Stepping Out of the Boat

We have come to that point in the school year between spring break and the end of the year where the kids are crazy and the teachers are starting to put it in autopilot and holding on tight trying to ride it out. We are also in the final stages of our stay here, or so we keep telling ourselves. We have eight weeks left to experience anything that we have missed along the way. Until our time is up we dance.

We have been taking dance lessons for about 6 or 7 weeks at a studio that is about 7 blocks away from a guy named Quico. This is the same place that Claire and the girls took cardio classes earlier in the year. We found out about this place because he used to teach some sort of dance lessons to students at St. Michael's. Now he just keeps to the studio.

We are currently involved with a couple different classes at the same time. On Monday we go for Salsa and on Thursday we dance Meringue. The first few weeks were made up mostly of us standing in a line facing the large mirror in the front of the room as Quico taught us the basic steps. We worked on our few steps forward and back and our couple steps to the side. In the way of meringue, we learned how to shake our hips. The phase that followed consisted of us learning different steps in each dance and then practicing them over and over until we felt like we had it.

Now, before I go any further let me explain something. There are five of us, me being the only guy other than the instructor. This makes four girls and only two guys. Ever since those first couple lessons where we were all doing the basic exercises, the hour has been made up of me dancing the entire class while the girls rotate between Quico and I. The second phase that I was telling you about earlier weren't so bad either as we were taking our time learning each step. However, we are now to the point where all the steps have been learned and it's just a matter of putting them together. When we get to class now Quico just turns on the music and we dance for the entire hour. When I say "we" I mean I dance for the entire hour while the girls get to rest every other song.

If the physical exhaustion wasn't enough to do me in, keep this is mind. Along with being the token male of the group also comes the responsibility of memorizing all the moves and then learning how to lead each one. All the girls are in charge of is making sure they are keeping the beat with their feet.

I know you are probably thinking something along the lines of "at least you are getting your moneys worth" or "you are getting more practice" but knowing that we still have 3 weeks of classes left all I can think of is how tired I am.

In a completely unrelated story, but an instance that we thought was blog worthy, is that the leak in the apartment plumbing still has not been fixed. This means that plumbers had to come back into our apartment to rip up more of the tiles in our kitchen to find the problem. They again think that they have it this time. Until tomorrow, when they come back to fill in the hole and replace the tile, we are currently living with a giant hole that runs along the wall in our kitchen.

The morning after this second attempt Claire woke up to find the surprise of the month crawling in the bathroom, and no it wasn't a jitter bug. After screaming and waking me up Claire explained that there was a small snake looking bug crawling across the floor and that I need to take care of it. I got to the bathroom just in time to see it craw down the drain that is next to our bathtub. So I dumped some water down the drain hoping to flush it out. After a second or two it crawled back out where I was then able to scoop it up with the dust pan and put it into a Tupperware for a closer look. It turns out that intruder is a red giant centipede that is about as long as my hand from finger tip to the base of my palm. As we read online this particular centipede is poisonous but not fatal. If bitten swelling and a bad case of a flu like sickness would most likely be the result. We have since disposed of our brief pet and are now on the lookout for any of his relatives.


Ahhhh the Dominican

We needed to take a trip back to the Dominican market before May 3rd (when we're coming home for John's best friend's wedding) to get some wedding presents and some things for ourselves. This past Saturday was the last chance we had before May 3rd because of trips to the beach and other things that have filled up our schedule. We ended up buying several painting for ourselves, the wedding presents, of course, as well as some amber jewelery. We hope to go back one more time before we come home for good. It's always a fun experience, although a little stressful because the vendors are so aggressive.

After we were done at the market, which closes at 5:00, we decided to stick around the Colonial Zone for dinner. Rebecca and John wanted to catch part of the Red Sox/Yankees game, so we hung out in a Dominican bar where the game was playing. They cheered with the Dominicans who were watching the game, and the Red Sox came out victorious. At that point, dusk was settling on the city, and we decided to head to the ancient square by the first governor's house (it was Christopher Columbus' nephew's house) where we hoped to have dinner. The old colonial streets were all lit up with the old fashioned lamps, and the heat had abated with the retreat of the sun. The atmosphere smacked of history and relaxation at the same time. We enjoyed our stroll down El Conde (a street built only for pedetrians) on the way to the square.

When we arrived at the square, the governor's house was all lit up, and there were people setting up on a stage for some kind of live music. We knew there were several cafe type places on the square, and we hoped to get a table outside since the night breeze was cool. We ended up going to this place called Harry's where we sat at a table right on the edge of the square. It was beautiful! We had a tasty dinner with lively conversation and some live Dominican music, and we left full, relaxed, and content to live in the Caribbean for another day. As I am typing this post(on Sunday), the rain clouds have rolled in, and there is a strong cool breeze billowing through our apartment. What a great day to stay home and read a book! School has been VERY stressful lately, and this weekend was the perfect combination of entertainment and relaxation. Perhaps we'll be able to make it through this coming week with less pain so that we can take off for the beach on Friday. Hoorah! (Actually, it's really sad that it's Sunday, and I'm looking past the week to next weekend. I want to love both my work week and my weekends - hopefully we'll be able to go back to that kind of life on June 24th, our first day after moving home.)

We're back, and no we haven't fallen off into some Caribbean hole. Sorry that we haven't blogged in a little while. A combination of being pretty busy and not a whole lot going on has contributed to us being M.I.B.A (Missing in Blog Action). I guess after the whopper of a story we had from spring break everything seems calm. This particular post will be a quick catch up to the things that have been going on in our lives over the past week or so.

Lets start off with last weekend, the first weekend following spring break. Recently we have really started to notice that the temperature around here is starting to rise. Very soon will come the days of taking some school work and heading over to the air conditioned mall to escape the heat. As the temperature outside continues to go up so do the sauna like conditions in our apartment. When we are unable to go to the mall we head up to the roof at night where we can usually find a breeze to cool us down. It was because of this that we had the idea of borrowing a projector from the school and having our own little movie night on the roof.

We weren't sure if the school would go for the idea of letting us check out the projector for the weekend so Rebbecca was planning on "borrowing" it for her last period class on Friday and then returning it Monday morning. However we felt that if something were to happen it would look really bad on our part. So we decided to ask and be ready with a plan B. Just like everything around here simply asking and getting a yes or no is not as easy as it sounds. When we went to ask the person in charge of the computer equipment on Friday afternoon, we found that she had left early and her assistant could not allow us permission. So Becky got on the phone and after a few calls to some key people and possibly a little begging, JACKPOT, we had the projector.

That night we brought the iron couch from our apartment up to the roof along with some computer speakers and before we knew it we had our own personal movie theatre. We were able to project the screen onto the side of the stairwell that stands a little taller than I am about as wide as I am tall. Friday night the four of us, minus Kari, had a good time watching Little Miss Sunshine. Saturday night we had plans for another go at it but some light rain moved us downstairs to the girls apartment. It was a good thing that we didn't try to wait it out because it rained for most of the night. Even though it was slightly hotter in the girls apartment we again had a good time hanging out watching The Prestige together. Sunday night the sky was clear and we figured that since we had it for one more night we might as well make it three nights in a row. Overall we had great time with this. It was something new to do and more importantly it got us out of our hot apartment.


Later in the week we were able to finally hang our Doughnut of Doom in the girls apartment. It had been a few weeks, already, since we had created our countdown so we ceremoniously colored a few more sections before hanging it for display. As of today we have nine weeks left.

Wednesday was the third installment of Parent Teacher Conference at the school so we had a half day only to return at 4 and stay until 8 that night. We are all finding that the more the year progresses the less effort the students and the parents are putting forth. This was apparent after the drastic drop in appearances by parents from students in each of our classes. Oh well I guess. It made the night easier for all of us. Thank goodness we only have one more of these to sit through, too bad it is the eve of our departure from the island. I think I speak for everyone when I say we would rather be out celebrating than sitting in our classrooms handing out final report cards.

And finally in the continuing saga that is our lives, we ran into yet another problem. This time it didn't directly effect us but instead the apartment below us. A few months ago our friends that live in that apartment mentioned to us that they had begun to notice a very small water stain on the ceiling in their bathroom. Not thinking much of it at the time we told them to keep an eye on in and let us know if it got worse. Well- a fast forward to the present. Now with a huge water stain with a constant drip we all realized that the problem couldn't wait until we all left for the summer. On Wednesday we had some plumbers come over to our apartment while we were at school to see if they could find the source of the problem. When we got home that afternoon we found that they had knocked a basketball size hole in our wall and then entire length of the floor under our kitchen window had been broken out and pipes dug out. The good news is that they did find and repair the leak. The bad news is that they needed to let the pipes sit a couple days to ensure the leak was fixed. So we were unable to use our stove or kitchen sink from Wednesday to Friday when they were supposed to come back and fix the hole. On Friday Claire came home from school a little early to let the plumbers in. However, they were unable to find matching tiles and could not help us out until the next morning. So early Saturday morning again they came and spent the next four hours filling in the hole and replacing the tiles. Now there are no leaks and everything is back to normal, but our stove still doesn't work and we can't get a hold of anyone to help us. Claire really wants to be able to use it... Just another little bump in the road of inconveniences here in the Dominican Republic.

We live in the city that houses the very first church built in the "new world" by Christopher Columbus (it was really built by thousands of Taino slave laborers who died in the process), so we decided there was no better place to go on Easter Sunday than the oldest church. We had no idea what time the services were going to start, and that congregation doesn't seem to have a website announcing service times, so we just guessed. Sunday morning came, we got up and ready, and we were in a taxi on the way to the Colonial Zone by 8:45 am.

Our adventure started on Monday April 2 as Rebbecca, Claire, and I rolled into Carrefour, a grocery store on the north side of town, at 10 in the morning. Marshall, the head honcho of Rancho Wendy, arrived shortly after to pick us up. With the girls in the front of the truck and me with the gear in the back we head a couple hours north to the ranch. Everything seemed normal enough until we arrived at Rancho Wendy. We quickly realized that the website is a bit misleading. (Blue text notates additions by Claire.) Actually, on the ride to the ranch, I was talking to Marshall about his website (the one we linked in previous posts), and when I first mentioned it, he laughed and said, "All lies! Ha ha!" I thought he was joking, but I wasn't sure, so I laughed. That's when I first wondered if we were in for something different than we expected. Also, we stopped to get gas on the way, and Marshall was displeased with the price of gas. He said to me, "I think I'm being had." I said in response, "I think we probably get had here about once a week, but there's not much we can do about it." Marshall shrugged. The situational irony of the conversation is killing me now. Back to John's narration:The room was a small little concrete room off the side of a run down house, right next to the "swimming pool" that didn't have any water in it. As you can see by the pictures, the bed and the shower/bathroom weren't exactly the Holiday Inn. The bed was lumpy and squeaked everytime you looked at it. The shower and sink didn't have hot water and there was only one good light in the entire place. There was a stream that ran next to the ranch but could easily have been jumped and was hardly something that you would want to take a refreshing dip (in since the water was a light grayish color). I would say the only redeeming quality of the ranch was the view. We were set in the mountains way off the beaten path. After getting settled in we started looking for something to do to pass the time. As you can imagine the options were limited. We mostly spent our time reading and napping. That was until Marshall asked us if we wouldn't mind helping out with some work around the place. Can you believe that? He recently had some guests that left some baseball equipment to be given out to the children in the neighborhood and he wanted us to sort it into piles so that he could give different teams each a set. Being guests at his ranch who paid to be there, we thought this was way out of the question but did it anyway probably more just for something to do. Here is a shot of Becky and I doing the work while Marshall stands over us telling us what to do. In the afternoon we decided to go on a walk down the road to check out the sights so Marshall sent a kid that works for him doing things around the ranch with us. It was a nice walk that followed a real river. While we were at the ranch we met a girl named Amie who had arrived about a week before us. She is from Colorado and was hired by a person at the ranch to help out with some computer business they had there. You see, Marshall has a side business that he runs out of his house. We aren't too sure of the details, but from what we could gather it is some sort of satellite business that is based in Portland, and he helps sell parts to computers here in the D.R. However; something happend and now he is being sued by someone and is in need of someone to help him try and cover it up. That is why Amie was hired. The funny thing is, the person who hired her quit working at the Ranch the day before she got there and was left to figure all this out on her own. She told us that she spent the first few days going over documents and speadsheets that Marshall had on file trying to get things straightened out. At the same time she was to be tutoring Marshall's 13 year old daughter Wendy 4 or 5 hours a day even though she isn't a teacher. Wendy has lived her whole life at the ranch, has never been to school, and basically gets to do whatever she wants. Amie spent the whole morning trying to get Wendy to answer "yes" or "no" to questions because she refused to talk. The whole thing was quite absurd. The air was thick with tension. Marshall was shouting at everyone - his wife, his employees, the minors he has working for him, Amie... who would want to spend time there to relax? The entire thing was a really weird deal. Amie was only going to be there for a month to help out. She has a minor in Spanish and was hoping to come and see the country and practice her Spanish. She is an outdoors person so she figured working at a place like Rancho Wendy would be a good way for her to go on some excursions. That is not what it turned out to be for her at all. Feeling sorry for her and knowing she was only going to be in the country for a month, we invited her to come back to the city with us and stay in one of our spare rooms until the month's end. So that was plan. She was going to quit on Friday, the day we got back, and come back to the city with us. More on this story later. That night we made a bonfire and tried to get to bed early because of our big day ahead.

After a not-so-great night's sleep that consisted of me having to get out of bed twice to throw stones at a barking dog, we awoke at 6 to get out of that place, I mean get a start on the day. We all rode in the back of the truck to the base of the mountain which was about two and a half hours from the ranch. When we arrived, Marshall had to talk to the guides and have them round up a few more mules because, for whatever reason, he thought that two mules for the three of us, a guide, and all our stuff was enough. We had to convince him otherwise. We ended up with five mules total: two for the gear and three for us,which meant we need another guide to come along. We had a quick lunch at the base camp, consisting of salami sandwiches on stale bread. The food was included in our price, and was supposed to be supplied, but while we were at the ranch, we had to go through and request more and a little better variety than a bag of rice and a bunch of dented cans of lasagna. Our choices weren't great but would have to make do. I never want to see Dominican salami again, let alone smell it or eat it.

Because the other mules weren't ready yet, we started off with one guide to Los Tablones, our first camp stop, about an hour away where we would wait for the other guide and mules to join us. The guides spoke no English, so I spoke a lot of Spanish during this time. It was great practice for me, and I realized how much my Spanish has improved since moving here. I did, however, end up saying many times, "We're so dirt," instead of dirty. Oops. We aren't sure why they put the first stop an hour into the hike and then have everyone hike for 10 hours the second day only to end up a couple hours shy of the summit, but its the Dominican and we stopped asking those kind of questions a long time ago. I found it especially fitting that the camping stops were in the absolute most inconvenient places. It just fits so well with the way everything else goes around here. Along the way we stopped at a river to take in the view and some pictures. It was only around noon and we had all day to get there so we figured we could take our time a little. We got to Los Tablones around 1. We were hoping to maybe swim and clean off a little, considering that this was day two without showering, but our gear was still no where to be found. It would arrive "ahorita," which means literally in Spanish "now-ish" but according to my experience it really means "I have no idea when" or "sometime within the next three and a half days". We ended up passing the time by laying on some rocks, skipping stones, and staring off into space. Finally around 4 our bags got to camp just as dark clouds and cold breezes rolled in. It was too cold to swim so we grabbed a quick something to eat and found our books to read. While we waited our guide picked some unripe mini guava and shared those with us. That is what I am trying out in this picture. When it started to get dark and a little colder our guides made a fire and prepared dinner. Using what sparse options Marshall pack for us they made a very delicious meal. It consisted of mostly rice, which the guide had to go back down the mountain to get more of because Marshall didn't pack enough, a vegetable call tayota that was growing near camp, and some spices of their choice. After dinner we sat around the fire waiting for 8 o'clock to roll around so that we could go to bed. We were waking up at 5 the next morning to get a start and figured 8 would be a good time to go to bed. Sleeping on the concrete floor wasn't very nice and having to keep an eye out for the rats that were around didn't help any of us get the kind of sleep one might need to climb a mountain the next day. I didn't sleep a wink that whole night. I was awake listening to the various and frequent bumps and scampers in the night. My imagination ran wild. When the alarm finally went off at 5 am, I couldn't have been happier. Nevertheless we were up at 5, packed our things, ate some stale cornflakes, and started up the mountain by 6. Our guides stayed back to get the mules ready and told us they would catch up to us. It was dark and cold but before long the sun was coming up, the blood was flowing, and we were shedding some of our layers.

About an hour into the hike the guides and mules caught up to us and it was then that we got our first chance to ride. We rode for another hour or so before coming to the next check point. If you click on the picture of Claire standing in front of the sign earlier in the blog you can see our trek and the stop points along the way. At the first stop, we got off just long enough to stretch our legs before it was back on the mules for a couple more hours of riding. We all had good intentions of walking part of the way but it didn't take much of walking up an eighty degree rocky slope before you were ready to let the mule do the work. As it turned out, our routine usually consisted of us starting from each check point walking about an hour until the mules caught up to us, then riding a couple hours to the next point. It was a good balance of exercise and rest. Just for the record, riding a mule is in no way "rest". I think it takes more muscle to stay on a mule going up or down that kind of slope than it does to walk. Along the way I was able to take pictures of the spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and a few shots of us riding on the mules. It was really cool to travel up the mountain and see the changing environments. We started the morning in a nice green wet environment and certainly noticed a change about half way up as things dried out and became dead looking. Another cool thing was to travel through the clouds and see the clouds rolling by. There were a couple times when we felt like Frodo from Lord of the Rings walking through the mist in a dead looking forest as things were eerily quiet. There was one time when everything was so quiet that I fully expected to see Orks charging to attack over the next hill. The mists and the trees and the trail all mixed together to create a trully fantastical environment. At each check point there was a sign that let you know where you were and how high you had made it. We made a point of taking a picture at each of these stops to commenorate the fact that we had made it. Looking at our pictures you will also notice a red flower that, unfortuanalty we can't remember the name of, Claire really liked. The flowers were blood red, and they caught my eye at every turn. They seemed to jump out of the forest at me because their color was so different from the rest of the surroundings. If we were in a novel, those flowers would have been foreshadowing for violence or bloodshed. I'm glad we weren't in a novel. They would pop up every now and then along the trail most of the way to the top.


Near the top, about 2 hours from the top, is a stop called La Comparticion where most people stay for the second night. It is similar to the place we stayed at the first night. However our guide knew of another camp closer to the top that was nicer so we decided to push on for that camp so that in the morning we wouldn't have as far to go to reach the summit. Before passing on through this camp we did stop to warm up a little with a cup of coffee. The guides there graciously made us some coffee, and it tasted so good! We were so happy to have it.

After the last hour and a half ride on a mule we reached a large flat area that surrounded the peak of mountain and after a short ride around this peak we found our camp. It was huge and far better than any place we had seen since we left that morning. Why more people don't choose to stay there we don't know but again it's the Dominican and we don't ask. This place had a very large building for sleeping, a seperate building for cooking, and it even had bathrooms. The stalls were just holes in the ground but it was better than what we had seen in a couple days. As the guides unpacked the mules and started making dinner we did some exploring around the camp and got our bags all ready for bed. By this time, our muscles were sore to the touch. OUCH!! We didn't want to wait until it was dark to get everything all set up. It was a lot colder on the top of the mountain than it was the night before. In fact, it was so cold that in the morning, there was ice on the ground. One of our guides, Eduardo, wanted to show us something:Along the side of the building we were sleeping in was a sign that had the names of the people that helped build the building. Our guide pointed out that he was one of the people listed and had helped build the place a few year ago. He seemed to be genuinely proud of his efforts and sad that not many people use the camp anymore. What a waste. As the sun went down so did the temperature so we stayed close to the cooking hut where the fire was. Our guides told us that they were sleeping in the cooking building. We should have taken that has a hint but thought that we were prepared for the night that was yet to come. After dinner, which was similar to the pervious night but with some canned pasta and corn added to it, we sat around the fire again waiting for 8 oclock to roll around. After getting all bundled up for bed (I put on almost every piece of clothing I brought excluding my swimming suit.) we all tried to lay down for a decent nights sleep; it was anything but that. Each of us woke up about every hour to try and warm ourselves up any way we could. I think each of us was wearing 3 layers of clothes and at one point in the night Claire and Becky zipped thier sleeping bags together in hopes that body heat would be the best way. Here are a couple of pictures of us at 1 in the morning. Finally at 2 in the morning when none of us could take it anymore, we gathered up our sleeping bags and headed to the kitchen hut were we woke our guides and had them get the fire going again. We asked them before we went to bed if that would be ok in case we were to get that cold and they were very willing to help us out in the middle of the night. We spent the rest of that night, all three hours of it in that hut huddled on the floor with our guides by the fire. One of our guides was sleeping under feed sacks because he didn't have a sleeping bag. Obviously, someone besides the guides is making all the money.

At 5 the alarm sounded and we were up and getting ready to head to the peak. It was a cold cold moring of gathering our stuff in the dark (all of our flashlights were out of batteries) but we were excited to get to the top. We put on our three or four layers, Becky put some socks on her hands, and Claire and I put some work gloves on that we had brought, and headed without our guides to the top. About 10 mintues from the top the sun started to peek itself from below the clouds. We had finally made it to the top of the Caribbean. It was the most spectacular sight I personally have ever seen. I am sure if you ask the girls would probably say the same. We stopped to take some picture next to the sign to make it offical and then went to explore the view. I don't know why but before we got there I was expecting some sort of flat surface where you could stand and look around. This, however, was truly a mountain peak. We climbed up some huge boulders where a bust of Duarte and a Dominican flag were. Climbing up for the first time to the very peak make my stomach turn because of how high it was. It wasn't set up so if you were to slip you would fall all the way to the base, but it sure was steep looking from up there. We took all kinds of pictures of the mountains and each other, I collected some dirt from the top, and we all just enjoyed the view. As the sun continued to rise and the clouds drifted the sights of the mountains would change ever so slightly. It was so beautiful to look around and watch. We were literally looking down on the clouds and around for miles in every direction. We spent about an hour up there look around and all agreed that we could look at that veiw every day and never get tired of it.

By now it was 8, and knowing that we had to go all the way down in before 2, we pried ourselves away from the top and started our descent. I was hoping to walk some of the way down because the thought of riding the mules the entire way not only made me nervous because of the steep slopes but also because my butt was still sore from the day before. The first leg of the trip, about 2 miles, I walked ahead of the group while the girls rode. I don't think the guides thought I would be able to keep up with the mules because they kept telling us how much faster it would be if we were to ride. But after beating them to the first check point, I made a believer out of them. I was so proud of John - the guides couldn't believe how fast he was. Becky and I couldn't have kept up with him. We stopped at La Comparticion, the first check point, for a quick snack before all getting on mules for the next 2 legs. We were in such a hurry to get down that (much to our displeasure) the guides were pushing us through the check points. I ended up walking another couple miles after riding for a few but the girls were real troopers and rode all the way down. We all rode the final three or four hours to Las Tablones. By the end of the time we were all completly miserable and had agreed to never ever get on a mule again. The trip downwas harder than the trip up in more ways than one . By the time we got off the mules for the last time at Las Tablones were were soooo sore and exhausted to the point of tears. I actually did cry. I was severely dehydrated, exhausted because of lack of sleep and pysical activity, had a terrible headache, felt feverish, hadn't eaten anything since 9 a.m., and I was more sore than I have ever been before in my life (I'm not exaggerating). Here is a picture of Becky and Claire right after climbing off their mules. This shot is from the previous day; the way you can tell the difference is that in this shot they have smiles on thier faces. None of us were smiling at the end of riding our second day. By the time we got to where we spent the first night we were ready to walk the rest of the way down. The only problem with this was that we were already behind scheudle and if we walked that last bit we were in danger of missing the guagua (a van) that was to take us to the nearby town where Marshall would be waiting for us. We didn't care about that at the time - we just knew that we weren't getting back on those mules. Finally sometime around 3 in the afternoon we made it back to base camp for some final photos with the guides. It had been three days since we had showered and for the most part even changed our clothes. We were hot, dirty, and extremly exhuasted. John's hands in the picture to the right are extremely dirty. I coined a new term for our hands: Frodo Fingers. There was dirt all over our hands - under our nails, in the little creases between finger joints, all over. We had Frodo Fingers. I hope never to have them again, although I enjoy using my newly coined term.We did miss the guagua, so other arrangments had to be made. Actually, Victor, the guy in charge of the guides and the whole system at the base of the mountain, came to meet us on the trail to tell us that the guagua had gone, but he had another way (you'll see) and we shouldn't worry. He was a delightful man who seemed honest and helpful. We topped off the crazy adventure that we had all had in the most Dominican way: three motorbikes were brought and we loaded all our things and ourselves onto the backs of them and rode 40 mintues in our own little motorcade through the small towns, around the mountains, and down the highway. The way John describes it, the ride sounds tame. It was WILD!! I was clenching my teeth and my whole body the entire time. We were zipping down MOUNTAIN roads, turing and winding down the mountianside on motorbikes with no helmets, no protection. It was CRAZY! I didn't look for the beginning of the ride because I pulled my had down over my eyes, but my had was a casualty (and Becky's too) of the ride. It blew off, and we were flying down the mountain so fast that by the time I conceptalized the fact that my hat had flown off, we were way too far away to go back. My backpack was so big that I had to wear mine as I rode on the back of the bike. It was tough because my abs were already tired from riding that mule down all day and whenever the driver accelerated my pack felt like someone trying to pull me off the back. But after 40 minutes and two lost hats, Claires and Becky's, we made it. We decided that instead of staying that night at Rancho Wendy like we were supposed to, we were going to ask Marshall if he would PLEASE take us back here to the city so we could get a hot shower and sleep in a nice bed. We didn't phrase it that way. Thankfully Marshall agreed. So back into the back of the truck we piled for another hour or so to the ranch were we gathered some things that we had left behind. When we got to the ranch we went looking for Amie to let her know that we were leaving a day earlier and to find out what her plans were. Instead we were given a note from Amie by another young guy who we hung out with on the front end of our trip explaining that she couldn't take it there anymore and had met another person from the States and they are now off traveling the country. She said in her letter that she would still love to come to the city and stay with us for a little while, so we will be seeing her again sometime soon I am sure. The last hour in the back of the truck was in the dark but we made it to Carrefour around 8 where we called a cab and headed home. We all showered, ordered in some sandwhiches, and watched a slideshow of all the pictures before heading to our nice soft beds where we each spent the next 10 or 11 hours. This morning we all woke up sore in just about every place you can imagine and got our clothes and everything else all cleaned up. Thinking back and looking at all the pictures over and over again I can't believe that we did all that. It is almost an out of body experience that you dream about. I am so thankful, even though it felt like we traveled through hell and back, to have this experience. And I am so thankful that Claire and I got to do it together. Amen! There's no other person I would want to do all that with. I think it's going to take us a few days to recover completely, but the whole experience was something I will never forget.


We ended up taking over 300 pictures of the trip that I am going to put on our Picasa link on the side bar of the blog. I tried to put captions with the pictures to let you know what is going on in each shot but some of the views just speak for themselves.