We stopped at a Dominican café and had Dominican food.  This was definitely a part of the cultural experience!  We continued until we reached the park entrance.  We parked our automobiles and bargained with the village headman for the price of the boats to take us to the beaches in the park.  We loaded all of our gear, food and clothes into the two boats and set out on a 25 minute boat ride to “our” beach.  The first order of business was to erect the tents as it was getting dark.  Dan proved to be the camper and helped set up two of the tents while I helped with the other.  Once the tents were up we gathered fire wood and started a fire.  Since no one seemed hungry most of us went for an evening swim.  After our swim we cooked hotdogs from a bottle since we were concerned about keeping any kind of fresh meat cold.  Below is one view from our camp.

We settled at the fire until rain # 1 came and drove us inside.  The rain passed fairly quickly as the wind was blowing about 20 mph.  Rain # 1 was followed by rain #’s 2, 3, and 4!  By 1am the rain had stopped and most of us managed to get 3 or 4 hours of sleep.  Even sandy ground is hard!

Saturday, March 8, 2008 - We were all cold during the night as we had been rained on, buffeted by the wind and endured the 20 degree drop in temperature.  Everyone was up before the sun just waiting for some warmth.  We greeted the sun in various ways much like primitive man must have done.  Some stayed asleep, some cheered, some took pictures and some were just happy that it was there.  Breakfast consisted of granola bars, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit, water and coke.  (It is interesting what you end up with food when students dictate the menus. 

Most of did some exploring and then took an early morning swim.  It is amazing what the Dominican sun can do!  Kelly then conducted a yoga session on the beach.  We fixed the one tent that partially collapsed and moved another tent to get out of the wind.  The wind proved to be a constant.  It always blew at between 20 and 30 mph and always from exactly the same direction.

The rest of the day was spent collecting conch shells, looking for turtle tracks, gathering firewood, taking long hikes down the beach, sunbathing, swimming and catching up on some sleep.  There were few organized events.  Lunch was pick up what you wanted whenever you were hungry. Below is the group getting a meal.  Dan’s leg is in the picture at the left!