"Not your typical vacation " a Dominican Republic Travel Page by fairy_dust

I went to the Dominican Republic in 2001, with a Church program. A group of us went there to see and learn about poverty and justice issues in the Third World.

We didn't stay at a fancy all-inclusive resort, we stayed at a private home in San Cristobal with minimal comfort. I felt like I was on Survivor (but I think that's a good thing!) We also stayed with host families for a week in different towns (mine was in Consuelo). We also visited Santo Domingo (the capital), El Cacao (a coffee plantation village), and a batey (where sugar cane planation workers live). We saw and met the poorest of the poor in Dominican Republic.

We learned a lot in our experience, and now we are using what we saw and learned to teach others about poverty, faith, and justice in Third-World countries.

Survivors:

Adam
Amanda
Amelie
Caolan
George
Jill
Julie
Kelly
Krista
Louise
Melissa
Naomi
Pat
Rebecca
Tiffeny

Leaders:
Joe (our Jeff Probst!)
Maureen
Cathy
Alicia and Quinn (2 girls from Ontario who helped with the program)

Dominicans who helped with the program:
Miguel and Amado - helped with activities and took us on tours
Luis - helped the leaders
Juan - our host, he owned the place in San Cristobal where we lived
Aney - our bus driver
Marta - our cook

I must go back to Dominican Republic someday, I love it too much. The experience I had there was so much better than any all-inclusive beach vacation at "Tropical Paradise Hotel" where you only meet rich tourists. I went to meet the people, and experience life in a Third World country.

At our centre in San Cristobal, we lived together Survivor-style. With our host families, we learned about family life in the DR, and shared our experiences with one another. Me, Krista, Tiffeny, and Jill lived in a small sugar-factory town called Consuelo, George lived in a coffee plantation village in the mountains called El Cacao, Caolan and Julie lived in Bateys, Rebecca lived close to Santo Domingo, Pat lived near the Haitian border, and others lived in other places scattered all over the country. Experiences with living among the locals and seeing the life outside of the beach resorts are what make a stay in the Dominican Republic truly a journey to remember.