Cabarete

A national holiday, El Día de Juan Pablo Duarte, was originially scheduled for Tuesday, February 26th. But the Dominican Republic loves to celebrate holidays so much that the government moved the holiday back to Monday so that the entire nation could really celebrate...with a 3 day weekend! Some friends and I had Thursday and Friday off as well so we decided to travel to Cabarete, a world famous kite surfing town to the north of the Dominican Republic. We surfed, swam, and worked on our tans. On Saturday, we went through Puerto Plata to the famous 27 waterfalls, where guides literally throw you up waterfalls and then you jump or slide down them. It was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done, and it only cost $9. Everyone in Cabarete is really friendly and eager to get to know you. People from all over the world come there to surf and most of them have amazing stories. My Spanish is getting better and I'm having a lot of fun talking to people. Over breakfast one morning, I became friends with a guy who turned out to be the most recent world champion kite surfer. He introduced us to his friends and they showed us the nightlife in Cabarete.

Now I am back in Santo Domingo, where the Haitian students in my university aren't coming to class anymore because they are in Haiti either visiting or searching for their families. I hope they will be back safe soon.