Cabarete and the Monkey Jungle!

We finally made it to Cabarete last weekend. It's known as the kite-surfing capital of the Caribbean and a hip, laid-back beach town. I was thrilled to find sushi and Mexican food in our condo complex, though the town is known for its beachside restaurants. We stayed in a lovely condo right on Cabarete beach, a wide, clean beach with gentle waves (last weekend, anyway). I think normally it's rougher and windier, but we lucked out.

I felt like I was in Miami Beach or Melrose Place

Yes, there is an Irish pub on the beach. I don't know why.

We got M his first boogie board, and the waves were gentle enough to allow him to play the whole time in the surf. I think he's hooked.

The highlight of our weekend was the trip to the Monkey Jungle outside of Sosua. Visitors are given a plate of fruit and nuts to feed the squirrel monkeys, who are not shy at all about stepping onto your arms and shoulders to get the food. There is also a zip line with 7 stations. The best part is that all of the proceeds go to fund the medical and dental clinics that serve hundreds of rural residents each week.

L was afraid to hold her own plate, but was enchanted by the monkeys, especially the babies clinging to their mothers' backs.

 

 After feeding the monkeys, Daddy and M tried the 4400 foot zipline. M was so brave- he didn't hesitate at all.

On our way home, we stopped for one minute at Playa Grande, outside Rio San Juan. It's listed in Lonely Planet as one of the prettiest beaches in the country, but you don't hear much about it. I wish we had stayed longer...the sand was so soft, white, and cushiony. I hope we'll be back. 

Happy Sukkot!

We celebrated Sukkot for the first time yesterday. It always seemed to creep up on me right after the High Holy Days, and so I’ve never given this lovely holiday a try. It was my friend A’s idea to build a sukkah, and we quickly volunteered our husbands for the job. They grumbled for a while, but with the addition of a new Jewish friend, S, who had always wanted to build a sukkah, they agreed.

The Festival of Sukkot is a time of rejoicing and has dual significance: historical and agricultural. It commemorates the 40 years that the Jews wandered in the desert, living in temporary shelters. It is also known as the harvest festival, similar to Thanksgiving. Jews are commanded to “dwell” in a temporary structure for seven days- which means eating, praying, and even sleeping in the sukkah if possible. The roof is supposed to be made of something that grew from the ground and was cut off. Luckily, Santo Domingo has plenty of palm fronds and other plants just waiting for us to repurpose them. Here’s my source- feel free to read more about it.

So anyway. Our three families got together yesterday along with some other invited guests. It was hotter and more humid than usual, so the kids ran around spraying each other with water bottles while the dream construction team got to work. The women folk had slaved away in the kitchen earlier, so we created paper chains in the air conditioning. 

The guys did a terrific job creating the structure. Next, it was time to decorate. Our friend N had the great idea of hanging plastic fruit in our sukkah, which is preferable to fresh fruit in this tropical heat. The kids took turns hanging their chosen fruit. We hung some pictures and paper chains and called it a day. There were harvesty foods to eat!

The Dream Team

And 'dwell' in it we did!

It was an exhausting and terrific day. And as my husband pointed out last night when I complained of exhaustion, I didn’t even do any construction. A big thank you to our hosts (another B family) as well as all the friends who joined us. I am grateful for our Jewish community here in Santo Domingo! I can’t believe I helped build a sukkah this year. Of all the things I didn’t expect to do in the DR!

(oh, and by the way…our Sukkah may be violating some rule or another – there are so many- but please, just don’t tell us…)