Adventures in the Dominican Republic, Part V
Field Notes III.II: Photographing a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, July 2021
Welcome to Field Notes!
Today we have part five of the limited series about a trip I took to the Dominican Republic in July of 2021. Take a look at these previous issues to get caught up-
Thursday July 22, 2021
I awake in the middle of the night. Something isn’t right. It takes me a moment to realize that the air conditioner in my small room in Hotel Kevin is not blowing. Through the one small, barred window I see that the street lights outside are out. Power outage.
The room grows uncomfortably warm. I toss and turn, trying make myself drift back off to sleep. In the courtyard outside a lone dog barks ceaselessly, trying to hold the darkness at bay with his voice. My pillow squeezed tightly over my head mutes the sound as best as I can.
My eyes open. It is early morning. I did fall back asleep and at some point the power came back on. That dog outside is silent and the air conditioner is humming.
A corner of the high window in the room shows some vivid pink sunrise clouds outside. I dress, grab my camera, and sneak quietly into the red carpeted hallways of the hotel to try to get to the rooftop. The access door is locked again. The first morning I was here it was open, but it is now becoming clear that instance was a fluke. The group has a rule that no one leaves the hotel alone. As tempted as I am to explore the streets, I will not break the rule. It is back to my room to sip tepid instant coffee from a water bottle and read until everyone else wakes.
Breakfast is another carb laden buffet and we all eat our fill. Then we discuss plans for a maximum effort day of work ahead. The goal of this mission trip is to help build the foundation for a small chapel that will be built on a tiny triangular segment of land at a road intersection. So far, we have encountered setbacks with a lack of site preparation and a conflict with other work crews at the site.
Today we hope to begin mixing and pouring concrete for the foundation pillars. However, Sandi, the trip leader, is soon informed that the site is not yet ready for this. The concrete is stacked in the courtyard of the church this mission is supporting. We work for a while loading bags of concrete into the bed of a pickup truck, to be taken to the construction site. Then, we spend more time bending and twisting rebar into skeletal frames, as we had done the previous two days.
Our group has an appointment at the church in the late morning, and we all convene inside. This time period is still within the Covid-19 pandemic. While vaccinations are not required for travel, we all had to be tested before going on the trip. Now that this adventure is half over, we are all required to be tested again before we can return to the United States.
Rather than all of us making a trip to the hospital for tests, arrangements have been made for a pair of nurses to come to the church to test us. They arrive and distribute swabs for each of us to swirl uncomfortably in our own nostrils. As I hand my swab over to the nurse I am handed a certificate. It is already printed with my name on it. It is already printed with a negative test result. Interesting.
With these ‘tests’ finished, we all head outside to our little adventure bus Expresso. We clamber in and ride over to the construction site. I begin to notice a phenomenon amongst the teenagers that compose the majority of this mission group. They are eager to work. We have had our share of fun and excursions, but these kids came here with the intent to give their best effort to a good cause.
The work setbacks we’ve encountered have been a bit of a disappointment. This has been planned as our heaviest work day, and only now in the afternoon are we going to get the chance to do so. Everyone is ready to get after it.
We arrive at the site to a problem. Sandi talks it over with the site supervisor. None of the rebar framework is in place yet. None of it is ready for our concrete work. Just as we learn that news, the skies open up and it begins to pour down rain. Our maximum effort day just got washed away in the deluge.
We land back at Hotel Kevin, with little other option than unscheduled down time. We play billiards on an open air covered balcony as the rain comes down hard outside.
By late afternoon the storm abates. We venture out into the town of Puerto Plata for a bit more exploration of the central plaza, Centro Historico.
As evening approaches we are invited to a presentation of singing and worship in the church. Though the lyrics are all in Spanish, the tunes are elevating and modern with guitar accompaniment.
Finally, an elderly woman steps to the podium to deliver a prayer. She wears dark garb and stands, back lit, in front of ceiling high stained glass windows set afire by the rays of the setting sun outside. I don’t understand anything she says, but the sound of her words and the emotion they carry reverberate through the hall. The scene has me totally captivated and transfixed.
Friday July 23, 2021
I awake in the night to a bloated belly and dash to the bathroom. So far, I have been very careful to avoid consuming any of the local tap water. Who can say for certain, though? Some stomach bug got me.
I get back to bed and try to sleep it off, but make the dash to the bathroom a couple more times. This is not ideal, especially in a country in which you cannot flush toilet paper.
Morning arrives. The bloating is gone and it seems that the tempest in my guts has calmed. At breakfast I eat extra bread and carbs, hoping it will absorb the last remnants of this GI rebellion. We have a long excursion day ahead, and I do NOT want to be sick during it.
We all board Expresso for a 45 minute drive into the mountainous countryside. I sit with my face pressed to the window, trying to see the landscape as it flashes by at 65 miles per hour. We weave around motorbikes, beep at other busses, and watch rural huts and sprawling farmland speed by in a blur.
The route ends at a wide gravel parking lot set off from the highway. This places is called The 27 Waterfalls of Damajagua. Sandi has only given us a vague description of what is ahead- a guided tour where we will walk through a gorge and jump into some pools of water.
Everyone changes into bathing suits and water shoes. Next, we are outfitted with life jackets and helmets. Unfortunately, I am made to leave everything else behind, including my DSLR camera. And my waterproof cell phone. I will take no photos of my own on this adventure. Sandi is the only one allowed to bring her cell phone, but our guide takes possession of it during the trip. He takes some good pictures, though!
This adventure starts as a hike on a deeply rutted dirt road through the countryside. A few cows and horses linger in pastures sprawling out beside us. The sun above is getting hot fast. Fortunately, this path is under the trees and the canopy overhead is thick.
The walk is a moderate steady climb with a few short steeper parts. Our guides are friendly and fun. One makes eerily accurate bird, cat, and cow noises as we hike. This confuses some of the kids until they figure it out, but then they all ask for more with a hilarious fascination.
Near the top of this small mountain we arrive at a ravine with a small stream running through it. The water was clean and clear, with a distinctly blueish color cast. The water is cold on my skin when I first step in it, but soon we are all wading and swimming through pools as the water levels deepens as the gorge descends.
Cliffs rise vertically on either side of the stream. In some of the shallower and clearer pools our guides point out small fish and shrimp flitting through the water.
On the cliff tops above us is a dense jungle of vegetation. It leans in over the revine, almost obscuring the sky. This all conveys a sense of being enveloped in the earth. It is like being wrapped in a cocoon of nature.
Our trek through the gorge comes to a point where wooden structures have been built along the path. Boardwalks skirt steep sections of cliff. Multiple fights of stairs connect one level of the ravine to the next.
Our guide leads us to a platform reaching out over a cliff edge over a deep pool. This is the first jump. One by one, we step off the platform to free fall 25 ft into the turqoise water below! What a thrill! After trying it once, I rally several of the kids to do it a second time.
We continue down the ravine. At times we swim through water too deep to stand up. Other times we wade, or the water is merely ankle deep.
There are other jumps along the way. One is a 12 ft plunge and another 17 ft. There are slides down slick rock sluices. We climb upstream beyond a short waterfall into a pool located in an almost enclosed spherical cave. Such an unbelievable spot!
I really have no words to adequately describe my feelings while on this trek through the gorge. I am elated. It is a time of pure fun, unlike anything I have experience since childhood. Fun is accurate, but that word doesn’t begin to capture the sense of fulfillment at being so intimately connected with nature in this place. These are hallowed grounds, though anything but solemn. The joyfullness of this experience endures.
A final jump drops us into a larger pool filled with many smallish fish darting through the water. Climbing out of this pool, we leave the gorge behind. A short hike from here takes us back to the beginning.
Back at the church that evening there is a small bonfire and much celebration with members of the church in the courtyard. I am not one to join in the singing and dancing, but I watch on happily as these kids make some lasting memories.
While the night grows long, I bring out my 50mm prime lens for my camera and shoot the low light celebration. The images turned out nicely, but cannot compare to my own memory of this time.
Its an interesting experience for me to focus on these memories again after 3 and 1/2 years. I didn’t forget the details. But also, I hadn’t had anything to trigger their remembrance, so that they haven’t resurfaced since that time. Maybe that is how memory, or the lack thereof, works?
I hope this adventure is a good one for you to follow along with, as well. I plan to wrap up this adventure in part six of this series.
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What an incredible experience. Your writing brings the whole event to life. More power to you; there's no way on God's green earth I would jump 25 feet into a narrow area. Beautiful pictures!
The gorge/ravine was amazing! That water color! Wow! Thanks for sharing!