Plants!

One of our goals for visiting the DR was that our students from there seem to have a lot of experience with the natural world, but very little academic knowledge.  I felt that if we could use examples of plants from the DR in science that it would be a very meaningful experience for those students.  One of the most common trees on the island is the Flamboyant (Delonix regia). 

Notice that one of the petals is a different color than the others.  The green leaves are very soft and fern like.

 The tree produces huge seed pods.

Flower buds

Five petals around the outside and a smaller set on the inside

The coconut tree was also a common sight on our travels.  We saw coconuts in all the markets and always being sold on the side of the road.

A market in the DR

We stopped at this market one day for some treats and for some items to bring back home.  Like most of the markets we have seen, they are right up against the street; you almost feel like you are parking your car in the store.  They have lots of fresh picked fruit, newly slaughtered meat, and a variety of cold drinks.

honey

a milk based product in sugary syrup

Beatriz tries the sweetened coconut

opening the fresh coconut

fresh coconut milk!

drying meat

Classroom pictures

A request came from one of the teachers at our school for pictures of classrooms in the DR.  So, here they are.  The first set is from the Sanchez school, a private school in Bani:

Class size here is about 25 students

These next ones are from the public school.  This school is about a 20 minute drive away from the center of town where the Maria Trinidad Sanchez school is:

Meeting with teachers.  A beginning teacher makes abut $180.00 a month.  Less than a factory worker here.

Classroom for 40, 50, 60, and sometimes 70 students

The supplies on the right hand side of the picture were all that we saw in this room.

The schedule.  Notice the school day ends at 12:00.

play area for the students

kindergarten play area that was recently fixed up

phonics sounds on the stepping stones in the kindergarten yard

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

The snorkeling was amazing!  We hired a boat to take us out to a coral reef to view the fish that live in this area of the Caribbean.  We went to the diving shop and were fitted for our gear and from there we boarded the boat; the boat was similar to the one in the national park, although a little more run down.

As I swam I saw lots of the same type of fish swimming near the surface where Beatriz (who was back in the boat) was throwing bread into the water.  As I got closer to the coral I could see a greater and greater variety of fish.  The smaller ones tended to stay closer to the coral while the bigger ones would swim towards the surface.

Later our boat driver took us to "natural pool" to swim.  The water was beautiful and the sand was white and soft.  There were several tourists boats with lots of people in the water with loud music and lots of drinking.  It was also the most people from the United States that we have seen the whole time we have been here.  It was almost jarring to hear so much English and to see so many people from our home country.  We saw again how much tourism can bring money and jobs to the DR, but also can have such an impact on the environment.  We asked our boat drive about working for the company he works for and how the pay was.  Like we have heard from most Dominicans who work in the tourism industry, the pay is just ok, but the work is enjoyable.  By the way, much of this economy is based on tipping and unofficial tour guides that you pay whatever you, the customer, feel is fair.