San Juan

A couple of weeks ago, our team got to spend a few days visiting some students in their hometown of San Juan, a more rural city in the western region of the Dominican Republic. This was the first time we were invited to stay with families, one of which was Leyla’s mom’s house (Leyla is the national staff member in charge of campus ministry who we work closest with). This was also the first time being outside of the city life of Santo Domingo, where you can always hear honking horns and a blast of polluted air with the breeze. Needless to say, the trip was very refreshing.

Something that struck me as soon as we arrived was how common it was for people to greet each other. We spent the first afternoon of our time there going from house to house meeting different friends and family members that Leyla grew up with. We experienced the same thing with our other hosts in San Juan. We were taken on a couple of drives around the town and saw the crops (mostly beans and rice, which makes sense why that’s such a common meal here!) We were shown the local marketplace where you could buy all the fresh vegetables and grains that you wanted. It was such a busy place!We also spent a day El Campo (the countryside) which is a more undeveloped region of the city. A friend’s abuela made us a true Dominican lunch: rice and chen chen (cooked ground corn that looks like cous cous). Here the life is simple; people bathe in the river, get water from wells, and raise animals for food.  

 

 

 

My favorite parts of the trip were riding in the back of our friends’ truck on the way to El Campo, because the scenery was beautiful:

The sound isn’t great in some parts, but the scenery is awesome!

My second favorite part of the trip was being cared for by families. That is something I have missed greatly since being here. Leyla and her mom made us pancakes and shared their little members of the family with us (I miss seeing little kids!) and our friends’ mom treated us to hot chocolate after a cold night of being out exploring the town (cold being mid 60s, and yes, I felt cold!)

It was such a great way to be able to connect with students and Leyla more and I look forward to spending the next semester sharing more fun experiences with them!