Jarabacoa

This weekend the school arranged free transportation to Jarabacoa, which is a mountain town here in the DR. If you head northwest from Santo Domingo, you'll see it in red before La Vega. This is sort of the adventure spot here in the DR, with rafting, canyoning, horseback riding (don't worry I'm never getting on another horse again), hiking, etc. A group of us decided to try out the rafting.

The woman on the far left is our human resources director, Nancy, and she is awesome. She has been super helpful in many ways and I cannot imagine my transition here without her. The man with his arm up is the director or some may call the headmaster of our school! I KNOW, how cool is it that he's right there with us! So far I've worked for some douche bag directors, so it is great to have one that supports us in many ways including having fun! The girl in the very middle is Miki, and she is why I have my OWN apartment. She was living here, where I am now, and she didn't like it because no other teachers live in the building. It's really close to school and to the park, but she just wanted to be around other teachers, so she was able to move into a building where a ton of teachers are and her place opened up and here I am. The other three are new teachers.

Now, I knew better to have high expectations... I'm practicing my low expectation philosophy, especially after getting burned a few times in the DR already... Here I am not ready for much!

We loaded up in a big truck and drove for a bit in some of the most beautiful scenery. I am going to ask for an underwater camera for christmas because it sure would have been nice to have been able to take some photos! One of the teachers stayed behind and I have pirated these photos from him...

The river that runs through this part of the island is called Rio Yaque (pronounced "Jackie"). 

We stayed in a resort-like place which was convient for planning the adventure trips. Are you ready to fly out here and explore? Check out their website and see you soon!

Here's a video taken by one of the spectators. You'll be able to see our boat, which is grey, and we are waving frantically to the camera. This was one of the most fun rivers I've ever rafted! The boys were focused on having fun and of course safety, but without the restrictions of US lawsuits the atmosphere was more relaxed and a great time was had by all!