Time Capsule Letter – October 2016
The GLA staff and the team at 7 Elements are all so incredibly proud of the community-led projects you brought to fruition this past summer in the Dominican Republic. Your three weeks of hard work, willingness to explore new places and new cultures, and your energy made this summer one to remember.
To celebrate your accomplishments, let’s look back at some of the highlights from your summer:
- Having a traditional lunch of morro de guandules
- Our trip to Santo Domingo and spending a night in the hostel
- Watching a showing of Tarzan in the city!
- Visiting an environmental scholarship university in Jarabacoa
- Hiking up Mount Brison
- Doña Maxima’s ridiculously good grilled and fried chicken after we finished the hike
- Bottle building!
- Being the last three-week group of the summer
We hope you all are having a great start to the school year, and that you take a little bit of this life-changing experience in the Dominican Republic wherever you go.
Best wishes,
The GLA & 7E Team
Summer Blog Posts
July 30, 2016
Hola! to everyone who’s back at home, our group is currently settling into our new DR-home and enjoying ourselves. Unfortunately one of our friends has missed their flight but will be flying in tomorrow. Everyone seems to be getting along great and seems like we are all anxious to begin our long adventure of exciting new experiences and learning from each other.
Check back in tomorrow to hear about how everything unfolds.
ADIOS AMIGOS!
July 31, 2106
All students are now safely arrived!
Hey everyone at home, we are here enjoying our time. Started to work on a home of a local family in-need in conjunction with GLA’s program partner, 7 Elements. We worked great together as a team and got a lot done. As you see we were brought into a new environment of mixing and smoothing different cement, and we were able to bond more as a whole. After having a delicious cultural lunch of morro de guandules, we were able to spend some time at the beach. Finally, we were able to meet our new friend, who missed their original flight and is now getting bonded with the group as well.
Hasta Luego Familia! 🙂
August 5
We have been having lots of fun here in the Dominican Republic.
Our little family has just gotten back to our home base after our 3-day “vac”. After our hard work cementing a locals home, we took a trip to Santa Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. While there, we enjoyed a walking tour of the city with some highlights of Christopher Columbus times and followed buy some shopping. We were rewarded with a showing of the movie Tarzan at a movie theater and were able to spend the night in a hostel, located in the city. For the next day, we adventured to a waterfall where we all had a blast taking pictures and swimming in the amazing scenery. We then settled into our next homestay for more bonding in a chill lodge where we then enjoyed a cook out and s’mores!! Finally to end our trip, we visited another waterfall, where some of us climbed high up rocks, while others took the time to relax and reflect on the trip.
Until next time,
luv y’all and hope you don’t miss us too much!:)
August 9, 2016
Hey family,
haven’t updated y’all in a while. We are here having so much fun. To begin, we visited an environmental scholarship university in Jarabacoa. After which, we visited a patai, where we learned about Haitian culture and customs. We painted a water tank that would pipe into the homes of Dominican and Haitian households. Yesterday, we spent the day zip lining into a cave system, where we were also able to encounter an ostrich, peacock, and swim in a lagoon, after which we went to a beautiful beach named Rio San Juan. Today, we got back to work and painted at the school in our original town. Check in with you guys tomorrow.
xoxo
August 11, 2016
Que lo que familia we are now coming up to our eight day mark tomorrow and ready to continue our journey. Today we hiked up to Brisón. At the top of our 3 mile adventure, we were able to have a taste of some of the best chicken around. It was grilled and fried, made by Doña Maxima, a friend of our organization. After which, we enjoyed some ice-cream and got a cultural taste with delicious coconut bread. To end our long day we enjoyed some time at the beach and watched a documentary. Talk to you soon love ya, Hasta Luego¡
New Photos:
