Beach Day

Good morning friends!

How was your 4th of July? We had a great day, spent at the beach with our Casa friends. We are all pictured above, gathered together to head home; a full day of fun and sun. We went to La Playa Patos, beach of the ducks. I didn’t see any ducks so I don’t know where the name comes from, but it was a nice beach. Of the three beaches we’ve been too, this one might be the prettiest. It is a longer drive from Barahona and the road winds far above the coastline, through almost jungle-like foliage. Beautiful!

The ride in the bus (a big yellow school bus) is quite an experience. Our driver, Renzo, honks the horn most of the way to alert motorcyclists and pedestrians of our presence. He passes trucks, cars, scooters and gets to the beach as quickly as possible. Yahoo!

There is a river that runs into the ocean here and pools of cool water have been created for swimming. It is very refreshing. As the day went on, the pools were packed with people. There are tons more people in the cool water compared to the ocean. The ocean water is quite warm.

The other reason more people aren’t in the ocean is because the waves crash right on the beach and the drop off is pretty steep. The undertow is very very strong. The force of the wave easily knocks you off your feet. I sit down and let the wave crash into me and carry me up the beach. As the Dominicans say, es muy peligroso! Very dangerous! Our translators and the bus driver keep a close eye on the crazy Americanos. (-:
A couple of the interns tried swimming out further and had a very difficult time getting back to the shore. Fortunately, some young Dominican guys helped them in, whew!

The "Skim Ice Man" is often seen at the beaches. You can always pick him out in a crowd because he wears this uniform. Skim ice is like an "otter pop" but with much better "carribean" flavors. Yummm....we all had one or two. 5 pesos for a skim ice. How much? You do the math - 36 pesos to a dollar.

Monique captured a great picture of two girls who where having a great time riding their horse. The horse, at least I think it is a horse, made a bee line for the river and took a long drink while they were aboard. See picture.

Ellie is chillin' in the river with Megan and Hannah, two COTN interns. They were loving it.

Pray for Ellie and Carly today. It seems they have caught an intestinal bug. We are going to have them tested at the clinic. Our friend Chris is also down with it. Pray for him too. Much intestinal stuff going around this year, ugh!

The group picture is of all who stay regularly at the Casa, plus cooks Manuela and Iri.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Love,

Vic for the fam