This trip we had a whole group come down from up in the mountains in a town called Manabao that is absolutely gorgeous! Some in the group were from the States, and some were from Spain, Chile, and Argentina. It was a super fun day, very relaxing, and nice to get to take some time away from the city and into a place where we could enjoy Jehovah’s creation.

You park your car at the end of this old dirt road that seems like it runs through people’s backwards, and then you start to hike. You walk maybe 15 or 20 minutes before you get to the first set of stairs. (They put the stairs in maybe a year and a half ago to encourage the less than outdoorsy people to visit the location.) You climb multiple sets of stairs and walk stretches of pathway for about half an hour (more or less depending on the group) before you come to the first major fall.

The path runs along the river so you can jump in and swim a bit at a few parts if you want. Many Dominicans like to set up camp in these little watering holes on Sunday afternoon. The first fall as well is usually where you find the bulk of the people, sitting around, drinking Brugal and playing Reggeaton. We usually pass this one by and head up to the next fall, which is generally less crowded.

Since it’s mountain water, it’s usually quite cold, but refreshing after a hot hike/climb. You can climb and jump from various places on the rocks, some quite easy to get to and others a little higher up.

Compared to the 27 Waterfalls in Damajagua, this is more like the kid sister version. Great for taking kids or parents who want to see the falls, but can’t stand the rigors of swimming/hiking/climbing and rappelling the 27 Waterfalls. Plus, there’s no entrance fee!

This may not seem like that big a deal to you northerners but when the heat index is well over 100 F, cooling off can be rather important. We had been searching for almost a year now for somewhere where Jac can swim (guess i can use some exercise too). As any of you who know Jac knows, swimming is like air and food to her. Having swam competitively in her high school years, she was really hoping to find somewhere that she could unwind and get her blood pumping.

We happened upon the pool one day when visiting a student. She was helping to setup a party at a sort of a party hall type place and after talking briefly, she told us to take a look around. When we found the pool, it was a horrid mess! Green… really more like a pond than a pool. I swear all it was missing were some lilly pads and cat tails and it would have been complete. We spoke with the man in charge and he told us that the owner was away for a few months. Long story short, we got in touch with him and were given permission to swim any time we want for free!!! I guess he likes the idea that Americans are using his pool and feels it will bring good PR.

We spoke with the man who cleans it and after helping him fix the broken filtration system and teaching him how to us proper chemicals, the pool is now clean and beautiful… and we have a place to cool off a few times a week!

First off… there was a water balloon toss, a tug-of-war, a three legged race, hoola-hoop competitions, foot races, relay races, football, frisbee, soccer, kickball, and lollipop bouquets for the winners… and pretty much everyone else since we bought so much candy!

But even more crazy-gringo-out-there was the fact that at dinner, THERE WAS NO RICE!

That’s right! We served ‘em hot dogs, potato salad, chips and good old coca-cola. The way a real picnic is done.

Everyone had such a good time, we have decided to schedule another one for November or December, after the incredibly unbearable heat of the summer months has passed.

Check out the pics and videos below: (Mom even skated around a bit!)

I will post some video in a bit… I am too tired to log into Youtube and post.

So in case any of you saw a few posts down and wondered who this John guys is, here is a brief run down. John is 20, from Utah, not a Mormon, handsome, has been in sign language for 3 years, used to be in Puerto Plata, now lives in Santiago, is going back home soon, will hopefully be coming back more permanently in the fall.

We are in the Bethel sponsored Spanish language course together and when he was talking about moving here, Jac and I did all we could to help him make the move and it just so happened that it brought him to the upstairs apartment in out building.

He has been a great help to the congregation, especially for me with the territories. We are really hoping he will come back after he goes back to the states to work!

Today we took delivery of 7 brand new hockey sticks (imported from Canada, manufactured in Ukraine). A good friend and fellow hockey lover/player was so kind as to bring down a bundle of new sticks to get some of out junior players up to snuff in the equipment department. As you might imagine, these things aren’t exactly available for LOCAL purchase so… this works out really great!

Tomorrow we have a big group coming in from all over Santiago and some of the outlying towns as well as one visitor (Jeremy Fryc) form the FAAAAAAAR other side of the island. Should be an interesting game.

For any that might be concerned, we play a very toned down version of the game since we have so many novice players out on the “ice” at one time… no mom, no broken bones yet and we try to keep it that way.

Now if only we could get a few more sets of skates down here…

So every month, we push the button and almost magically, 2 hours later, we have a fresh batch of snow. Guess what we did with it?!? We introduced Jessica to winter time antics!

Yes, it took a while to set this up but it was well worth it, scarf, cap, gloves and everything. All the way down to pepper corn mouth (sorry, I forgot the buttons).

Then we taught Jessica how to make and throw snowballs.

And even what it feels like to stand on ice. After stepping on the block, she quizzically looked up at me and asked, “Is this what it’s like up there where you are from?” 

It’s always fun to find little bits of home in things that are so far removed from it.

I wanted to tell of the joys we have experienced here with our car. All in all of course, the car has served us quite well and we have been super happy with it. So guess it was about time that something went wrong right?

We had been noticing a slight clicking sound when ever we went over bumps at low speed on the front passenger side. It didn’t concern me too much because this country really does a number on your front end! With 70,000 mile, I knew we were due for some front end work soon since the steering was drifting a little to the right.

I had planned on taking it to the shop in another week or too but of course, it had to happen as we were on our way out the door to meet some others to go preaching. There are 2 bumps on our road, opposite sides of the road so I usually weave through them but this particular day I must have hit the one on the right square on. Just as we pulled out of it, the right front side of the car dropped sharply and I knew right away that we weren’t going to be able to meet the group. The one real plus side to this experience was that we were literally a street over from our house so it was a safe place to leave the car.

After preaching for the morning, I started calling around for suggested mechanics and the answer seemed every time to be “I know a good one but he lives on the other side of town”. I really didn’t want to have it towed… So I walked down the street to the small shop and asked for help. This is where I learned a very valuable lesson. When we think of “good” and “bad” mechanics in the states, the “bad” end of the scale isn’t really all that bad once you’ve been down here.

The gentleman that I brought back to the car with me was nice enough, about 50 years old, kind… Borola was his name I think. He did his work quietly, going back to the shop a handful of times to get tools. Then came the problem, he didn’t have a big enough socket to take off the hub… so he called his buddy. Next thing I know, one of the lug nut studs has been bent off and the drive shaft has been pulled directly out of the transmission, tearing the dust cover! For anyone who isn’t mechanically inclined, I will just tell you, these are not “normal” activities while fixing front end problems.

The rest of the afternoon included riding in a car with a drunk man (didn’t realize he had been drinking till we were on the way home), my CV joint being dropped in the mud, one of my floor mats being thoroughly soiled with transmission grease, the wrong part being “altered” to fit and the job still not getting done by 9 o’clock at night.

The job was finished in 2 hours the next morning, just in time for our sign language assembly the following day.

Here is the bad part, lower ball joint or “bola ferica” in Spanish. You can see how badly damaged it is, it should be perfectly round.

Lesson learned, find a mechanic with a reputation, not the neighborhood “wanna be”

… But it only cost me $40!!!

So there you go, bacon, egg and cheese going down the hatch!

They look and smell delicious however, I don’t think I could put one in me since I’m not even the slightest bit hungry. I guess they will have to wait till tomorrow… makes me wish I had cream cheese.