May 31st, 2010

Oh hiking.  It's almost time to get going to the House of Tarzan.  Before we left, I ate pepperoni things...  Some toast, and fried cheese that looked like mini french toast sticks.  Not very nutritious, but it was all that was offered since I wasn't about to eat the eggs.  Ew.  I put on my sport sandals...  Gross.  Everything smells so bad from the Fun Fun Caves.  My swim suit, shorts, and shoes.  It's bad.  Just like everyone else so it doesn't matter.  We all smell, no one wears make-up, and our hair is always up.  No biggie!  We get going on this hike and we leave from our hotel.

Adolfo, my tour leader, is a genius.  He was pointing out plants and telling us what they are all used for.  A lot of the plants are not native to the Dominican, but they have been there for years and years that they are considered "native" in one way or another.  There was this plant that smelled like pepper.  Adolfo said that if you take it and rub it on your skin, the bugs won't bite you.  Too bad it doesn't work on red ants.  Those things hurt like crazy.  They were flying things that looked like ants, but they weren't ants...?  There were also these spikey tree things.  They literally had spikes all over them and they are so that bugs don't get into the tree and kill it.  Very clever.

Liza (my other leader) pointed out a few more plants and told us that if you grind up some garlic and put it in water, let it settle for a while, you have a natural pesticide for your garden.  She showed us fruit trees and a cashew tree!  I love cashews!

Then we start this hike off right!  Let's cross a raging river with all of our cameras!  That was fun...  NOT!  One girl lost her water bottle in the current so Adolfo went after it and he actually got it.  He is seriously Superman.  Or Tarzan!  Haha!  We crossed that same river 4 or 5 times on our way to Tarzan's house, and the rest was uphill.

Now the Dominican hills are what Minnesotans call MOUNTAINS!  It was sooooo steep that at one point I could reach my hands out straight and touch the path in front of me.  Ugh!  We finally get to this house and cross a bridge and the raging river is right there.  It was such a pretty place!  I don't know if I could stay there overnight since the river was so loud.

We hike back the same way we got there after a little bit of a break, and my shoes still smell.  Everyone in my hotel room left their shoes outside.  Hopefully it rains later so they can get washed out a little bit...

When we got back to our hotel, we piled into the bus and went to a mountain river place that had waterfalls and pools to swim in.  We swam and took pictures and then it started to pour!  Yay for kind of clean shoes!

IT WAS FREEEEEEZING!!!

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at this look out place and took more pictures.  We were bummed since it was raining.  Adolfo told us that it is one of the most photographed beaches in the area.  It was of the Caribbean Sea.  Remember...  I got stung by a jellyfish in the Caribbean Sea.  Not a huge fan...

Anyways, the beach was gorgeous so we all took a swim there too.  We got back on the bus and headed for the hotel.  I got to be alone for about 15 minutes while everyone sat in the hot tub in the rain for a while.  I decided to take a shower and wash my swim suit.  It was nice.  Dinner was amazing too.  Potatoes with rosemary.  The rosemary is definitely a favorite of my mom.  Steak, a favorite of my dad.  Then the potatoes themselves remind me of my sister.  Then for dessert we had flan.  Can you say incredible?!  It was a cinnamon/carmel custard.  So delicious!  Now it's bedtime.  Early departure tomorrow for Jarabacoa!