We are Safely in the DR and Ready to Go!

 Our trip to the Dominican Republic was smooth but tiring.  We took off after Midnight from Logan Airport after several delays, and landed in Santiago at 4:15 a.m.  We made our through customs easily, finally claimed our 28 staffed suitcases, and then went back through customs again so the bags could be confirmed as ours.  After another wait at the curb, our bus arrived with the DR-based welcoming committee: Rita, Glenn our Driver, and Luis and Lewis, our interpreters,  We loaded the bus with luggage and crammed ourselves in as dawn was breaking. After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at Sana - The Secret Garden - a small, unique hotel with the m out amazing gardens.  We crashed for about four hours and then let the sun and the fragrant plantings and the butterflies and the azure skies replenished us.  We had a wonderful Dominican breakfast/brunch, with fresh papaya, just-picked bananas, plantain, rice, chicken and beans.  There was a bit more time to relax as we waited for the bus.  Glen and Lewis had made an heroic drive from the airport to Cotui with all of the luggage, saving us the need to rent a second vehicle, and also making lots of room in the bus for our two-hour drive to Cotui.  We pulled out of Sana and headed South and East from Santiago to Cotui, smack in the middle of the DR,  The scenery changed from city to rural, and when we saw the huge stretches of rice fields, we knew we were getting close. We encountered a drenching rainstorm that was welcome reef after weeks of dry weather, and as we got closer to Cotui we saw an amazing scene - hundreds and hundreds of cars parked by the large rive on the edge of town, and hundreds and hundreds of swimmers, observing a Easter weekend tradition. It was a little scary to see so many folks in the water at once, knowing that many of them had been partying. They were paying no heed to the rain, but were glad to be dry in the bus.  We pulled into the Hostal Maria Yoban, the wonderfully-appointed hotel where we have stayed for the past five trips, and were welcomed as old friends.  We quickly found our rooms and our luggage, and after a few hours we were more than ready for a buffet supper in the newly-renovated dining room, well-covered by a sturdy roof but open on the edges to the night air.  We ate well, had the fist of our regular evening meetings, and reviewed the schedule for the coming days.

Tomorrow we will eat breakfast and then walk downtown for Easter Sunday in the Catholic Church.  Some of us know Father Robinson, who has extended a warm welcome to what should be a moving experience.  We'll try to do it justice in these pages.  Then we'll met Glen and the bus at the town square and head to the little village in the hills where we will re-connect with Anna Maria and her family, some of our most long-standing friends. They will serve us a simple but ample meal in the midst of can only be described as pastoral beauty.  Their little house was build over a decade ago by a DR projects crew from the Norwich Congregational church, and it is the hub of the village.  We will bring a large supply of dental products and childrens' clothing that Anna Maria knows how to distribute wisely and fairly. It will make a significant impact in the lives of the families who receive it.  That's how we do our work - one family at a time.  It adds up.  We'll come back Sunday evening and prepare for our first visit Monday to the Altagracia school.  The excitement is building.

We are already a team. Everyone knows everyone's name, and many of us have had the chance to share stories and build relationships. The students are amazing: mature, adaptable and unselfish. They totally get it.  We are ready for a transformational week.