Blog around the world

January 21 Nothing in particular happened; there was class in the afternoon by the hotel due to a holiday, this time Día de la Altagracia. We discussed what we would be doing on our final presentation. January 22 Again, nothing too particular happened on this day. What was of note was a seafood place (Marisco […]

After we had class at ALPI, a few of us went to the professor’s place to get laundry done. This day was a day of getting rest at the professor’s place and eventually planning for our group presentations on the 23rd. I also ordered take-out from Square One. Meal? A double hamburger. I’ve been really […]

We woke up early in the morning to eat breakfast at the restaurant and then to check out of the hotel at Imbert. From there, we had the option to go to 27 Charcos, or 27 Waterfalls, with the English translation being very misleading. With the option of either 7, 12, or 27 waterfalls, I […]

After an early-morning breakfast at the same restaurant, we walked to Baraguana. Once we arrived, we were assigned into groups and were told to interview the villagers to ask about what they knew about the water quality and their water source(s) for uses such as drinking, washing, and cooking. One of the members of our […]

After we had class in the morning, some of us went to go shopping at La Sirena for some playthings for the kids we were going to see in a batey (village that used to be an industry for sugar plantation fields) called Baraguana, such as stickers, a soccer ball, and coloring books. We also bought […]

While we had no class for the day so we could finish our papers, I went with two classmates to our professor’s place, with one of the classmates helping as a translator as well and my other classmate getting laundry done. We wound up clearing the language barrier with translation, though it was interesting to […]

After class, some of my classmates and I went to Mona to eat food. Afterwards, we went to the professor’s place to collect laundry that was not fully dry the day before. Instead of collecting my clothes however, I wound up serving as a Chinese translator for my professor and the person who lived right […]

January 13 Nothing in particular other than having class in the morning. January 14 Prior to class, my friend and I decided to order food for take-out as it is a lot faster (and cheaper) to get the food. After getting back from class in the afternoon, we had plans for doing laundry but I […]

We woke up early to have breakfast and then head out to our second community, where we saw similar issues with regards to water. Something that was eventually picked up was the prevalence and reliance on poverty tourism. Kids would follow us around and eventually ask us to check out the stores owned by their […]

Early in the morning we had a buffet-style breakfast and caught sight of a double rainbow! I thought that was really cool. We set out first to another water company, called CORAAPLATA (Corporación del Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Puerto Plata). This company drew some water from the river, purified it, and then let the water back […]