We can see some progress/Day in Santo Domingo

Yesterday we saw our first progress on the wall itself. We were able to spend the morning at the Batey doing some final touches on the ditch that we were digging as well as spending some more time with the kids (ninos) there. I personally spent most of the day having my hair played with as the girls are very intriqued by our americano hair. With the ditch ready but our supplies not there yet for us to continue the project until afternoon we left to eat lunch. When we returned we were finally able to start laying the foundation for the wall. I know I was really excited to see the cement, rocks, and sand start arriving so that we could start the process of actually building the wall. When we started working the sun was very hot, and I don´t mean just like kind of hot, it was scorching I don´t know if I have experienced anything quite like that in the states. But we prepared a big pile of cement on the ground of the Batey. It was a very tiring task as well as confusing as everyone was frustrated, hot, and trying to tell everyone what to do. At the end of the day though I think we all felt like we had really accomplished a lot being able to lay all of the foundation. If we didn´t think we did a lot our bodies told us this morning when we woke up as I believe all of us had aches in many different parts of our bodies.
This morning though was welcomed with breakfast and a trip to Santo Domingo. It was a very pleasant trip as we got to see into a different, more U.S. influenced part of the Dominican culture. We started out the day by looking at historic sights such as the gates to the first city and Bartholomew Columbus´ house. After these we moved on to look at shops as well as the first cathedral of the Americas. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful and breath taking to look at. After a break at the Hard Rock and then lunch at a Chineese restaurant we went to a major shopping center to try and get a feel for what that was like. The one thing I think we all noticed was that there were a lot of shoes everywhere. It was absolutely crazy.
After this U.S. and commercial influence shopping adventure we had one in a market that was filled with vendors and traditional Domincan products. It was an experience if any. Again it was obvious we were American tourists and had money to spend so all the venders wanted to bargain with us and get to buy their products. The market was closing down or else I´m sure the swarm would have been even worse. Anyways I think I´m going to retire for the evening as we have another big day at the beach tomorrow!! But I will be back Monday to tell you about that and the progress we make on the wall. Adios!!!