Kids camp, beach and... the Red Cross?

Last weekend was an absolute blast. While weeks here may be hard to get through, the weekends are always an adventure. Lindsey and I made a pact to spend weekends together so that we can travel, get out of the house and generally feel like free individuals.

On Saturday, Lindsey and I went to a one-day kids camp that a local church was doing. When I say camp, many of us think of archery, crafts, bible lessons, etc. Dominican camp seemed more to be about letting the kids run around in a new area, rather than just the street. They did play a few bible games, handed out candy, sang bible songs as a contest, played soccer and baseball. We also went on a walk looking for a river/mangos, which turned out to be pointless as there was neither close by. The church service seemed to be more geared for the adults than kids, but I think they just don´t have a differentiation between the two. The pastor went around yelling at the kids to lift their hands in praise, which was scary and hysterical at the same time. At one point, he even grabbed a tree branch and chased a few. There are a lot of things I dont agree with about churches and Christians here, but I guess they would feel the same about us. Overall though, it was a very fun day, filled with casual activity. I even got up the courage to teach the kids how to play duck, duck, goose (pato, pato, ganso) like I had learned in Costa Rica, which was great to watch.

The next day we went to Miches, a beach about an hour away. After a little scare from my mom, Lindsay and I set out, traveling by motoconcho (like motorbike-taxis) to the bus station and then by bus through the hills to the beach. The view was breath-taking and the beach was fairly empty since it has yet to be developed for tourism. We met a few guys from the Red Cross and soon learned that pretty much all the people on the beach were with them. After 3 hours of laying out and swimming, we hitched a ride back in the Red Cross truck with the 30 volunteers. Though they had originally told us we were going to another beach for a little while, we soon realized that we were on our way back to El Seibo. So the day at the beach turned into only 3 hours at the beach. In hindsight, it was probably a blessing because my waterproof/sweatproof sunscreen was just melting off me. I came home only to realize my face and back had gotten burned, despite my diligent efforts to heed my mothers nagging voice in my head. Sorry mom.

So I finally made it to the beach after living on an island for two months. Incredible. And we are going to the beach again this weekend. Hooray!! Maybe I will come home tan afterall!