so cold, it's like the estados unidos

So I have a ton to catch up on in this post...


Beginning with last Monday, when my friend Christina and I attended a group psychology session at the Unidad which is a center which focuses on eliminating interfamiliar violence. Unforunately, it's a huge problem here and the center was recently created and still really lacks a lot of infrastructure to run as effectively as it should. More than that it really lacks the personel to run the place as the demand is huge. Apparently after you show up, it takes about a month to get an appointment to actually talk to someone, even though it really should be done the same day (as clearly many cases are cases of emergency). Anyways we went to a group psychology session for men who have been called in because of interfamiliar violence. It was super fascinating (from a psychological point of view) to hear both the point of view of the men there as well as to hear the stategies that the psychologist used to address the problem and offer solutions. Some men had been there for a while and stood up at the beginning to talk about how through the sessions they had come to realize that the way they were acting was abusive. And then you had some men who were brand new and stood up and said that they had no idea why they were there, even though as an outsider it was clear by their stories that what they had done was violence. Anyways so that was super interesting.


Moving along... This past weekend we had our first CIEE excursion, which took us to Constanza. Constanza is one of (if not the) coldest places in the DR. So for anyone who thinks that the DR is all sand and heat and beaches, this place will prove you wrong. It was weird at some points to realize that we were still in the same country. Basically all week when I told any given Dominican that I was going to Constanza for the week the automatic response was "hace MUCHO frio" (aka it's REALLY cold). And then I was advised to bring any and all jackets that I had because I was going to freeze and catch a cold just by going there. Also I was told many times over that in Constanza it was so cold that it was like being in the US. I think they don't realize that I go to school in BOSTON. hahah.


So out I headed to Constanza, with the two long sleeve shirts I brought here and the two jackets I brought. I have to say though, it was absolutely beautiful there, more beautiful than I could have imagined. We arrived at our hotel, and then set out on what we were told would be a "little walk". Nothing strenous, nothing serious, just a little walk.





And the walk started off great. It was beautiful to be surrounded by mountains, and many times it reminded me of Dota, my homestay town in Costa Rica that I love.

So we continued on the walk, and got to the top of a hill, at which point we all thought we were going to turn around and be done. "No it's just a little bit longer", they told us.

So we keep walking, and start to notice that it's getting a little muddy up the path. Keep in mind, the rain here just stopped-- it had been raining for two weeks straight which is unusual for here.

And then all of the sudden, the mud is EVERYWHERE. We can't turn around at this point and next thing you know, I take a step and am up to my ankles in mud, and then become stuck. So I was thrilled and embarrased and have then ruined my shoes. I stand there for about two minutes wondering what to do, until I hear screams coming from the people in my group right infront of me. Apparently up ahead is even worse and now every single one of them is up to their ankles in mud. And so it continues for the rest of the hike.


Imagine about 35 girls shrieking for a good half an hour as the mud gets worse and worse and we all continue to fall into it with no end in sight.


I really can't think of any way to describe it other than when we emerged on the other side to see the members of our group who stayed on the bus, it almost felt like a scary movie... When you emerge to the other side from this horrible experience and no one else has any idea what just happened. Hahah.