the irony of foreigners taking native Dominicans on trips in their own country

Like any other school, the DREAM summer school had field trips for the kids. A lot of places along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic are set up for tourists, and thus set up for tourist prices, but DREAM takes the students to 'see the sights' in their own country. Seriously so cool. As a teacher, I wasn't in charge of any particular group of kids, so I usually didn't accompany them on their trips (due to a money/time factor), but I did get to go to Teleferico.
Teleferico is a cable car that goes up the Mount Isabel de Torres in Puerto Plata, giving a SPECTACULAR view of the city, the ocean, etc. The day before my group was scheduled to go there was a lot of wind and rain from a tropical wave (which apparently is less intense than a tropical storm), and so I was praying for clear skies.

TA-DA! Clear skies

So we got on the bus and headed for the adventure. The kids were really excited. Heck, I was excited. But I contained it better.

percussion music while we were waiting

The really great thing about this country is that almost every picture I take looks amazing because the country is SOOO pretty.





[Here I break from chronology and go for thematic]

At the end of the summer camp, the students wanted to hang out with us some more, so a handful of the volunteers decided to take them to the beach near the school. 10ish adults (that would be the volunteers) and 50ish kids. I am so glad no one got hurt.

Funny story from this enterprise: a  young boy offered me a wrapped piece of candy, and had one for himself as well. He tossed the wrapper on the ground, and I told him (in Spanish) "Don't throw the trash there. We need to protect the land." His reply: "Okay, let's put it in the ocean." :) I don't think the message on littering got through.