hsdlgkhslg I know. I'm awful and it's been over two weeks and I'm terrible and I'm not even going to bother giving excuses because nothing can really excuse me not writing for this long, BUT I am back now so i'll just get on with catching you all up!!

So we're going back to Saturday 29th October, which was a trip with AFS to a place called Cachon de la Rubia and it was a really great day because it was the first time I'd really seen any of the other AFS students other than the one other student in my school. Me, Jenny, Evelyn y Guicho drove over to this place which I think is like some sort of national trust area, except whatever the Dominican version of that is.

We waited for everyone else who was coming to arrive and then set off walking with our guide. We were taken down to a clearing by a river, where there were loads of young guys all swimming or jumping in the river or showing off to each other about who could do the most push-ups (nice to see that the cocky competitiveness of guys doesn't change from country to country) but in general it was really pretty, pictures will be going up in the album.

After a little while just hanging out there and chatting with the other students, we were all given life jackets and directed towards this boat, which we all piled into, and then we set off out along this big river towards who knew where, I was just enjoying talking with the students and their families, and looking out at the mass of greenery surrounding the river, it was a realy nice site to take in. We pulled in at a riverbank and everyone got out, gathered up the picnic stuff they'd brought and started walking.

We didn't walk for long, only about 5 or so minutes? We came up to this set of picnic benches that seemed kind of out of place, just randomly in the middle of the greenery, and everyone got out all the food and drinks they'd brought and started on a picnic lunch. We stayed there for a bit, at one point a few more students who had come late showing up, amd just catching up with each other in general.

After a while there, and once the majority of the food had been eaten, we started walking back, but towards a different riverban instead of where the boat was and the boat would come and meet us from there. I chatted with the host-brother of one of te other students, who found me being British just hilarious, and decided that I reminded him of Hermione, and kept asking me to say things like "I'm Hermione Granger, I'm friends with Harry Potter" and "Bottle of water". I probably would have gotten a bit annoyed if it weren't for the fact that he's a model...

Once we'd walked for a bit to where the boat was now, we stopped for a while to take some group pictures, then all got in the boat to head back the way we came, but we didn't stop at the clearing that first brought us to the river, instead we carried on further along in the other direction taking us to another wider part of the river where more people were swimming and playing about. We all got off, said goodbye to the boat and walked for a little bit more.

After a few minutes, we reached a 'natural swimming pool' which was an area of nice, clear water that had been naturally sealed off by rocks from the rest of the river. Now, I didn't know this was gonna be here, so none of my family had brought swimming stuff, but after a little persuading I decided why the hell not, and just went in there fully dressed, luckily I wasn't the only one (it seems none of the girls there were about to say no to a topless soaking wet exotic teenage model, even if meant getting soaked through)

We hung out there for a while, just chatting and having water fights and fun, we ate some cake that someone had brought and then it was time to get everything packed up and go home. All in all, it was a really good day and it was great to see some of the other students, a few of those I then went out with that night to a big halloween party, and it was cool to just get away from all the noise of the city.

I promise I'll be better with my updates from here!! Or at least I'll stop procrastinating for no reason....my love to you all!

- Jazzy x