Wrap Up of Everything.. ONE WEEK LEFT!!!

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Okay I am going to try to wrap up the last leg of my trip in one sitting. So bare with me!
Yes so we went to the unamazingly untraveled Southwest area of the country, it is a lot of desert, and feels unusually dry. The first day we went to a beautiful lake that this largest lake on the island. But I am forgetting the name at the moment. Before we went to the boat we entered an iguana ranch where I fed iguana fruit loops! They really enjoyed them and before I knew it, I had the entire ranch of the animales at my feet; about 20 or 25! Now, as you all might know, I am not really the type to interact with animals, I dont like any type of animal in fact. Yet these little creatures were rather entertaining.
The next day we went to a beach that is extremely famous in the Dominican, it is called "Bahia de las Aguillas" : Bay of the Eagles for all you English speakers. This particular beach has zero tourists and it completely crystal clear, the pictures from the last blog are the beach and the lake that we visited. To get to the actual beach we took a boat for about 20 minutes and ultimately arrived on white, flour-esque sand. The water was clearer and bluer than a pool and the sun was set high in the sky. I could not have asked for a more beautiful beach; it was certainly the most gorgeous I have seen in my lifetime. After we left the pictureesque beauty, we visited a small watering hole that many Dominicans bathed in. It was actually a river, the "shortest river in the country". There were many locales, playing dominoes, bathing, drinking Presidente and gaulking at the N. Americans. A friend and I were hungry and found a woman that said she would cook fish for us. We assumed that after she literally showed us which fish we eat she would take the fish off the corpse, but no we were handed a plate of tostones(fried plantains) and a full fish, fried and ready to eat. I was rather surprised, but the meal was delicious. I have found that my willingnmess to try new things, especially foods has certainly been tested time and time again while traveling and I am happy to say that I have stepped up to the plate and tried almost all of the questionable dishes offered.
The next day we visited a Taino site, the Tainos are the indiginous peoples of many of the islands of the Caribbean; rather comparable to the Native Americans of North America. The site had many carvings and pictures of smiley faces; our director who is completely infatuated with the Taino people proceeded to tell us that the Taino people invented the smiley face and that they have been drawing and carving it for thousands of years. Who knew??
The next weekend we went to a Dominican Jazz festival, I know very strange sounding. It was actually a blast, the entire festival was on a beach and the jazz was relatively mixed which many Dominican instruments. I loved the experience, but the number of tourists was unbelievable. It is funny, I now look at the dow eyed tourists that flock to the beaches and tourism and I new feel disgusted. The way that the people act toward the locales is appaling and I have found myself defend much of Dominican culture. I see how people act when they have to previous knowly of a country and I am so glad hat I have been given the opportunity to travel and to open my eyes to what other people and other cultures truly mean. I watch N. Americans and Europeans act as though the own the world and step all over things that are not even theirs, I honestly become sick to stomach as they dine and galavant through the beaches, clubs and restuarants as they flaunt the possibility of the world being at their fingertips. I do not understand how one can be satified with their character with such a mindset. Truly unbelievable.

While we are on the subject of incredibley negative things, I would love to tell my fabulous little tale of the day I was robbed. So it was about 3:30 in the afternoon, I was at my house and decided to go to school a couple hours early to finish some homework. I left my house, and walked my normal route just like any other day. I finally hit the tunnel that it the passage way under a highway. I start to walk up the stairs and see three men at the other end of the tunnel. They all looked young and well dressed, so naturally I did not think anything of the situation. Two the men were still in the tunnel as I reached the other end and I thought I was fine as the first man walked rihgt past me, but unfortunately I was not so lucky when I hit the second man because he grabbed my bag. I resisted and shouted loudly no and go away, all in english out of instinct, which I actually think worked to my advantage. He continued to grab at my bag and I pushed his hands away and then I when I thought I was in the clear, the second man returned and waved a knife in my face. At that point I slightly released the firm grip I had on my bag and the first guy grabbed all that way in my front pocket. I had my Dominican phone, states phone, headphone(no ipod- thank goodness), equivalent to 3 US dollars, and my keys. After the incident I walked out of the tunnel, with a bizarre sense of what just happened. I thought to myself, I dont want to go the police, the police wont do a thing, plus the fact that no one saw what happened would not help me either. A man pulled up next to me and said that he had seen everything that had just happened and that he would bring up th university to report it, but soon after I got in the car the police were in the middle of the street with the third man in their hands. The police frantically asked me if he was the man who had done it and I said no and then said yes, very flustered myself. At this point I was in tears and didnt know what to do. And, before all of this, I was thinking that the man might be an accomplice to the situation; the man who was in the truck who started to drive me to the university. Finally I went to the security booth in front of the university where I tried to yell at the third man that was actually in holding. This of course was in spanish so that didnt go very well. I tried though, atleast I tried. I think that police were trying to hold back their laughter when I was yelling frantically in spanish. Anyway, the police station was a bust, the man asking questions had the thickest accent I had encountered, of course and he looked like he was about 16. So the next day I returned and the man that was in holding was just out in the open arms in cuffs walking around like it was nothing. Then they proceeded to tell me that he would be riding in the same car as me, which I firmly objected. The entire process took about 3 hours and absolutely nothing was accomplished. A police report was filed and that was that. One of most unjust feelings in my lifetime. After this experience, I realized that I can NEVER rely on the outward appearance ever again, not that I do this regularly but I do have to admit that I let my guard down and believed that the men walking toward me were university students. NEVER AGAIN.

The next weekend, we visited the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo which is where I will be studying the following semester! We had a lot of tours so there is not much to tell unless you have actually visited the city. Also, we went to a cave that was a site where Jurassic Park was filmed. The cave was beautiful and felt extremely tropical. Also, we went to a resturant that was in cave, that was incredible, but was extremely cold. Also, we visited the former house of the dictor Trujillo, this was very eery. It was at the top of a hill and had been ruined by several hurricanes.
Finally, we went to the sight that was where the declaration the abolation of slavery in the island of Hispananiola. The sight was an old plantation and much was still in tact, also another very eery sight. The area where was the slaves worked all day in the Caribbean heat was incredible. To see where they slept was really bizarre, all crammed into a small tower looking building. That was something I will never forget.

Well I must be off, I will be writing about the my trip to Haiti next!!! Stay posted.

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