Saturday, March 28th, 2009

It is so hard to believe that this is our last full day here in the DR. We are getting so comfortable here (especially in this weather!) and have bonded as a team. It is going to be really hard to leave. We started our morning with some shopping. We hadn't had any time to do that this week, so the students were anxious to pick up some gifts for family and friends.

JT, Payson and Davey decided machetes were a "must have" from the DR...

Our shoppers taking a rest...

Some of the students opted to take a historic tour of the city. Here is one of the beautiful cathedrals we were in. Everywhere you turn you see another gorgeous site. We loved learning more about this amazing city.

After a morning of shopping and walking, we gathered on the rooftop for lunch together. I think I could eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner here everyday and never get tired of it's beauty...

After lunch we piled in the vans and drove about an hour up the coast to a beach. The members of Nueva Vida church met us there and we loved getting one more afternoon to hang out with them. We admire that the Dominicans can have fun with anything. They found an old PVC pipe on the beach and made up games for hours. Here they are playing "long jump" and seeing who could jump the furtherst. They were amazing!! In this picture you can see Davey trying it out...

Lauren, Cory and Emily take in the view while watching over the "kids"...

Our students were having fun getting their feet buried in the sand each time the water washed up on the shore. This beach had unbelievable waves. Carlos said it was like being in a "wave pool" that never turns off. So cool!

At the end of the afternoon the members of Nueva Vida gathered us on the beach in a big circle. They each shared their favorite memories and had our students take turns telling everyone their good-byes. It was so cool to hear all the nice things everyone had to say.

The Dominicans made a heart out of gifts they made and wrote the word "FRIENDS" in rocks above it. What a beautiful sight it was...

What a gorgeous site...

After sunset we headed back. One of the groups went out to dinner together while the other group went back to the hotel to order pizza and relax. We are all pretty wiped out after such a long week and so much time out in the sun. We're soaking up all we can before heading back to Chicago (and all the snow!) tomorrow.
Hasta Manana! :)