A trip to the south

The Friday after thanksgiving we loaded up two cars early in the morning and set off for the south side of the island - destination Lago Enriquillo and other extraordinary sites.

The saltwater lake is the lowest point in the Caribbean, and is the sanctuary for two reptiles that are distinctive to that area. Here is what Wiki has to say.

We had planned to camp at the beach, but that ended up not being such a good option. We visited a cave that had Taino carvings, and the following day we went snorkeling and got to see some pretty amazing things.

Here are a few pictures worth at least a thousand words.

The Thanksgiving Feast

For thanksgiving most of the JCS staff went to the Speciale's (my friend Karen's) house for a HUGE thanksgiving feast. These pictures don't do the fun, chaos, food, laughter, full bellies and sweet fellowship justice, so I might have to post some more later. But here is a taste.



For various and assundry reasons this is the first time that JCS has done an open invitation to staff and families for thanksgiving. It was a blast! It was so nice to get to hang out with the Dominican teachers who I don't normally get to talk to. School can be so rushed and the language barrier really inhibits conversation when you are in a hurry, so having some time to just be goofy and hug on and compliment and smile at and ask about coworkers was such a great blessing to me. There are moments even in the crazy chaos that exists in our lives here where I feel that we do get to touch a piece of heaven. Thanksgiving was my first of these moments in a weekend that was full of them.