Guest Blog Entry #2 by Isaac VanDyke

Fourth of July Celebration

First off, Cassie, Jenna, and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July. It was weird not seeing fireworks, but we had a great time. The ironic thing is, you were all seeing many lights in the sky and we had no lights, the electricity was off for the entire day. We wanted to do something Patriotic, but choices are limited, so what is more patriotic and American than making potato salad….nothing. Cassie and I made some great potato salad. Like I said the supplies are limited in this small town, so we used what we could find. It turned out great. Our friend Moreno baked chicken, our friend George came over and we had a nice little dinner with some really cheap wine. Great times.

My 4^th of July started out by drinking Dominican rum with on old man named Luis. He is in a wheelchair and does not leave the house. We just hung out and spoke Spanish. The more Rum I drank the better my Spanish was.

The other weekend Jenna, Cassie, and I went to a beach in a town close by called Bayahibe. We had a great time drinking Presidente, and floating in our sweet tubes Jenna and I bought the previous week. I didn’t burn this time, which is amazing. We then ventured to town to wait for the bus. As we were waiting in a Colmado, a small store, we danced in the street and some old guy offered to give us a ride. They are called bolas, which mean a free ride. Is it safe to take rides from strangers, probably not, but we did. We made it.

There were 2 days in a row where my body took some unfortunate injuries. The first was while playing basketball. We were playing 5 on 5 at the local gym. Turns out nobody works, so there are always about 3 teams of people that come a 2:30. My team won the first two games we played. I really have no idea what anyone says to me, I just run around and shoot when open, and try to rebound. Well sportsmanship here is a little off the charts. You call the foul on the person who fouled you. Well needless to say no one agrees and they just start yelling at each other for like five minutes and one person goes and sits down. I just watch and am actually not mad about it cause then I can rest. It is so freaking hot down here. It got a little crazy when one guy was so pissed he grabbed a metal pipe and threatened someone. Do you think I ever call fouls…..yeah right. Well my injury happened like this it was the third game, after the crazy guy chased someone with a pipe. A guy went up for a layup and I went to stop him, but he jumped way higher cause we all know how pathetic my hops are. As we were coming down his foot and my leg crushed the family jewels…..not good. I have never in my life taken a shot this bad. Did I want to fall over and cry, absolutely, but I did not becausI first of all I frustrate my team anyways cause I do not know what they are saying, secondly I did not want to get hit with a pipe, and thirdly I am the crazy white gringo playing with these guys and I don’t want to look like a baby. I limped up and down the court trying to breathe. Thank goodness we lost. When I got home, I looked, and there was bruising, which I did not even know could happen.

The next two injuries happened the next day at the beach called Playa Blanca, White Beach. Jenna, her student, her student’s family, and I went to the beach for the day. I don’t know if you know this but unlike my brother who does not burn, I fry like bacon. I did put sunscreen on, but the sun is a little bit closer down here. I am so fried, but that is not even the worst of it. As I was swimming in the ocean I stepped on a sea urchin which really freaking hurts. And you can’t just pull them off because they break apart. I have you know this beach is in the middle of nowhere. You get there by a row boat then you take a 15 minute jungle hike. The student’s brother went to get a tweezers from the two small stores that are in the middle of the jungle. Do think they have tweezers, nope they do not. So the brother goes and finds a sharp vine which I am sure is very sanitary. While we were waiting for the brother to return the nephew peed in a cup and we poured it on my foot, along with rum, and water. The warmth is supposed to make the thorns come out. It was a good 30 minutes of the student and her sister-in-law digging in my foot with a vine. They got all but 4 stickers out. It hurt a little, but the beach was to beautiful to leave early. When I got home that night a couple of Cassie and Jenna’s friend told me we need to pour hot wax on it. Nothing feels more soothing then having hot wax run on to you already scorched foot….it burned so bad. They did what they could. Needless to say I was very red and burned with thorns in my feet.

This past weekend Cass and I went to an all-inclusive resort for the weekend. We had a blast drinking, eating, and talking. We had every intention of going to the club at night, but the Colombian alcohol got to us. It was very relaxing. I am sure I looked really cool wearing a shirt and hat in the pool. My body was too burned to take the sun on. We also went to a market, and when Cassie is hot and tired, she does not take crap from anyone. She bartered and told the people they were crazy when they said ridiculous prices. She talked one guy down from 10,000 pesos to 750. She was a rock star. She was being so mean. It was awesome.

I want to inform everyone that Cassie and Jenna are very domesticated now and are very great cooks.

Isaac VanDyke