Pico Duarte and some future stuff.

This past weekend was spent deep in the mountains of the Dominican Republic.  Much of the men staff at Doulos gathered together in the parking lot of the school at 4am on Saturday and boarded our Guay Guay for a bumping ride ending in La Cienaga.  After some final preparations and mule loading we headed towards the Valle del Tetero, a journey consisting of 3500 feet of climbing over 9.5 miles.  Four hours after leaving La Cienaga I arrived in the beautiful valley and the relaxation began.

After a wonderful day of soaking in mountain springs and enjoying each others company we woke up  early the next morning and headed to our next campsite at Comparticion.  After roughly 5000 feet of climbing over another 9.5 miles we reached our site and had some wonderful lunch.  The thought process here became a little cloudy and we decided to hike another 2000 feet over 6 miles in order to summit Pico Duarte and return back to our camp.  

After returning to Comparticion for the evening we did some more soaking in a frigid stream and enjoyed the night air of the mountains.  

Early the next morning we covered the 11 miles back down the mountain and we all have been trying to recover ever since.  The trip was awesome and I can't wait to get up in the mountains again.

Coming excitement:

27 Charcos on Saturday

"Border of Lights" - As part of a unit my seniors our doing they are heading to the border of Haiti to be part of a festival/walk to remember the Parsley Massacre.  Depending on how things work out, this time next week I will be preparing to be in Haiti for a few hours on October 5th.

Figuring out what it means to do an Expedition well with my juniors.  Starting in two weeks we are going to be investigating cultural conflicts, WW2, and many things beyond this.  Somehow it all connects with plastic bags also.

This is a lot of stuff right now, pray that I don't burn out or blow up.