So it’s been a few days since I landed into the middle of
nowhere, and it still feels like I’ve been dropped off in the middle of nowhere
with nothing to do and nowhere to go…well almost nowhere to go. We discovered
there is a disco by my house, but we also discovered that it’s mostly for
playing pool, even though there is a GIANT dance floor. We also found out that
people in the campo play dominos for fun….every single day. Needless to say, we
were all very, extremely bored. After saying enough is enough, we finally
pulled together and rented a guagua and went to the beach.
The beach is about a ten minute drive from wherever we are,
I’m still not really sure, but would be about a 40 minute walk down the
mountain. I had never been more excited about taking a field trip in my life.
The thought of leaving our 2 kilometer boundaries on the top of a hill bubbled
in my tummy and I couldn’t stop smiling as I walked to our meeting place in my
suit and cover-up, ready to finally see the ocean. By my house, there is a hill
that you can climb and you can see the beach from there. It seems so close that
you could almost touch it when you’re up there. It seems like you could just
cut through the backyard, through the palm tree forest and be at the beach, but
it’s so far down the mountain that it would take forever to get there. We
finally piled into the back of our chariot and road down to the beach. On the
ride there, everyone at some point was humming “
vamos a la playa, a mi me gusta bailar…” Everyone was in a great mood,
the best mood since before we left Jarabacoa.
My eyes exploded as I took in the scenery around me when we
finally pulled up to the beach. The sand was white and didn’t seem to ever
stop, the water was so blue it made the sky seem dull, and the waves were big
and inviting. I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough to start taking
pictures. Everyone jumped out, laid down their towels and sprinted into the
salty water of the Atlantic Ocean. I was a little timid at first, but once my
toes touched the shoreline, I couldn’t hold back my excitement any longer. I
leaped over the waves that were coming in to get a little more than waist deep.
The water was cool and warm at the same time; it felt great under the blazing
afternoon sun. The others could not believe that that was my first time ever
being to the ocean, my first time tasting its salty waters (which is really
gross, but doesn’t take away from how beautiful it is). After letting a few
waves sweep my feet of the ground and put them gently back down a few times, I
went a little deeper. At one point I actually had to swim because I couldn’t
touch the ground anymore, but that wasn’t a problem (thanks mom for throwing me
in a pool before I could walk, it’s been keeping me alive out here). After
feeling thoroughly saturated in salt and seaweed, I got out and laid on my
towel. I remembered I still had awful tan lines from rafting, so I decided to
try and even them out. For the first time in weeks, I just sat listening to my
iPod, doing nothing but taking in the magnificence of God’s creations.
When the sun got too hot, I took a walk along the beach,
taking pictures with a few others. It was amazing to see, or not to see, how
far the ocean went. We walked a little ways away from the group until we came
upon a coral bed, which was really cool. They poked out of the sand like little
castles of Swiss cheese. The felt like rocks, but there was a certain quality
about that that made them somehow different and you knew that they weren’t.
That was the best day spent in the campo, and we weren’t
even in the campo for very long. That night, after I showered and rid myself of
the residue of the beach, I went outside and sat on the hill by my house, just
looking down at the beach. It was calling for me to return to it soon, and I
intend to listen to its call. The night got darker as I sat out there, and the
stars came out one by one. Soon the entire sky was filled with little miracles
dancing in the heavens. I felt very safe under the open sky. I let myself get
lost in the stars for a while, trying to figure out summer constellations. That
night, I found one thing to love about the campo.
So it’s been a few days since I landed into the middle of
nowhere, and it still feels like I’ve been dropped off in the middle of nowhere
with nothing to do and nowhere to go…well almost nowhere to go. We discovered
there is a disco by my house, but we also discovered that it’s mostly for
playing pool, even though there is a GIANT dance floor. We also found out that
people in the campo play dominos for fun….every single day. Needless to say, we
were all very, extremely bored. After saying enough is enough, we finally
pulled together and rented a guagua and went to the beach.
The beach is about a ten minute drive from wherever we are,
I’m still not really sure, but would be about a 40 minute walk down the
mountain. I had never been more excited about taking a field trip in my life.
The thought of leaving our 2 kilometer boundaries on the top of a hill bubbled
in my tummy and I couldn’t stop smiling as I walked to our meeting place in my
suit and cover-up, ready to finally see the ocean. By my house, there is a hill
that you can climb and you can see the beach from there. It seems so close that
you could almost touch it when you’re up there. It seems like you could just
cut through the backyard, through the palm tree forest and be at the beach, but
it’s so far down the mountain that it would take forever to get there. We
finally piled into the back of our chariot and road down to the beach. On the
ride there, everyone at some point was humming “vamos a la playa, a mi me gusta bailar…” Everyone was in a great mood,
the best mood since before we left Jarabacoa.
When the sun got too hot, I took a walk along the beach,
taking pictures with a few others. It was amazing to see, or not to see, how
far the ocean went. We walked a little ways away from the group until we came
upon a coral bed, which was really cool. They poked out of the sand like little
castles of Swiss cheese. The felt like rocks, but there was a certain quality
about that that made them somehow different and you knew that they weren’t. 
That was the best day spent in the campo, and we weren’t
even in the campo for very long. That night, after I showered and rid myself of
the residue of the beach, I went outside and sat on the hill by my house, just
looking down at the beach. It was calling for me to return to it soon, and I
intend to listen to its call. The night got darker as I sat out there, and the
stars came out one by one. Soon the entire sky was filled with little miracles
dancing in the heavens. I felt very safe under the open sky. I let myself get
lost in the stars for a while, trying to figure out summer constellations. That
night, I found one thing to love about the campo.
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