Springing Forward

It's a great feeling when all the snow finally melts and the temperature starts to warm up. Although I do love a good snow when it gets me out of school, I'm ready for sunshine and warmer temps. My favorite weather is definitely in the spring and fall because it's not too hot or too cold. As I sit here in the Dominican Republic, where its summer all year long, I realize that I don’t think I’d like that as cool (or should I say “hot”) as it sounds. I love some variety in the weather because honestly, I get bored of summer and I’m ready to go snowboarding just like I get bored of winter and wish for summer. Here in the Dominican Republic, it’s extremely rare to find a building that’s completely closed in. The entire lobby of out resort it entirely open. But that’s because it’s basically always in the 80s here.

Aside from the weather here, this country is truly springing forward. It’s becoming largely more civilized and mature as a small nation than it has been in the past. Although it’s nowhere close to as civilized as the United States, they are definitely moving forward. Their base economy, or in other words, most successful source of money is the tourism. They rely heavily on tourists and all the resorts lining their shores.

I just returned this evening from an all day, guided trip where our guide took us around the Punta Cana area. We experienced a typical Dominican home and how they go about their everyday lives. They showed us how they grow and make cocoa, coffee, sugar out of sugar canes, and they even have banana plantations here. We actually got to experience the whole coffee and hot chocolate creation, from planting the seed, to harvesting it, to grinding down. They may seem like they are lacking in the modern technology to do theses things, but the places we went to today were just for tourism, to show us how they used to do it. We also ate a traditional DR lunch, which consisted of rice, beans and chicken, danced in a native tribal dance, and learned the history of the migration of the Spainish people. It was a lost of fun.

I would write more about it in this blog but I’ll just bring pictures to BBYM and talk about it more then. It was a great and humbling experience.

Naaman

BBYM Drummer