Juan Dolio Part II

I always look forward to Fridays at work, mostly because we only have to be there for a half-day. Monday through Thursday business as usual runs from 7AM-4:30PM. It can be difficult, but only having to work from 7-11AM on Friday sort of makes up for that. This past Friday was especially exciting. In addition to only having to work for four hours, I left for a weekend trip to Juan Dolio directly after work.

When 11AM rolled around, we packed our things into the car and set off for the 45 min drive from Santo Domingo to Juan Dolio. Two of our co-workers, wanting to do something nice for the interns, invited us to spend the weekend with them at a resort in Juan Dolio before the end of our internships. I had visited Juan Dolio before, but that was only for a day-trip. I was really looking forward to staying there for a few days. 

The weekend was better than I could have imagined. I have always enjoyed taking weekend trips around the Dominican Republic, and only more so since the start my internship in June. Working such long hours can take a lot out of you, so it's always great to get away and recharge for a few days. 

The three days we spent at the Coral Resort were much much needed. We enjoyed the beautiful blue-green waters of the beach and too much delicious Dominican food to recount. The manager of the hotel made sure that we were all taken care of. He would go out of his way to check on us during our stay, ate lunch with us when we first arrived, and even took a few of us out on a boat ride before we left on Sunday afternoon.

Things were going so great until Sunday morning. I woke up at 5AM with a terrible stomach ache. The last time I felt anything so painful was during my trip to Ecuador in May 2012 when I . I spent several hours tied to my beach chair because moving around too much made me nauseous. It was miserable. The funny part was just how many people tried to help my situation.

Everyone in our group was concerned. One would advise me to drink sprite with salt and lime, the next would tell me to have a soup, and then someone else would tell me to eat only bread. Nothing seemed to help, and I got sick from pretty much everything I ate that day. I met a Haitian doctor from Miami who was staying at the resort. He happened to be a gynecologist, but I didn't know this at first. When he heard that I was sick, first thing he asked me (in front of my coworkers) was, "Are you pregnant?" What a question!

I unfortunately missed out most of the fun activities our group did on Sunday. I couldn't enjoy the delicious meal prepared for lunch, or the boat ride out to sea with the resort manager, or additional hours to swim in the ocean. However, the generosity and care that my coworkers, aka my Dominican family, extended to me while I was feeling completely ill, totally made up for these disappointments. I'm so grateful to have met such kind people here.