La Republica Dominicana

We can hardly believe that our stay here is down to about 10 days. Time has flown by. This past week was the usual - Justin at Tropix and me at Dr. Bob's. Everything going smoothly. I am anxiously waiting for little Luna to be with us and come to her new home! Thursday night Justin and I went to Pizza Hut and the movies in Puerto Plata with Albert. I had forgotten how good stuffed crust pizza was. We saw Angels and Demons and both really liked it. We went to Albert's last night, ordered food in and watched The Davinci Code (since neither of us had seen it before we saw Angels and Demons). Today has been a lazy day. We're just lounging outside, it is a perfect day. Hope all is well at home and that the rain goes away so you can enjoy some of the same sunshine that we are.

Peace and Love
Jessie and Justin

After a rainy day yesterday, today was beautiful. We started with breakfast at Claro with Albert then headed to Dudu Lagoon which is just past Playa Grande. It is a beautiful clear blue natural pool/lagoon area where you can swim or cliff jump. Albert and I sat on the sideline while Justin jumped. We left and headed to Playa Grande when it got crowded. It was the perfect day for Playa Grande. The water was just the right temperature and the waves weren't too big. We ate fish on the beach and Justin an I walked almost all the way down the beach. This was all topped off with a quick trip to La Catalina for some homemade ice cream It was quite the relaxing day, but we're both ready for a nap.

Love and peace
Jessie and Justing

Well, we both started work this week which would explain the lack of keeping up with this. Sunday was Carl's official last day here () so we went to breakfast at a wonderful little place in Cabarete then headed to Sosua Beach for the day. The early evening consisted of cake (and coffee for some) at the place that Albert got the cakes for the pig roast from and it was delicious again. Then we just headed to Albert's for the evening, ordering food in and playing lots of Sing Star (and no we haven't improved our singing skills any but I must say that I was dominating the Britney Spears and Spice Girls).

As we pile into public transportation every morning, I have headed to Dr. Bob's and Justin continues into Sosua to Tropix. He's been doing a lot of painting apparently. I have had slightly longer days with Dr. Bob. Mondays and Thursdays he runs a human clinic for the Haitians starting around 2:30 so I have helped for a little at those both days as well as the vet clinic during the rest of the day. My puppy is still there and I am completely in love with her. She is a gem. We took her home for the night on Wednesday so that my mom and his parents could see her. She's going to be a good dog, already a really good listener at only a few weeks old We have one calf that we are caring for, but other than that it's all cats and dogs. The frogs around here are huge! and extremely poisonous to dogs and we have two cases that Dr. Bob is suspecting are serious frog poisoning that wasn't caught in time by the owners (unfortunately if it's not frog poisoning, all the symptoms are point to parvo). One of the two really bad cases seems to be doing better, but the other isn't looking so good. So sad. Overall, I'm really enjoying being there and Dr. Bob and how he practices. It is so different from VSCHV where I am most recently so used to, but his practices remind me a lot of Dr. Cutting.

We have been doing very well at cooking ourselves dinner and I am proud of how domestic I am being. Last night we did go to Puerto Plata with Albert to Burger King and then we went to the gigantic super market there where we were able to get some for vegetables and stuff that the local store in Cabarete didn't have.

As always, hope everyone is well at home. Peace and Love

Jessie and Justin

Yesterday was a wonderful day full of nothingness! Justin slept most of the day while I layed out and finished my book and swam in the pool. We then ordered a pizza and played cards until dinner with Albert and Carl at LAX on Cabarete beach.

Today was the much awaited pig roast that Carl hosted for everyone. The 40 pound pig came whole and cooked and was delicious. It was at Playa Chiquita, a small, beautiful beach in Sosua. There were about 40 people total including us, Albert, everyone from Tropix and family, Judy and friends. We were there most of the day and left just in time for a short period of serious rain. It was a great, relaxing day topped off with 4 kinds of delicious cake that Albert brought. We will be heading to Albert's tonight for some video game fun and possibly a movie. Hope all is well at home and miss you all. Peace and love

Jessie and Justin

Phew, after an amazing day we're finally settling in for the evening.

Yesterday we went to Playa Caleton, a small beach just past Rio San Juan where we took a boat (yes everyone, I went on a boat...and hated the majority of it) into the lagoon, a small cave and then the "natural swimming pool". The lagoon was really cool. It was low tide so we got to see all the roots of the mangrove trees and tons of egrets. The water was still and only about 1 foot deep so it was a piece of cake for me. The rest of the boat ride - not such a piece of cake. The ocean was either shallow or still. Once inside the cave or at the natural swimming pool it wasn't too bad either, it was just the rides there that got me. On the way back to the small beach, we stopped and the boat driver fed bread to the medico fish (called that because they have stripes that look like the stripes on the uniforms of the doctors). Once back at the beach we left and went down the road to Playa Grande. We had fried fish and chicken served on the beach to us and layed out for the rest of the day. We stopped at La Catalina on the way home for coffee and cake - Justin and I had delicious homemade ice cream and cookies. We had steak for dinner and played cards while Carl and Albert had dinner in Puerto Plata.

Today was incredible! We went to the 27 Waterfalls just past Puerto Plata. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Accompanied by a guide, we climbed/were hoisted up and through 16 of the 27 waterfalls. It was seriously hard work, but beautiful in the natural wonders with just-right water pooling just below each one. Once at 16, we hiked on the trail to the 27th waterfall which was the final destination before the trip down. At the top we got to swim in the "natural pool" there before making our way back down. I have never been cliff jumping, so the first ledge I stood on and was told to jump from was a little scary, but completely exhilarating. That was only the first of about 8 big jumps into pools below cascading water. As we got closer to the bottom, there were a few spots that we couldn't jump, but were able to slide down the natural water slides of smooth rock worn from years of water tumbling over it. That was really cool too. Unfortunately, all of our pictures from this adventure are on an underwater disposable camera so we all have to wait until we're back to get them developed. Albert has a few pictures of us from the first two falls (going up and coming down) that he is going to email me so i can put those up. On the way back we stopped at Burger King and all chowed down after working up a serious appetite then came home and took a nap I must say, I can already begin to feel it coming and I am going to be quite sore tomorrow!

We are thinking about making some pasta right now then continuing to relax for the rest of the night. Once again, hope all is well with everyone. Peace and love

Jessie and Justin