Day Fifteen

How can I describe today? It was an incredible ride. We left arround 10:30 this morning again after a prayer for safety, we that is Angelo, Leona, Robin, Magdalena, Herman and myself jumped on our bikes and headed out of town to a lake called Peresa. The roads were very winding ,steep twistyand full of ruts . Our bike did not handle the steeps very well,poor Herman was having a difficult time there were more than a few times that we in the middle of going up and up and conk out, the bike that is not Herman. Angelo would come back and wonder where we were, I would up on with him and Leona while Herman got going again and up to the top. It is sucha beautiful country when you take these rides like this you get amazing views. The other thing that happened was we got a flat, now I thought what now? we are in the middle of no where right? not really, there are little communities spread out along the way. Every one has bikes so there is bound to be some one who can fix it but how to get 5 km up the road, no problem Robin our lightweight , probably 100lbs dripping wet, drove our bike standing up so as to keep pressure of the rear flat, while Magdalena got on with Angelo and Leona and Herman and I took Robins bike. We stopped where we had to turn and waited by the side of the road while Angelo and Robin took the bike a ways further where there was a guy who had the tools to fix tires, it took about an hour before they got back, meanwhile an inebriated local entertained us, it was pretty funny at times. Finally they returned and we were on our way to the lake. It is absolutely beautiful when you see it from on high with all the mts arround, we drove down to it and stayed awhile , the guys tried some fishing but no luck, we will have to buy some for our supper. We heade awy from the lake toward a huge dam which they open up every so often if the level gets to high, there was also electricity generated there as well. We headed out again by this time starving and going to a fish restaraunt, when we got there he said it will take an hour so we said lets head for home and fry our own that we picked up. In the distance we could see the dark clouds forming and knew rain was not far away, hopefully we will be home by then, we did manage to get a few sprinkles just as we got into town so not bad. I would not like to manoever those roads in the rain, it would be treacherous.
We got home safe and sound gracia mi Dios. Angelo and Leona cooked up the fish and it was superb, yum. Now we are exhausted and ready for good sleep. Buenas Noches

Two of these pictures are the inside of Leona's house, here you see the kitchen area and the other is the large room where you come in, to the left are the bedrooms and bathroom and straight through takes you to the dining area and kitchen.
The rooster belongs to the owner of the house, he raises them for fights. He lives on the right side of the house, it look like he divided the house in two, I'd say Leona has the bigger part.

This is the outside of Leona's house, the front verandah and the side carport and deck where Herman is sweeping, her front yard with lots of exotic plants and trees. It is a two bedroom so room for us when we come back next year. Abig kitchen dining and livingroom and it is nice and quiet here no motorbikes zooming by.

Day Fourteen

Its dark out and we just had quite a little down pour, the second since we have been here. It did not last long though, Leona and Angelo are gone to their mid week church service..
Today we went looking to see what appliances cost, Leona is going to need some when she moves in. We also spent the morning cleaning at her place, it wasn't to bad , we did the cupboards and the bathroom and all the doors and floors, the painter had been in and gave all the walls a fresh coat so that was good. Went home for lunch, Leona then met up with some other women from church and visited a brothel in town. They are trying to make contact with the girls by offering free medical services and checkups at the clinic.
They pleasantly surprised at the reception they got, one of the girls wants to picked up for church, another girl had a baby who was sick and they said they will come back with medicine so a lead in. Please pray for this new outreach and that these girls may be given hope that will last.
Herman and I took the bike up the Mt to visit this restaurant called Aroma Montana it is in a new development called Jamaca de Dios if you want to check it out the website is www.jamacadedios.com there are lots of lots still available , some of the house s in there are gorgeous.You can see the whole city of Jarabacoa from up there.
So it was another great day in the DR hope it was for you too.

The shoe organizer I made we delivered yesterday to Jasinia and her little boy. They live in one room which consists of a bed, a small table that holds her dishes and a tv, there are 3 other tenants in the building and I think they share a stove and fridge.

Day Thirteen

The roosters start crowing around 6 I think, I never check my watch I just know its to darn early. We usually try to ignore them, its hard to do even with earplugs in but we do fall back to sleep for a bit. We get up about 7:30 and I make porridge same as I do at home and Leona makes coffee. Angelo pops in every morning as well for his coffee .
Today Herman finished off the table for Leona, but before he could do that he had to get Angelo to pick up some 4x4 legs, this is a sturdy table let me tell you, it will out last them I am sure. They had Laminate left over at the school so they glued that on top, I will get a picture when it is done.
I spent most of the morning sweeping and cleaning the rooms where they were working. There was alot of scraps etc so that kept me busy. There is also a work team here that is working out at the orphanage and here at the school. Leona took one of them to visit his sponsered child, she helps translate for them.
Had lunch at school and then walked home, had to hang some laundry up and do some reading and just relax and of course update the blog.
Just a short one today hope the snow is letting up a bit for you all.