Well, since I, Kamanda, have been doing all of the postings, I decided that Jeff needs to have some input. At the end of each day, Jeff documents the day's events. So I will use his entries to inform you of one of our most adventurous weekends ever:) Enjoy...because we did!
Saturday, July 2
This morning we had planned on leaving to go up into the mountains and see the waterfall that I had been to earlier in the week. However, our plans were on hold for a bit when we discovered a leak behind the guesthouse. Water was spewing out of a pipe. My plan was to just turn the water off to the guesthouse for the day, but thankfully Ramon stopped by. We were going to go fishing tomorrow and he came by to get money to buy fishing supplies since the store is not open on Sundays. I showed him the leak and he quickly got to work. Thank God for Ramon. He can fix anything. Kamanda and I got packed up and I left Ramon to work while we headed off into the mountains. It took about an hour to get there, up windy steep roads. Kamanda was a little nervous but I assured her it would be worth it.
When we got to the waterfall it was about lunchtime so we ate our sandwiches and drank our Pepsi’s at the base of the waterfall. After lunch, we decided to go hiking to the top of the waterfall and then follow the stream back into the mountain. We went back a good mile or two. The stream just continued to wind around and up the mountain. There were some areas where we had to climb some big rocks to continue. Other areas had lots of bees nests, so we tried our best to steer clear of those. Every ten minutes or so we would say, “we will just see what’s ahead and then turn back”, but we always wanted to press on. Finally, after about an hour, maybe longer, we decided to head back to the waterfall and the truck. What was surreal about the whole experience was that there was probably not another human being around for miles. The scenery was so beautiful, words can’t describe it. We both wanted to follow the stream all the way to the source of the water, but we had no idea how much farther it went. Although Kamanda was hesitant to hike at first, in the end she loved it and had a lot of fun.
When we got back to the waterfall, since we had warmed up a bit from hiking, I told Kamanda that we had to go into the waterfall since we were here. It took some coaxing, but she got in for a few seconds. There was so much pressure from the water it felt like someone was karate chopping your shoulders and back. But in a way it felt good and refreshing. The water was ice cold.
After the waterfall we drove off and I showed Kamanda the river. It really wasn’t cooler than the waterfall, so we headed back to the guesthouse. So far, that experience was probably my favorite.
When we got back home we called our friend Olvis to have dinner with us. We went to an empanada place. I had 2 beef and one chicken, and a fruit cocktail drink. Kamanda had 2 chicken empanadas and a slice of pepperoni pizza. Olvis had 2 chicken empanadas. The workers there said I had a big appetite since I ate 3, and I could’ve eaten more. The total meal cost…..400 pesos. That’s about 10 bucks. For three people! Insane. Anyways, that dinner ended a fantastic day. I’m excited about fishing with Ramon tomorrow.
Sunday, July 3
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| Ramon |
After today’s events I think I can say that this weekend was the most eventful of the summer. Kamanda, Ramon, Ramon’s amigo (never got his name), and myself left for fishing around 9:30. The place we went to was about an hour away. It was at a river, not sure of the name.
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| "fishing pole" |
Now you have to understand that the Dominican way of fishing is a little different than the traditional way. No poles, bobbers, or worms. We did have line, hooks, and sinkers. But we wrapped the line around a PVC pipe that was about 8 inches long. So that held our line. At the end of the line were two hooks and a sinker (a metal nut). For bait, Ramon and his friend gathered some algae. You just wrapped the algae around the hooks and you were good to go. To cast the line, you held it out to the side and kind of swung it around to get momentum. You have to time the release of the line so that it goes in the direction you want it to. The line then unravels from the PVC pipe. You can cast about 40 or 50 feet on a good cast this way. Then you just hold the line and wait for a bite.
We were fishing off a rock ledge to start. I thought this was kind of dangerous, little did I know of what was to come. I caught the first fish ( I know it’s not hard to believe). It was a tilapia, which I was surprised to hear because I didn’t know you could catch them (you have to use the algae). Ramon caught a couple of smaller fish, but then they stopped biting. Ramon decides to move to another spot. We hike through peoples’ backyards a.k.a. fields to get to our next spot. We go down a couple steep slopes to another rock ledge which was a little bit skinnier than the first. Let me remind you that Kamanda is with us….in sandals. I thought this spot was dangerous as well. Little did I know….
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| Ramon and his friend |
The fish weren’t really biting here either so we packed up and moved again. This time we walked through rice patties and along cactus laden trails. (Kamanda is still with us). This next spot, I was fishing about 10 feet away from a grazing bull (it had horns). I had to keep my eye on it, its cow patties, and my line. Needless to say this spot was no good either, so we pack up one more time to try the next spot. And where was this next spot you might ask? Simply across the river. Don’t worry, there was no bridge for us to walk across. You had to walk/wade across. At this point I thought Kamanda was going to cry. Ramon’s friend assured us (by pointing) that it was only knee deep. We believed him until we were chest deep in the rushing river. Ramon had one of Kamanda’s arm and I had the other. At this point I was hoping there had better be some huge fish at this next spot.
At the final spot, Ramon and I waded a bit into the water to cast our bait far enough into the river to the good spots. We got a lot of nibbles, but they were mostly small fish. Ramon got one last one, and it was time to head back to the truck. The trek back to the truck was much easier, just over a couple streams and through a banana field and someone’s trash pit. Back at the truck we ate our packed lunches and Kamanda and I thanked God we were alive and not drowned/bug-bitten/trampled by cows. Overall we had about 7 fish (mine the largest).
We arrived at the guesthouse just after Dan and Kari got back from the capital. Driving on the street next to the guesthouse we went through a lot of water, about 2 feet of it. We just figured it had rained….a lot. But when we got inside the gate we realized something was not right. One of the pipes the brought water from the city to the guesthouse had burst and water was spraying everywhere at the other end of the guesthouse. Dominicans were scurrying around trying to stop the water and get it fixed. Thankfully Ramon (who else) helped them stop the spewing water and fix the pipe. Luckily no rooms or anything serious was damaged by the water. We just have a mini swimming pool at one end of the compound.
After the water crisis Ramon cleaned up the fish. I will have Margo, our cook, prepare them tomorrow for me. I also helped Dan unload and put together a some musical equipment we bought for a band of some friends of ours. They are a Christian band and needed their own instruments to tour on the road (they currently use the churches). While in the capital Dan and Kari bought them a new guitar, 2 amps, a microphone, a drum kit, and some other supplies. Some of the money used was from our extra support money, Dan and Kari paid some, and Northwoods youth group raised some money as well. The band is coming over later tonight and it is a complete surprise to them. They will be shocked when they see everything set up.
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| Jhonny on his new drum set |
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| Nefthali was speechless |
We just got back from Dan and Kari’s room. Johnny and Nefthali came over (from the band) and we surprised them with their new equipment. They were shocked to say the least. At first they were speechless, then they started crying, and just kept saying thank you over and over again. It was so cool to see their reaction. They said that they have been praying for over two years for these things. They said they wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight lol. We told them that they have to play a concert in July so we can see them before we go back to the U.S. They just kept staring at the equipment, a look of awe on their faces. They called up the other members of the band and told them as well. It was so awesome to be a part of something like that. Praise God for giving us the extra funds to be able to give to those who are in need. We are excited to see what else we can do for someone.
Today, I went with Nicole Eby to get a pedicure. It's crazy how callused feet become after wearing flip flops for 7 weeks straight...but it sure did feel awesome to have my feet scrubbed and cleaned.
It started raining after a couple of hours of being in El Cercado so we decided to head back to San Juan, because sometimes the roads get a little flooded. On our way back, we saw some people standing on the side of the road needing a ride, so we picked them up. If you've ever seen "Dumb and Dumber" the scene of Harry and Lloyd picking up the guys on the side of the road comes to mind, "pick em up!" Jeff was a little worried when people kept walking out of the house to get into the car. Adding to Nicole, Jeff, and me there were 7 more people...making for a total of 10. The youngest being only 20 days old. I held the baby and the mother shared the front seat with me. Jeff was a little nervous, because he's never been that close to a baby before. He said he was only going to drive 2 kph because he didn't want anything to happen. They rode with us for about 10 minutes, and I got a couple of pictures of us all in the car. It was a blast.
