The last couple of weeks have been filled with exciting trips to Samana, 27 Charcos, and Rio San Juan.
There is only about three weeks left in my journey and my last few trips have reminded me why I came here.
We recently went to Samana and Las Terrenas as part of an excursion included in the program.
Samana has many descendents from the United States because free slaves were given the opportunity to move to the area from Philadelphia during the 19th century.
The trip included a visit with Leticia Wilmore, whose family was permitted to leave America to settle in Samana.
After a visit with her, we rode on a boat to Los Haitises National Park and went kayaking in the area.
The next stop was Las Terrenas, which has to be one of the most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen. It did not seem like an area overrun by tourists and there actually were not many people on the beach other than our group.
The next weekend, a group of people and I decided to go to 27 Charcos, which is large tourist attraction with many waterfalls and natural waterslides.
I was a little hesitant to go down a natural waterslide because I figured that I would scratch my back severely, but the guides provide everyone with a life jacket and a helmet.
There were also cliffs that we could jump off of into pools of water, and one jump was over 40-feet high.
The natural waterslides were the most surprising part because I was unsure of what to expect or how they would look, but they were fairly safe and no one was injured.
It was experience that I would recommend to anyone and I was definitely glad that I decided to go to 27 Charcos.
The last week was Semana Santa, which is Holy Week and also the Spring Break for the country.
Many beaches were packed and cities away from the beaches were practically dead.
I had no idea how big of a deal Semana Santa was because many businesses close down, except for those on the coast. I could not believe how a country could literally shut down for about half a week.
During Semana Santa, I went to Rio San Juan, Sosua, and Cabarete, which are all beach cities.
Sosua and Cabarete were definitely more packed with people, but Rio San Juan had one of the biggest beaches I’ve ever seen.
The week ended great and I had finished my 40 days and 40 nights of only Spanish-speaking.