Day: September 2, 2016
Exploring Luperon
Yesterday morning began with Jude and Mycah taking an Aikido class. One of the cruisers teaches it twice a week and our friend, Suzanne teaches yoga three times a week. Once they returned we set out in the dinghy, caravanning with our friends on s/v Consort (Allen and Cheri), to explore Luperon. I have to mention that we have fallen in love with this place, the people and the culture. Guava trees are everywhere, so as we walked along we ate guavas off the trees. Tons of mango trees are everywhere as well.
We immediately adopted a sweet little local woman who accompanied us all day long. She showed us a place with amazing local food…beans, rice and fried chicken to die for.
One of the most important tasks of the day was to try out their ice cream. We do this in every country we go to and so far the only one we’ve been disappointed in has been Turks and Caicos. Our favorite is still Mexico, but Dominican Republic is right up there now!
I got a scoop of tres leeches and a scoop of dulce de leche, and it was divine! For 12 ice cream cones it was $10. We decided we could afford to do this every day!!!
Luperon is such a quaint little town with beautiful, happy and loving people.
They mostly ride small motorcycles and the buildings are cement or corrugated metal. As usual, I love all the color.
We wanted to make sure we found humanitarian work to do, and came across the school. An elderly woman named Altagracia, has opened up part of her home to use as a school. She is single, takes care of her parents and has no financial help for the school. We were having difficulty communicating with her so i called my friend, Elayne, told her what we wanted to do and communicated through her on the phone. Altagracia said that her roof leaks terribly, and floods her home and classroom, and she needs to paint but has no money for it.
The blue section is her home area and the white, the school area.
Looking up at the ceiling, we could see many holes.
We told her we would bring our husbands back and with them, figure out a way to try and help. Her eyes glistened as she told us she goes to church all the time and prays that God would send help. I couldn’t help putting my arms around her and giving her a hug and a big kiss on the forehead. What a beautiful, humble, giving soul. On Saturday afternoon we will be returning to her.
We found a fruit stand and purchased enough fruit for a nice big fruit salad for dinner.
On our walk back to the dinghy we passed more laundry on lines, lots of dogs, a checkers game using bottle caps and happy people. We love this place so much.
When we returned to Tanda Malaika we enjoyed a delicious salad for dinner and the girls showered on the stern. Life is good!
Adventures of a Tribe 