Ritmo del Caribe: Bienvenidos a La Cumbre

The high point for me in August was going to a youth camp in the mountains near Puerta Plata about an hour's drive from Santiago. I spent four days at this beautiful retreat. My friend Julie and her husband Mark invited me to participate. Below you see the retreat center from a larger perspective:

I took the bus to Santiago then drove in a car with Mark and Julie to the retreat center, owned by Catholic seminarians.

Below are photos of the youth unloading for the week-long event:

The youth were aged between 14-20, and there were about 60 in attendance. About 10 adults facilitated the retreat.

My Spanish got a real boost, and I was happy that I understood just about everything that was going on in my group. There were several bi-lingual individuals in attendance that could help me out if I was stuck. Above is a photo of several retreat facilitators.

These youth are waiting in line for dinner. Below, youth are being served, and everyone is seated enjoying their meal.

Below is Mark with some of the boys doing dishes. Everyone pitched in.

Below are the dorm rooms in which we slept. Much to my surprise, I had a room to myself and a hot shower!

The following photographs are of the different study groups.

These photos show my group. The goal of the camp was to teach how to educate children, and we learned different spiritual songs, as well as hand motions to go along with the songs. I really enjoyed the singing. The gestures and prayers we learned together brought back happy childhood memories. Singing the simple message of love and spirit has always brought me great joy. I was reminded of various Sufi groups in which I've participated, both in Hawaii & California.

My friend Julie is seated at the right (next to the young woman with the froth of auburn hair) and she facilitated much of the retreat. Many members in this group had just been to a conference which recently took place in Haiti. They came away from that experience feeling they had a strong bond with their Haitian peers, and brought their enthusiasm to this retreat at La Cumbre.

Above is our daily schedule, which includes worship, yoga, sports, music and meditation.

A worship service was held every morning at this Baha'i retreat. I knew people in California that were Baha'i, yet had never been very involved with this group. They are very strong here in the Dominican Republic, and having spent so much time in ashrams I feel much more comfortable in a Middle-Eastern mystical tradition than I do Catholicism, so I'll participate in more Baha'i activities.

Laili, married to Julie and Mark's son, plays guitar and led much of the singing at the retreat. Also, there was yoga:

More yoga!

We had plenty of sports activities, even when it rained.

Monica led a meditation group.

A few peacock friends, as well as ducks, lent us their support.

A few weeks later, the Baha'i organization led a meeting to reflect on this retreat as well as the conference that was held in Haiti. Below is Yacol, who participated in the La Cumbre retreat:

Participants at the Haiti Conference as well as the La Cumbre retreat introduced themselves and gave presentations about their experiences.

Below, participants are shown enjoying these photographs of themselves, which I presented on the projector in front.

Below are photos taken at the Dominican Fiesta Hotel, where Julie took me swimming. She and her family pay for a membership so they can use the pool on regular basis. I was thrilled to go to this gorgeous swimming pool, since I haven't been swimming much lately.

I wish I hung out at the Dominican Fiesta more often. I've only been there once so far.

I did enjoy one other luxury day this past month, and that was with Lisette Isiais. Lisette lives in Arroyo Hondo, Santo Domingo. She loves to entertain, and invited me to her house. We enjoyed a lunch of Middle-Eastern food, wine and the afternoon in her large jacuzzi. Below are the photos of our day together:

Lisette was lead Physician with the Peace Corps when I was with Peace Corps, and was always very supportive of me. She recently left the Peace Corps herself, having worked there 13 years. She is thrilled to have personal time now that she is retired, although she plans to go back to work part time.

Lisette is shown above with her husband, Jose. Below is a photo of Lisette with her beloved Great Dane. This dog weighs 160 pounds of pure love, according to Lisette.

Below is a photo of the pisci-cuzzi (Piscina is Spanish for swimming pool) in which Lisette and I spent most of the afternoon hanging out, drinking wine and talking. What a terrific time!

The jets are turned off in this photo, yet I found the reflection of the palms enticing.

Meanwhile, on the home front, the heat was really getting me down so I had an air conditioner installed. My neighbor knew of someone who works for a clinic in which all of the air conditioners were replaced with bigger models. The AC I bought has barely been used and cost $350. I've seen AC units in stores priced at twice this amount. The young fellow who installed the unit took his time (about 3 days), but at least he knew what he was doing. He flashed a great smile, too.

Regarding activities near home, I made friends with a Dominican boy born and raised in NYC who was staying with his grandmother (she lives nearby) for 3 weeks this summer. The boy, 9 years old, spoke English fluently yet couldn't understand or speak Spanish. I interpreted for him so that he knew what the neighborhood kids (many of whom are his cousins) were saying!

As you can see, Jeremiah is a winning child, and very affectionate. You should have seen the stunned looks on neighborhood children's faces to see someone their age, who looked like them, speaking fluent English with me! Below you see Jeremiah with his grandmother.

Love between a boy and his Dominican Abuela (Grandmother) doesn't require a written language. Jeremiah and his Grandmother got along great.

The woman below is the mother of Jeremiah's Grandmother (or Jeremiah's Bis-Abuela) and lives on the corner on the same street which his Abuela lives on.

I've been helping children with their reading (Spanish) mornings at the nearby school. The school has a whole new look now that it was painted during summer break.

Below is the class that I help out the most with. They are having their mid-morning snack break.

These children are a little older and their class is upstairs.

Everyone looks very neat in their school uniforms!

Below are children in the class I help with during their physical education class. You can see that their teachers are very committed. The teacher on the left is 6 months pregnant with her 3rd child.

Below are photos of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), which is one of the largest universities in the world. I see so many students get off the Metro every day at this school that I decided to investigate. Also, I have been inquiring into English teaching opportunities.

I met the English Professor through the English Immersion Program and he asked me to speak with his class. I introduced myself and students asked me questions. I asked them questions too. The professor was from Haiti and spoke English fluently, as well as Spanish, Creole and French. It's terrific to know such outstanding individuals teach through UASD. When I spoke to the class in Spanish, he interrupted me to say no Spanish was spoken in his class.

Above is a photo of the Department of Languages. People there were really helpful and gave me instructions with regard to contacting their program director.