More commonly known as Pico Duarte but we add Campisino twist. Last monday we started another Pico trip. This time though we went with our school. Doulos. Just in case you thought we died or something I'll tell you right now that it was actually quite fun. Rounds apon rounds of rummy. (Thats a card game in case you didn't know :) We had to carry all of our stuff on our backs this time (except food) but you got used to the backpacks really fast. We started on monday, we got to school at a normal time and left at around ten to La Cienaga. Once we got there we unloaded and sat around for a bit while we waited for the guides. When they got there we started on the path to Los Tablones were we stayed for the day. That night we made chinese stirfry for supper. That night we learned that Caleb had to turn around and go home due to his asthma. The next morning he and Mrs.Kyla who is newly pregnent went back to La Cienaga. We had Carrot cake and pineapple for breakfast which was pretty good because Brodie (me) was on kitchen cleanup that day and carrot cake and pineaple doesn't make too bad of a mess. Tuesday morning we started towards La Comparticion which was about 7 fun filled hours of walking away. On the way we saw a tarantula which I thought was pretty neat indeed. I told the other kids but the response I was givin was a dry "cool" as they kept walking. I now know that tarantulas are "cool...." When we got to La Compartacion (which I may remind you was after 7 hours of walking) we found out that the guides "didnt have a key to any of the casetas,"and that we would have to stay in the "barn." That didn't go over. There was a
"slight" bit of arguing, bribing, and other...things. Finally we just told them to try their keys. "Strangely" they opened all of the casetas. One. By. One. Well that was all fine and dandy. We put our bags in our nice caseta and did stuff. Stuff as in Rummy! Ya! Mafia, Silent football, Ladron , 2-3, and many more fun games like truth-or-dare and the all time favorite...SHARADES!!! Ya...I know... we're nerds. Later that day we ate some form of supper which I don't quite remember. The next day was the peak assent. We stayed back with Mrs. Wallace in the slow group because since we've done it before we thought we could help out in the back. We pushed girls up the hill. You see, the group of girls in our class weren't very fun to have on the trip. they were a bunch of whiners (no offense) No fun. When we got to the top there wasn't really a view because of the clouds, so a bunch of people including us two decided to climb pelona. (Duaite's sister mountain) There we saw Noahs Ark. This "ark" im refering to is a giant caseta sitting in between the two mountains. This caseta is the size of a soccer field. (no joke) When we got to the top of pelona it was kinda eery. Theres a broken shack and this tower that you can climb and when you reach the top you are at the actual highest point in the caribean. But according to the philosophy that Uncle Terry read about the earths oceans and tidal pull and the earths curve...blah...blah...blah. Its really scary up there, the wood steps up to the top of the tower aren't attached and every step you take shakes the entire structure. We didn't stay long. On our way down it poured. So being the smarties we are, we
ran down the mountain to get there faster resulting in many falls and almost falls all the way until we got there. Once we got there (while it was still raining) we (the four that ran down) hurried down to the
freezing cold river to wash off before we got too warm. I (Drew) didn't quite feel like jumping in right away but I didn't feel like jumping in when I was warmer so I dove in. (Actually it wasn't that deep so it was more of wade and then a fall) It was like being electrified. I don't think I ever do it again. Or atleast not until next pico ;) Once we got back to the camp we put our wet close around the fire and went inside to play (back to those games) and eventually sleep. The next day we should have been going to the Valley of Tetero but it was raing to much so it was canceled and we stayed at Comparticion. In the morning as we went to the campfire for breakfast we saw a pair of shoes but the fire, burnt, lucky not ours, unluckily one on of the girls, luckily one of our friends camp shoes were basically hiking shoes so he lent those. Next was the hardest test for a Domincan: 2hours of silence! It was for reminising about how the trip was. I (Drew) wrote a letter to a person who helped me when we were climb La Pelona and after that just jotted down some things about the bible verse. I learned later that one of the Dominicans couldn't keep quiet and was throwing stones at people... The next day should have been our second last but because we didn't go to the valley we were going to go home that day. So the girls left 2 hours early and us guys stayed and cleaned up camp. Once done, we left at a fair pace and caught up to the girls at Aguita Fria (which was about 1 hour from Comparticion) We questioned why they were still there and they said they were making good time and had been there for 15 minutes!! (Thats terrible if you haven't done the math already) So now the boys wanted to see how fast we could get to the bottom. So we ran. No we sprinted. We got to the bottom three hours earlier then the girls and 2 hours earlier then the 10th and 11th graders who had gone on pico 2 weeks ago. (Skips 3hours) Once everyone was there we all ate rice and beans with chicken that was made by the guides wife to celebrate and took the guagua home!!!!!!!!!
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