What an amazing day we had today. We headed out in the morning Angelo and Leona, Robinson and Andy, Herman and me, on three bikes. The road started out paved and eventually to gravel and lots of ruts and very windy. We went about 50 km up and over and arround the mountains to get to Constanza. The views and vistas were amazing, pictures do not do it justice. It was cool at first as you can see by the clothes we had on, its that mt coolness you get here, but once the sun was up higher we shed our coats and felt the warm sun on our backs.
The reason for going to Constanza was one for the ride and the scenery but also Kids Alive have an orphanage up there that I wanted to see and so did Robinson, because he and his wife are thinking of becoming house parents for one of the houses if a vacancy opens up.
Constanza is a real agricultural area, the soil looks very fertile, it is situated in a valley high up in the mountains. It was a bustling city bigger than what I thought it would be. The orphanage is an ongoing project for work teams . They have 3 homes right now with about 9 children in each and 3 pairs of house parents that are Dominican. Where do the kids come from you may wonder. Leona said they are found, or are dropped of or through word of mouth that a child is being neglected, so various ways. There is one here in Jarrabacoa as well, they are both called The Ark. It was all very interesting to see.
As for the agriculture I seen strawberries, potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbages, lettuce, beans and more. We seen some potatoes being harvested by hand like we did about 40 years ago.
We had lunch at a local spot that was recommended to us, it was very good, large portions and very homemade and the place was packed and mostly men, which I thought was a good sign.
Oh i forgot to tell you what we did before lunch, we tried to find the river and a walk to a swimming hole, after asking different people if they new how to get there, we finally did.It wasn't that great plus we had to drive across part of it and it was flowing rapidly and rough and about a foot deep. Anyway Herman refused to drive through so I started across on some rocks and fell flat and got soaked after that I just walked since my sneakers wre wet anyway. Angelo came and took hermans bike over . We went a little further and the path kind of stopped so we turned arround and went back, then we had the river again tis time Herman braved it and plowed right through we were a little concerned when he headed for the rocks but he straitened out just in time. Quite an adventure for us soft Islanders
After Lunch we headed home oh what a dust ,bumpy ride back my butt was very sore actually everything is because you have to brace yourself so much.A shower was very welcome, well they call it a shower but it is a pathetic little sprinkler, anyway with the widow maker it was at least hot.
I for got to mention that before we left Robinson prayed with us for a safe trip I'm glad he did, you can not take your safety for granted here nor should we ever really some how here it seems more so. Thank fully our prayers were answered. Praise the Lord!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Day eight
Another day has come and gone, they are going to fast. After breakfast headed out to the school on the back of the Apache with Herman. He goes pretty slow trying to miss every pothole, and there are lots of them on the one road.
Herman worked on the drawers as you can see in the picture, some one local will make the door fronts. I finished the covers for the couch and then made a couple of curtains for Leona's bedroom.
I took some pictures of some of the kids that are sponsored by some of our church family I will post more as the days go on. You can then see how w ell and happy they are.
After lunch Leona and I went to the waterfalls that you see, Herman stayed and worked ,he is not much of a water person as some of you know. The falls are only about 15 minute drive out of town, it is a deep gorge that you walk down into. As we were walking I noticed that it was nice paved walk about 10 feet wide, I asked Leona who made all this? She said it is not a walkway it is an aqua duct carrying water from the mountain into town, I was quite amazed, that must have required a lot of hard work.
Once we got down there it was so noisy, the water rushing over the falls and over the rocks provided continous sound, we had to raise our voices in order to hear each other. Yet it was calming and relaxing as we sat on the hot rocks and read our books. As the sun moved so did we, till finally we had to cross the river and sit on the other side.No sooner had we done that when a whole group came down, turned out they were a work group from the Episcopalian Church of Rhode Island building a church in a local community here. We stayed a bit longer but our serinity had gone so we headed for home it was getting close to supper time anyway.
Leona is gone to her Bible study tonight, we are left holding the fort. Till tomorrow
Herman levina and leona
Herman worked on the drawers as you can see in the picture, some one local will make the door fronts. I finished the covers for the couch and then made a couple of curtains for Leona's bedroom.
I took some pictures of some of the kids that are sponsored by some of our church family I will post more as the days go on. You can then see how w ell and happy they are.
After lunch Leona and I went to the waterfalls that you see, Herman stayed and worked ,he is not much of a water person as some of you know. The falls are only about 15 minute drive out of town, it is a deep gorge that you walk down into. As we were walking I noticed that it was nice paved walk about 10 feet wide, I asked Leona who made all this? She said it is not a walkway it is an aqua duct carrying water from the mountain into town, I was quite amazed, that must have required a lot of hard work.
Once we got down there it was so noisy, the water rushing over the falls and over the rocks provided continous sound, we had to raise our voices in order to hear each other. Yet it was calming and relaxing as we sat on the hot rocks and read our books. As the sun moved so did we, till finally we had to cross the river and sit on the other side.No sooner had we done that when a whole group came down, turned out they were a work group from the Episcopalian Church of Rhode Island building a church in a local community here. We stayed a bit longer but our serinity had gone so we headed for home it was getting close to supper time anyway.
Leona is gone to her Bible study tonight, we are left holding the fort. Till tomorrow
Herman levina and leona
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Day Seven
After I finished the blog yesterday it did rain a steady pour well into the night. Leona did not go anywhere because of it, it seems when it rains people stay put, they do not like to get damp and cold , can't say as I blame them.
The rain did stop so it was a dry trip to the school in the morning, we are about a 10 minute motorcycle ride away. It stayed cloudy , saw the sun a bit at lunch time but that was it.
Today was Awana day as you can see on the pictures or as it is called here Owansa. The kids love it, I could tell by all the screaming that was going on outside.
Herman continued working on the drawers, the sliders that were already in place he had to take of and replace with wooden ones. The drawers were sticking to much and were just not working right, over time the other ones get bent and cause more problems, some times the old way is better.
I continued working on my sewing project for Leona, reupholstering her chairs and couch pillows. By 3:30 I had enough and started to walk home you have to watch where you walk arround here as you can see by the big hole in the sidewalk, they are quite common.
The other picture is of a cemetery, this is how they bury the dead, you rent one of those crypts for as long as you like or can afford. Leona said Angelo's brother was buried there, he died in an accident 5 years ago, they rented one for 5 years then they take the remains and have them burned. Different isn't it?
Thats all for today folks will fill you in again tomorrow till then take care, love from us here in the DR
The rain did stop so it was a dry trip to the school in the morning, we are about a 10 minute motorcycle ride away. It stayed cloudy , saw the sun a bit at lunch time but that was it.
Today was Awana day as you can see on the pictures or as it is called here Owansa. The kids love it, I could tell by all the screaming that was going on outside.
Herman continued working on the drawers, the sliders that were already in place he had to take of and replace with wooden ones. The drawers were sticking to much and were just not working right, over time the other ones get bent and cause more problems, some times the old way is better.
I continued working on my sewing project for Leona, reupholstering her chairs and couch pillows. By 3:30 I had enough and started to walk home you have to watch where you walk arround here as you can see by the big hole in the sidewalk, they are quite common.
The other picture is of a cemetery, this is how they bury the dead, you rent one of those crypts for as long as you like or can afford. Leona said Angelo's brother was buried there, he died in an accident 5 years ago, they rented one for 5 years then they take the remains and have them burned. Different isn't it?
Thats all for today folks will fill you in again tomorrow till then take care, love from us here in the DR
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
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