Aqua Blancas

 One of the places that we have wanted to visit for some time is a waterfall near Constanza in the heartland of the Dominican Republic.  When we investigated it, we learned that it was a little difficult to get to up an "impassable" trail.  But then we learned about another couple having visited it with a local member as their guide, so we contacted him, grabbed Ray and Jill Johnson, another senior couple here who have climbed to the base camp of Mount Everest and up Mount Kilimanjaro several times.  This was not Mount Everest, but it was a nice little trip.

The falls is visible from quite a distance nestled
near some fairly tall mountains, Dominican-wise.

As you can see from this closeup, there are pine trees and scrub oak up here.

As we drove up the very rutted highway, you can see the lovely
countryside below and the amazing fields that go right up the mountain side.

Another picturesque shot.  They have made good use
of every bit of the land. The dropoff is a little steep if we
miss a turn... no guard rail.

Getting closer.

And closer...

The sign to the White Water Waterfall - I stole this
from the internet because I forgot to take a picture. 

When we were about a mile away, the road turned another way, so we parked the car to begin the "hike" - let's say that we thought it would be a hike, but instead were greeted by a paved path including a bridge to cross to the falls side of the river.  This is an improvement that has been made fairly recently.

Here we are at the little covered patio before we begin our "mighty" trek 

A view of the falls from the bridge.  

Cute Rob, sitting on a rock
 by the waterfall.

Rob on a rock, taking a photo of the falls
with the rapids going on either side.

Rob with our guide

I love this little fall that was opposite
 the big one.  The water just danced
into the pool.

Because of the time of day, you can't . really tell how tall the waterfall is - about a 270 feet drop - because there's a little break above where we are looking.  You can't see the whole thing from down below.

The pool below is supposed to be frigid - apparently,

some folks have run into trouble swimming too long.

You can see what the road was like - very bumpy, rutted,and rough.
We couldn't have done it without our Toyota Rav.

These are typical of the homes along the road -
 these folks work in the fields here. 

Men playing dominoes, even up here on the mountain.

Blankets and sheets our drying on the line.  It must get colder
up here at night because it's way too hot for blankets in Santo Domingo

Two little girls getting water from the village spigot.

Here we are at lunch afterwards with everyone. We wish that we could say that our hike which was under a mile each way was more strenuous!  But we did love seeing this pretty little falls - the highest in the Dominican Republic.

A Giant Garage Sale

On a recent Saturday, we had to travel down underneath the elevated highway that runs through town to pick someone up.  And we ran into the country's biggest garage sale!  It took forever to get through because tables are set up on both sides of the street with pedestrians walking back and forth between tables.  There are many bales of clothes from places in the United States that are sent into this country, and other needy countries throughout the world, that are not always supervised after they get to the dock.  As a result, apparently, the clothing ends up in the hands of folks who actually sell the contents.  As you can see from the following, this is something that happens in the DR.

Here we are approaching the different tables.

This section had all sorts of tops just piled up for the shoppers to sort through.

Surely you could find a pair of shoes here - we don't know if they are sorted by size.

Lots of purses and ties for sale here.

Another purse store - these looked brand new, with lots of gym bags behind.

In spite of the clothes that they have hanging,
most of the folks here were just going through the piles.

Men's shirts section with some packaged quilts on the right.

Here are all the baby toys that you might want.

This is where you can find your sports shoes.  Unlike the other shoe section
above, there is only one of each style here, so you have to take it up to
cashier, pay for it, and then get the mate - smart.  

Can you see these beautiful pineapples that have been peeled, sliced and wrapped up?
 - a nice treat after a hot morning of shopping.

We learned this day where many Dominicans get the shirts that we see them wearing with the logos of schools (we saw one that said "Adams' Atoms" - an elementary school that some of our kids attended years ago), stores, etc.  Do you remember the man in the blog about the Book Fair donation wearing the shirt advertising a taxidermist in Alaska.?  One of the things that we couldn't capture but wish that we could have were all the sounds of bartering, buying, and having a busy shopping day, trying to find clothes for their families.  

We are grateful, frankly that they have this opportunity to cloth their children.  Most of the school children wear uniforms - light blue, white or pink are the colors that we have seen, depending on their school (the pink is freely worn by boys here, unlike the US).  In fact, I saw a fellow the other day in a shirt the color pink of the woman in the photo above, a pair of jeans and some reddish pink tennis shoes!  We also see many men with kids' backpacks that they probably also bought at a sale such as the one above - today, for instance, there was a man on a street corner selling packages of black garbage bags wearing a cute little Cars backpack - so fun!