me at the peak

the sunrise

a pretty bridge

about half of the trails were like this..not even trails but just water drainage spots :)

ok, so i left off in pico duarte..so i guess i can describe things more detailedly. ha. on the first day we got up early and started walking, and every student got a bag of sweets and juice to carry and eat while walking, and we walked for a while through forest and it was really cool, lots of different trees and random vines and fruit trees, like oranges and lemons, and they smelt really good, and we went up and down alot..then sometimes we would stop and get water out of rivers or something, or stop to take pics, and we weren´t all in one big group, we could go at our own pace as long as we had a partner, and everyone got whistles in case someone got lost. the first night we got to the camp at about 3, after going down this really steep mountain slope for about two hours, (which we knew we would have to go back up the next day..agh) and we ate soup to warm us up until dinner, because yes it was colder than normal carribbean weather. then we hung out until dinner then went to bed. the next day we went to the peak! and it was pretty cool because i was in the first group to get there, so there were only a few of us up there so it wasnt too crowded, and the highest point is on a big pile of rocks with a statue of the head of juan pablo duarte and a dominican flag and a cross, so it was pretty awesome, and there was an incredible view of all the mountains all around, and the clouds in the mountains, and it was nice and sunny out, a perfect time to be there! then we started back down, running most of the way on the one big downhill that came down from the peak, then up the crazy steep mountain side, then we crossed a bunch of other mountains and valleys to get to this one valley where we would stay for threee nights, and we got there at about 3 again, and went to the river and ate and hung out, and that was pretty relaxing after walking alot...oh, the first day we walked 18 kilometers..second day 19..last day about 15..so a total of about 52 kilometers..which is like 31 or something miles. the first night in the valley was crazy (or so i heard) haha because i was sleeping because i was exhausted! but a bunch of people brought rum and beer..and the next morning the director lady was really pissed (she had reason to be) and woke everyone up at like 9 and called a group meeting and told everyone that if they dont want to pack up and go home that anyone who has any more alcohol has to bring it out, and then she dumped it out on the ground, haha, so that was pretty intense. the rest of the day was good though, we hung out and went to the river and jumped off rocks and stuff. the next day we went into a valley to play frisbee with these pro teams that were there, and it was sweet this valley was seriously like a fairy tale..lush green with horses and mountains and yeah. thennn someone apparently had stolen 2 million pesos from one of the volunteers, so they had to search all our bags and give us this big long talk about how dissappointing of a group we were..first the alcohol then this. ahh. then the next day they had the roasting pigs, and theeennn that night, there was a group of girls running around and one of them ran into something or something like that, and the got this big gash on her eyebrow, so they were all frazzled and everyone had to sleep in the clothes they were gonna wear the next day to be able to get her the hospital before 7 tge next day. ok, so moving on cuz im gonna run out of time!

i´ve joined a softball team and they´re pretty cool and nice, and i´m in a guitar class with ramona and julissa every monday and tuesday, so thats pretty fun.