Sunday in Los Jardines

We slept Saturday night in Santiago mostly so we could go to church the next day.  Because Dana had not served in the city, I got to pick where we went and since Los Jardines was my area 3 different times in my mission for a total of 8 months, it was the place to go.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that they've added an addition where the branch meets for sacrament meeting.  It happened to be fast Sunday so I got up and bore my testimony and it felt like being home.  I saw a few people I recognized but not many just like I expected.  And of course we had to take a picture in front of the Church sign like we did with all our baptisms.  Kind of fun to have my eternal companion with me this time.

There's the new addition in the back.

Then we were off to drive around the city and see if we could find some of the homes I lived in.  Mostly it was a bust because everything has changed so much in the past 14 years.

We did find the home I lived in while I served in Los Jardines.  Everyone insisted I get out and take a picture in front even though there were neighbors and random people around.

So I insisted on taking their picture all piled out of our tiny rental car watching me take a picture.

We ventured back downtown to see the setup for Carnival.  We didn't stay long because the pickpocketing was over the top.  Here are the baseball heroes of the DR.

Though we were leaving before the parade and party, we did stop to watch some of the guys practicing their whip skills.  They uses these long whips made out of cow and pig stomachs that they've dried and part of the parade is just to whip people.  Not my idea of fun.

Because it was the right weekend, Taylor and Dana both bought themselves Carnival masks.

Then we were off to drive to our rental home for the rest of our week's stay.  It (as usual) rained (poured) in the afternoon.

The drive took us up and over a mountain range and had spectacular views.

It felt like being home and I loved every minute of driving by the butchered meat hanging beside the road, fresh fruit stands, chickens roaming everywhere freely, and little naked kids running around.

Taylor consented to go on this trip as long as we could find somewhere to watch the superbowl.  Our house was supposed to have satelite tv but it didn't have the right channel.

So off we went to a TripAdvisor pub to eat dinner and watch the game.  A good Sunday all around.