The Dominican Republic ’17
originally posted on march 18, 2017
juice runs after class ... and then ice cream runs after juice runs
and just like that, it was over.
looking back, i can only remember monte cristi as a dream. everything about the trip feels so surreal - ice cream runs to bon, pineapple and guava juice after class, ben, the clean plate club, tacky fortune telling with uno cards, fried plantains, the stampede for t-shirts whenever they came back washed, salt flats, dominican pasta, the pier, morning walks, evening walks, blisters from walks, flip flops, friendship bracelets and duct tape, 4:30am rooster calls (and subsequent 4:25 alarms set simply to plug music in before the roosters could get me up), dominoes, "what’s the weather?!", our own invention: the modified body song (i don’t need to get into), painful sunburns, bucket hats, airplane seating nervousness, way overstuffed bags, dajabon market, deep thoughts on dorm balconies, and of course, who could forget - almost willingly clogged toilets.
our lives are unbelievably short, these little snippets in time. derek, whenever you can, you need to get yourself out there and hear other peoples' stories, and to see all that this world holds.
so, note to future self - get those legs moving and see the world lying out there, even if it means being drenched by gelid, chlorine-ish shower water every morning in the dark.
and then here’s my one completely-irrelevant-photo allowance...
- derek