Stepping Out of the Boat

This past Thursday was Kari's birthday. Since she likes wine so much, we decided to take her to this wine cafe that we'd heard of called Bacchus. It was recommended to us by a fellow teacher who said that this place has great wine, a nice atmosphere, cheese, bread, olives, nuts, and everything else that you might want from a wine cafe. Well, we took a taxi (because of Sonya's foot) down Churchill to the "cafe" and when we walked in, we realized that we were mistaken. It was a liquor store with some snacks and some chairs. Oops. We ended up staying because we figured it would be an experience. We had to choose the wine, point to the cheese and olives that we wanted from behind the counter, and then pay. We ended up sitting up in a little balcony area with padded seats and little coffee tables - but it cost 100 pesos per person for us to sit up there. I made the mistake of thinking the lady said that it cost 30 pesos (which is only $1 per person). Oops again. In spite of the oopses, Kari enjoyed herself.

Then, we had planned to take her out to dinner at a new Chinese restaurant a little way down the street. When we got there (at 6:30 pm), we were the only people in the whole place. Dominican dinner isn't until much later. Here we are (on the left) all sitting at different tables. It was especially fun because there was a glass lazy susan in the center of the table that held all the food so we could share all the dishes. It was truly scrumptious. We had a great time - and after dinner, we had an even better time with the camera and the lazy susan. We decided to put the camera on the table with the timer set and then spin the lazy susan to see who would get their picture taken. It was a good time. Simple pleasures are the best. Here's one of me (to the left) as the camera flew by on the lazy susan. We laughed a lot.

Then, we went back to the girls' apartment for some cake and fruit and a happy birthday song. The birthday girl isn't in the picture because she insisted that she has enough pictures of herself and only wanted pictures of the people at her birthday bash.


To the right is a picture of what used to be Beer House, an ice cream place, and an amusement park. The last time we walked by here, people were buying ice cream, drinking beer, and kids were playing in the park. We walked by yesterday, and it was all gone. Just like that. Things change fast here. According to the fruit vendor on the corner, some church bought the land and plans to build there. We'll see what develops.



Saturday morning, Sonya and Kari left for Peru, and Becky, John, and I went out for breakfast to celebrate Spring Break. We're ecstatic that we don't have to walk through the gate at school for a whole week! Tomorrow morning at 10 am, we're being picked up by Marshall Zipper from Rancho Wendy to begin our week of nature activities in the wilds of the Dominican Republic.

Monday, we'll hang out at Rancho Wendy - swim, take a little hike, and have a bonfire in the evening. Tuesday morning, we take off for the mountain to begin our ascent. We'll climb the mountain with (or on) our mules Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then, early Thursday we'll start the descent all the way to the base and head back to Rancho Wendy. Friday, we'll hike to a waterfall close to the ranch and then head back to Santo Domingo. Think of us while we're gone, and expect many beautiful pictures on the blog next weekend! Here's the website for Rancho Wendy if you want to have a look: http://www.ranchowendy.com/