that reminded us of something out of the show Lost.

We enjoyed our time in Puerto Rico and on the Isla de Vieques. It definitely makes the list of places we will return in the future. We bid farewell to Jody and Carter as they headed home and we headed to Puerto Rico's western neighbor, the Dominican Republic.