PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
TIME CAPSULE LETTER
Written by AC & the Dominican Republic Team
Hola Chicas y Chicos!
Can you believe how long it’s been since we were all together, eating delicious food and swimming in crystal clear water in the Dominican Republic? We hope you guys enjoyed the rest of your summers and have started off the new school year strong (and as leaders!)
We wanted to reminisce with you all about our incredible 10 days together. We learned, laughed, danced, sang, and hand-shaked our way into so many new friendships (shake and bake shout out!). From Santo Domingo to Bayahibe to Saona to Benerito to Hoyo Claro and all the way back, we got to see such unique and special places of the DR while learning about its culture and people.
You guys also worked so hard picking up bags on bags on bags of trash, painting signs to direct people to Chicho Cave, hanging them up, teaching English words to the kids at camp, and just showing them love with your energy and attention. It’s amazing to think about the fact that the signs you painted, measured the distances for, and hung up will remain in the Cotubanamá national park for years to come! Never forget how grateful Lidia and those kids were for your hard work and great attitudes.
We also got to learn so much about Dominican culture by eating so many dishes, like rice and beans, fresh tropical fruits, plaintains, and even coconuts. We learned about the Padre Nuestro community, and don’t forget how Pinto welcomed you to his house and shared his mango and sugar cane with us all! You guys danced Bachata and Merengue with Gipsy, played beach volleyball and baseball with locals, and got to experience the liveliness, kindness, and beauty of so many Dominican people.
There were so many highlights of this program that it’s hard to even start listing them out! Saona’s food and beach were absolutely stunning; we even got to see dolphins and a few sea turtles on the way there! You guys all came together as a big group for one of the first bonding times when there was a huge circle of beach volleyball going on, and it was so special to see.
Then we have Cave Chicho, which I think we can all agree was such a unique experience! Swimming in that clear cold water after such a hot hike was so refreshing, and then add in that we were swimming by flashlight and it’s just an incredible memory. Hoyo Claro was so much fun too, even if the fish felt so weird on our feet! We were so lucky to be able to swim in such beautiful places.
We think it’s safe to say we also made great memories at the homebase! We shared so many meals together there, making new friends and having great conversations. We drank hot cocoa on our rainy day, got super into the chaotic scavenger hunt, swam, shouted each other out, tried to take each other’s shoes (Go Sienna!), sang and danced to karaoke, and so much more. Altea Lodge really did become our home away from home, and we were so happy to share it with you all.
And who can forget the ways that we adjusted and adapted due to the hurricane?! You all truly showed such open-mindedness with your positive attitudes and flexibility as our schedule changed several times. We were so impressed with the way that you all handled those situations with kindness and no complaints. Even when we got rained out, like at the beach and the baseball game, you guys were all smiles!
We were also proud of the ways that you stretched your leadership skills during mentor groups, as Leaders of the Day, with sunset circles and appreciation circle, the Social Sync, our Padre Nuestro debate, “Culture is like an iceberg,” and of course our OMG. Each of you stepped up to be a leader in some way, and we hope that you continue to grow as leaders and life-long learners. Don’t forget our OMG: being more open-minded by learning about new perspectives, connecting with new people, and trying new things. We hope that each of you have taken things that you learned during this experience home with you to grow yourselves, better your communities, and help our world.
We miss eating delicious food with you, playing games as a big group, singing karaoke together, and helping create an even more beautiful world together!
When you look at your bracelets, we hope you always remember how special each and everyone one of you is, and that life is beautiful.
Ingrid, Gipsy, Diego, Nathaly, and AC
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
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Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JUNE 27
¡Bienvenidos a República Dominicana!
We were glad to have our young leaders join us, excited to learn from new perspectives and demonstrate what real leadership is all like. We spent the entire day picking up our group of students from the Las Américas airport. Our first student, Sydney L., arrived earlier, excited and happy to join us for live this inmersive experience. By the middle of the day the first big group arrived, so they were able to go to the hotel, meet with Sydney, eat dinner and explore the area before going in for a restful night. We had a second group who came by the end of the evening, they had some food and went to the bed for recover energy. Everyone arrived excited, curious and full of expectations for the next ten amazing days.
We will meet with the last tree students, Josephine W., Riley U. and Amarachi U., during our second day. They were unable to make it due to adverse conditions and delayed flights from their boarding port, but rest easy knowing they are well. Without a doubt we will be waiting to give them a warm welcome to make them feel at home.
Tomorrow awaits us a day full of nature, culture and new friendships that will bring us together as a group. So pay attention to what’s coming!
Dear family and friends, please check out our daily blogs and leave a comment below to show your love for our great group as they start on this journey.
– GLA staff
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 28
Written by Zoe C., Naveen A. and Fiona M.
Buenos días familia. We started off our day breakfast at the hotel. We got to know some of the new people who arrived later the night before. Then we boarded the bus to tres ojos national park. We learned the back round behind the name. The name mean three eyes it is called this because they refer to underground lakes as eyes and there are three lakes in the national park. The views were really pretty with the clear blue water while bats were flying past us. We got back on the bus to head to super market called Jumbo. There were stocked up necessities and snacks. It was so interesting foods that we don’t have back home. Then finally made it to home base and explored our new rooms in Bayahibe!. There were ate a local lunch that was made up off beef, rice and beans that were all home made. After we played bonding game to get to know everyone’s names. Then we did orientation where learned about the staff, leadership, codes of conduct and dominican culture.
Plus, the entire group is finally complete! Josephine W, Amarachi U and Riley U. joined us and we gave them a great welcome.
After some free we had sun rise circle and shared our take aways, hilights, and shout outs. After dinner we had a cultural immersion activitie where we learned more about Dominican culture and how to dance merengue. We are so excited for our service tomorrow.
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 29
Written by Carlos, Josephine and Riley
Bienvenidos!
Today we started off with service at padre nuestro helping to clean the Cotubanamá national park picking up trash. There we met Lidia and Mariely, they gave us an orientation about the history of the park, the importance of being able to manage and maintain it. During the morning of our service we met Pinto, a local to the area who lives inside the park and works in its maintenance as well, he gave us freshly peeled sugar cane and guess what, he invited us to see what the surroundings of his home were like! There, surrounded by fruit trees and nature, he gave us mangoes and more cane sugar. We feel grateful to have that experience of being able to provide help and connect with people who show us a new perspective on life.
By the middle of the day we ate lunch in the forest and painted signs to indicate the path to the Chicho cave, an a really important place that provides water to the locals and nearby hotels in Bayahíbe. After we returned home and spent time playing volleyball. following this we did a leadership activity called “social sync” to provide perspective on technology use and being disconnected for our trip. For dinner we ate more traditional dominican food including plantains!
Finally, we had our first mentor group where we were able to reflect on our experiences of the day, our personal and team growth, as well as think about what we want to achieve from this program here at DR.
We are very excited for the next few days, visit our blog to learn more about our adventures and challenges.
Buenas noches!
BLOG POST FOR JUNE 30
Hi family and friends!
This morning, we woke up bright and early with the sun and as leaders of the day, we woke everyone up! We went up and down the stairs knocking on doors wishing everyone a great day with laughter and sleepy eyes. Once 7:30 came, we ate breakfast: scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, bread, cheese, ham, marble cake, and some cereal! After we finished up breakfast we all collectively got ready for service!
Today’s service was supposed to be back at Padre Neustro. We were all ready for another great day of service which included the installation of the markers we painted yesterday for indications of distances to the Chicho Cave. As we were walking into the service site, we took a water break only to find out that Hurricane Beryl would be changing our plans for the day. Previously we had shifted around our itinerary to change the day of our adventure to Saona Island and be able to spend the night and do the turtle night walk. but because of the storm approaching we had to adjust the length of our stay. Thanks to Ingrid, we were still luckily able to adventure out there safely as well as return home safely within the same day, still receiving so much joy and fun as if we were there for longer— precisely the perfect amount of time!
We walked to the beach and loaded onto 2 separate boats, going out and about along the coast of the Dominican Republic and down to Saona Island. Along the way we saw the most beautiful dolphins, turtles, and sting rays! Soon after seeing the sea life, we docked the boat and swam in the water. There was the option to snorkel if wanted or to just simply swim around having a great time with friends and staff. Everyone had so much fun with this activity and we all were thankful to have been able to do it.
We then got back on the boats and headed to Saona Island with bumpy waves! We arrived safely and had some lunch, consisting of delicious chicken, rice + beans, lots of veggies, fruits, a coleslaw bar, and fresh pineapple juice. After lunch we went straight to a demonstration by a man named Negro, who is a turtle conservationist. We learned so much about sea turtles, conservation of turtles, and how his shop contributed to his funding. He was super passionate and heartfelt about his work, and in the shop, we looked at the jewelry and knick knacks of hand crafted artistry, and had the opportunity to purchase something knowing we were supporting a good cause.
Then, we went into the water at the beach on Saona Island and had fantastic bonding time and just shared a unison group connection for a couple of hours! We played volleyball in water, on the court, swam around, and even did some cheer stunting.
We then took a bouncy boat ride back to the mainland and walked to home base to shower and change, hearing local music in the town along the way. Once ready, we headed out for dinner at a local restaurant, where we enjoyed a waterfront view. After dinner, Ingrid announced that we would be getting gelato as a thank you for being so flexible and understanding of schedule changes.
No matter what tomorrow’s schedule and the weather brings, nothing can bring us down; we’re learning that we’re stronger together!
Kyle, Lucca, Sawyer, and Zara
BLOG POST FOR JULY 1
Hola Familia,
We started our day with a breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, pound cake, and cereal. Afterwards, we were split into groups and had a debate about the people of Padre Nuestro and the national park. We had a very insightful discussion and got to gain a better understanding and see the issue from different perspectives. We as the leaders of the day were the moderators who then chose the best resolution to the overall issue. Due to the debate being so successful, we took a trip down into town to restock our favorite snacks at the local grocery store.
After lunch at our homebase, we took a walk back to the local national park, Cotubanamá, where we got to measure the distance between the signs that we previously painted, and then we hung them up to direct future visitors to Chicho Cave.
Then we hiked down to the cave ourselves where we were able to swim in the refreshing water. We all used flashlights inside the cave due to its darkness which was such a unique experience! We all loved it and had a blast. The water was the clearest we’ve ever seen and it cooled us all off after our hot hike.
Then we hiked back to the front of the national park where Lidia, a member of Padre Nuestro and our guide during these service projects, thanked us so kindly and sincerely for our help and hard work. Then we walked back to homebase where we had some free time to shower and relax before dinner. After dinner we had our mid-program Pulse Checks, where we were able to anonymously give feedback about our experience so far. Now we are about to enjoy some more free time where we can chat and hang out before bed time— an amazing day!
Benny, Natasha, Sydney, and Tatum-Rose
BLOG POST FOR JULY 2
Good morning!!
Today we got to sleep in a little later and have breakfast at 8:00, and then we went on a short walk to a small nearby beach!Unfortunately, after a few minutes there, it started to rain so we weren’t able to enjoy it for long. We walked back to our homebase while vibing to music, where we were able to relax and hang out for a little while before having lunch. Today, we had some pasta, salad, pork chops, yuca and hot chocolate. The rain cooled us all off so much that we were actually wanting the warm hot chocolate!
After that we did some fun leadership and bonding activities (“culture is like an iceberg,” and an activity about our group’s differences and similarities, etc.) where we got to know each other more. Then we went into small groups to do a scavenger hunt around the whole homebase. Later we did more entire group activities for group bonding like mafia, poison dart frog and ‘who can grab the shoe first’!
After the afternoon and evening activities we went to gather around on the roof for “Sunset Circle.” We had highlights of the day, shoutouts of people from the group, and takeaways. Then we gathered around for some FIRE pepperoni and margarita pizza for dinner. We then completed our health checks for the day while we hung around together. Despite the weather, we have all bonded together, adapted to the situation, and have found a way to have so much fun. We know that whatever we do tomorrow will be rewarding too!
Amarachi, Catrina, Reid, and TJ
BLOG POST FOR JULY 3
Buenos dias family and friends!
This morning we started our day with a breakfast of scrambled eggs, avocado spread with bread, banana bread, fruit, cereal and juice. After breakfast we took a bus to a local kids camp where we did activities such as teaching them basic english words, musical chairs and other camp games. This was definitely a main highlight of the trip for most of the group!
For lunch, the school aunties prepared lunch for us, which consisted of white rice with scrambled eggs, a different rice with sausage, and a cabbage and onion slaw. We had to encourage the kids to eat because they had wanted to continue playing with us!
After lunch the kids went home and we then had the chance to make bracelets with the women at the school. After we had each made a bracelet, we did an activity called “I Hope You Remember” where we gave meaning to each other’s bracelets while putting them on each other, saying something like “I hope you remember that you’re amazing” or “I hope you remember to never give up and to always keep going.” The women are very talented jewelry makers, so we then had the opportunity to visit their store under the school where we were able to purchase some of their jewelry.
After such a fun morning and early afternoon with the kids, those of us who wanted to had the chance to go the beach again (without the rain this time!) We swam for a bit and then played beach volleyball with a local guy who joined in.
After dinner tonight, we participated in a whole group activity called “Appreciation Circle” where we sat in a circle facing away from each other. As one of the staff members read statements such as “tap someone you admire” and “tap someone who made a difference this week,” we took turns in groups of four, tapping the shoulders of each person that we thought the statement applied to. This was a really fun and sweet activity. It helped us to realize how close we have grown as a group.
Now we are enjoying some free time before getting a good night’s rest so we can make the best of our last full day in Bayahibe tomorrow!
Jadyn, Kayla, and Maya
BLOG POST FOR JULY 4
Hey Friends and Family!
We started the day off with breakfast at 7:30. It consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, bread, fresh avocado and tomatoes, cereal, and fruit.
After breakfast we departed to Hoyo Claro (meaning “clear hole”), a lagoon almost to Punta Cana. On our hike to the lagoon, we also picked up trash throughout the path. The lagoon was very refreshing after our hot hike, and the water was crystal clear. There was a sunken tree trunk that we could stand on and little fish came up to eat the dead skin off of our feet and legs. We spent around 3 hours there and ate lunch there as well.
After the hike and bus ride back, we got changed for our upcoming baseball game with the local team. We left home base and walked to a nearby baseball field, but we only were able to play for about 30 minutes before a big rain storm ended the game early. After getting drenched on our walk back, we arrived to home base with coconuts awaiting our arrival. Some of us hopped in the pool to play volleyball while others showered and got ready for the evening activities.
Following that, we met with our mentor groups for the final time for a leadership activity that involved debriefing the trip. We talked about what we learned from our time here, what goals we achieved, and how we’ve grown. All 3 mentor groups then combined to talk about our O. M. G., or One Meaningful Goal. For dinner we had an American-style barbecue to celebrate 4th of July and topped it off with a cake of the American Flag!
Finally, we ended the night with an hour and a half of karaoke. Our DJ, Asher G, ate and left no crumbs (aka: he killed it) and so did everyone else on the dance floor.
We can’t wait to head back to Santo Domingo and enjoy our last day together tomorrow!
Asher, Ellie, and Rina
BLOG POST FOR JULY 5
Buenos días!
Today was our last full day of the Island Service Adventure. After sleeping in a bit and eating breakfast together around 8:30, we all finished packing and then loaded up into the buses to make the trip back to Santo Domingo.
There, we ate a yummy pizza lunch, and then were taken on a tour of the Colonial Zone of the city. Our hotel is right in the middle of it, so we were able to walk around and learn about some of the history of the city. We were also able to get our last little bit of shopping in with a few more stores!
After the tour and shopping, we checked into our hotel and were able to change and get ready for our farewell dinner. We drove for about 10 minutes to a restaurant called El Conuco where we had a private room and a buffet of porch chops, pasta, vegetable soup and sancocho, salad and fruit, fish, and so much more. After we ate, some live dancers came and performed in the main dining room, and after we watched for a while, they brought our whole group out on the dance floor to dance with them— we think it was a big highlight of the day!
Our leaders of the day today, Caitlin, Paige, Sienna, and Talia did any amazing job making sure everyone was ready all day and leading our very last sunset circle at the restaurant too.
At dinner, we passed around cards with each person’s name to write notes to each other, and we kept doing that even at the hotel when we got back. Everyone’s been so sad as we’ve been saying goodbye! We’ve all made good friends and connected with so many people.
We’re wishing all of our new friends safe travels tomorrow!
