Puerto Puerto Plata. Oh how beautiful your views were even on your rainy days, making this most definitely a #tripofalifetime as well as a #jobofalifetime. When the rain stopped for a few days and the sun finally started shinning, I could finally see the water and the palm trees as they were in the hot weather, so beautiful and tropical. This trip has been a very eye opening trip, to see how reserved I have become in the past few years and how I would like to be more open so I can experience the endless opportunities & meet great people.

I was nervous about coming out to do this job because of the amount of time I would be taking off from work & didn't know if it was worth it at the time. Looking back now, I'm so glad I ignored that voice in the back of my head because it was one of the greatest experiences I've had in a while.

So the company I went with is called S-Trip which stands for student trip and is a company that helps students plan grad trips with their schools that are way cooler than a weekend in Toronto (which is what we did) or whatever it is that they do for grad trips. I Love Travel is the big brand and then they are divided by winter ski trips and summer grad trips; S-Trip, Campus Vacations, Stoke Travel and many more. Check out their website for more information: http://www.ilovetravel.com/.

I spent the first few days asking myself if it was real & if I was really in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic or if it was a dream; the resort & all the palm trees had me thinking I was on a movie set sometimes. Eventually it sunk in that it was real & I needed to enjoy it before it was over. The staff & students just made it a great trip & had me cracking up to their shenanigans; some of these students would have some hilarious stories for me & I most definitely won't forget them.

This trip was work & vacation in one to make for a great & well needed week away. The days were consisted of an excursion or day off the resort as well as a night event so in our meetings we knew who was where the night before & spread the word to the students if they needed to be up early to go surfing or for volunteering. I got to volunteer and then all the trip leaders went on the city tour which was great because volunteer was one of the ones I wanted to do.


Volunteer day consisted of three stations where we would spend about 45 min before switching to the next one. We got to hang out with the children at a community centre, pick up garbage on the beach & then help build houses or repainted houses that needed a touch up. We took two groups of students to do the three stations & got to participate in each station with them. With the first group, we mixed cement, sand & water to make that gooey cement to put on the walls inside of a house that was being finished and with the second group, I became a smurf, getting paint all over me while painting this one house blue. The whole day was a very eye-opening and rewarding experience. From the laughs & smiles of the children we hung out with and played basketball or just interacted with; to seeing the difference between our beach on the resort & the way theirs has been ruined because of the recent flooding & brought all the garbage onto their beach, making it unrecognizable; to helping paint houses & making them vibrant & beautiful once again.



The city tour was great because we got to see the real Dominican & what there was besides what we saw on the resort. We got to get off the bus & walk around and interact with the locals while buying some pretty sweet souvenirs; everyone is so nice & friendly. I got some pretty souvenirs for myself & peeps.



I don't know why I never just planned a trip out here but now that I've seen it, I will most definitely be back with friends to lounge by the pool with some pineapple juice (my best friend all week alongside some passionfruit) & hanging out in the ocean and on the beach. No matter how much rain there was, it was an amazing trip & I feel blessed to have been able to come experience all the great things I did. Speaking of, I went horseback riding on the beach which was amazing even though I almost fell off my horse before it started moving because my saddle was sliding off it's back but the views were just....check out this picture because words can't do it justice.



Here are a bunch of more pictures of my trip.