Day 8- ¡Dίa de Descanso!

Muchas gracias to Tara y Nikky for their guest blog post!

    It started out slow, got to sleep in, then had pancakes for breakfast which were absolutely delicious. We were soon called outside to the backyard by our host mom Josephina, who insisted we put our feet up and enjoy the cool breeze. Our host brother Manuel joined us as we relaxed and listened to the sounds of the neighborhood, with Tara reading her book and Nikki journaling. After about two hours, everyone was called in for lunch, a meal of spaghetti and broccoli, then prepared to leave for a trip outside the city. Once on the road, with four people crammed in the backseat, it took around half an hour and an off-road journey across a river to arrive at Manuel’s grandma’s farm. While there, we met a fluffle of bunnies (one of which Tara named Pedro after Peter the Velveteen Rabbit), a horse that hates humans, a parakeet named Puca, and a dog named Tyson who likes watches. After spending time with all the animals, we figured we should actually go and introduce ourselves to the humans of the household. Everyone was lounging under a gazebo (apparently a hard word to remember) with a roof of banana leaves. We weren’t actually introduced to all of the family members present, but we did get to say hello and were received very warmly. Following a bit of relaxation and a bit of music, we joined Manuel and his family for a couple rounds of dominoes. Having never played before and no knowledge of the game, we quickly learned with the help of the little kids on our teams. After multiple rounds of dominoes, we left to see a soccer game. The game, which was between Santiago and Moca, ended in a zero to zero tie, but the people in the stands were more interesting than the game itself. Armed with drums, horns, and güiras, the crowd was constantly yelling and making noise, singing and cheering. When the game ended, we headed back to our house, ready to eat dinner and tell our host mom about our day. As soon as we arrived, we were served dinner, a surprisingly amazing grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a slice of tomato in the middle. Manuel and his family were supposed to leave after we ate, but as we have seen, Dominicans take their time. They ended up going outside and setting up shop for another 2 hours. More people may have showed up, we don’t know. The night ended with Nikki eating an entire chocolate bar (from the cacao farms in Salcedo) and us going to bed later than we probably should have. But hey, at least Tara was finally able to fix her watch and Nikki found her bugspray.

Manuel with Oscar the Bunny

A soccer game- go orange!

The bunny bin!