Day 3 – Saturday January 11th:
Today was our day off so we went down to the market to look around and buy souvenirs if we wanted. After going through the market, we went for a walk down the streets, through the famers market part. Unfortunately, during our time, one of our team members experienced their bag being stolen by a motorist that was targeting tourists in the area. Thankfully they were not harmed, the police arrived right away, and they filed a report.
After the market, we headed to Boca Chica, a beach about 45 minutes from the Mission Center, and had a late lunch on the beach. We went for a 35-minute walk along the beach from one end to the other and then we headed back to the Mission Center. When we arrived, we had a late dinner ready for us and then we relaxed before heading to bed.
Day 4 – Sunday January 12th:
This morning we headed to the church in the area and one of the Synergia employees preached for us in Spanish but also translated it into English for us. It was a neat experience!
After church we went downtown to the Colonial Zone and toured around Christopher Columbus’ “house” and other historical ruins. We came back home around 4:30 to shower and change. Then we went out for dinner on the beach at Adrian Tropical to give the cooks at the Mission Center the night off.
Day 5 – Monday January 13th:
Today we went back to work after a nice weekend off. But before heading to Espacio de Gracia, we went to visit a school on the way called La Esperanza. A few of our team members had worked at this school in the past. It was nice to see some familiar faces of children and teachers, who even recognized some of us.
We worked today until about 12:30 before stopping for lunch. Unfortunately, we had some rain again which delayed our work, but we ended up going for a nice walk around the village of La Pared once the rain stopped. When we got back to Espacio de Gracia, we got right back to work and ended up priming almost every wall and ceiling on the second floor and got almost all the blocks pulleyed up onto the roof and placed.
Tonight, after dinner we visited Guido, who runs the Mission Center, for coffee. We listened to a bit of his life story and about the work he is doing here in the Dominican. It was a very nice, relaxing evening.
-Espacio de Gracia Burlington HANDS Team 2020
Comments