Sample Itinerary 1
Batey Life
Day 1: Welcome to the Dominican Republic!
Arrive into Santo Domingo and spend your first night in the Colonial Zone, a historic walled quarter of the city with famed food and music. Take a guided walking tour or wander on your own with some recommendations from our team - this is a great introduction to Dominican culture and hot island weather. Bienvenidos!
Lodging: Hotel, Santo Domingo
Day 2: Service in Batey Communities
Drive to San Pedro de Macoris and settle in the ASCALA volunteer center. ASCALA is run by the Scalabrian Nuns who dedicate their efforts to migrant communities around the world. In the Dominican Republic they focus their efforts on Haitian migrant workers who inhabit communities known as bateyes. The volunteer center is the perfect location to learn about the issues affecting the bateyes, and the work being done to mitigate it. Learn about the social advocacy work that ASCALA does through their work on nutrition, pension rights, child labor rights, and the many other projects they work on in these communities. The volunteer center inhabits the second floor of their building and is surrounded by green spaces. The accommodations consist of dorm style bunk rooms with fans.
Have lunch at Parador Mama Lala for a typical Dominican lunch of rice and beans cooked by Mama Lala herself.
Your guide will take you to Batey Monte Coca for a hands-on community infrastructure project cementing floors in a family home. Many families in batey communities live in improvised housing with dirt floors, and this project has immediate impact for families to keep their living spaces clean, dry, and flat. Your guide will introduce you to the beneficiaries of the project and give some background on the community and family, serving as a translator and cultural liaison as well as project-managing and collaborating with local professionals either prior to or during the visit to ensure a successful, efficient, and impactful project. If they can, families will usually participate on the projects as well; projects usually consist of mixing cement for the masons who will be laying the floor - it is skilled work and requires many hands to be done quickly and effectively, to start the drying process and ensure the shortest displacement of the family from their home.
After the project, return to ASCALA for dinner made by our inhouse cook followed by a discussion that will put the word we did and the things we saw into context.
Lodging: ASCALA Volunteer Housing, San Pedro de Macoris.
Days 3 & 4: Service in the Bateyes
After breakfast at ASCALA, head back to Monte Coca to continue work on the service projects from the previous afternoon. Go back for lunch at ASCALA and afterward work with ASCALA to host children from nearby bateyes for an afternoon of educational enrichment activities, preparing content and organizing students through small, fun projects and cultural exchanges.
When the students head home, meet the leadership team at ASCALA to learn about the socio-political issues facing the bateyes. The word batey comes from the long barracks that many families live in, which were originally built for migrant sugar cane workers, and now used as permanent settlements for multiple families. Many families in batey communities are faced with substandard housing, unsafe and low-wage working conditions, and limited access to health care or social services. Many community members also face social and institutional discrimination as a result of their ethnicities or immigration status, since many families have migrated from Haiti to look for work or to follow family members. Your guide will translate if needed and give context to the projects, history, and barriers to success.
In the evening, head back to the apartment in Juan Dolio for free time.
Lodging: Apartment in Juan Dolio
Day 5: Los Haitises National Park
Drive north for a two-hour ride down a bumpy road towards the bayside town of Sabana de la Mar, and finally down a long wooded stretch Los Haitises National Park. Nestled just outside of the park is Paraiso Caño Hondo; a stunning eco-lodge built into the hillside with river-fed pools, trails, and a magnificent view of nearby Samana Bay.
After lunch at the lodge, you will tour the bay by speedboat, visiting caves that contain Taino pictographs that are over a thousand years old and stopping for a swim in remote beaches before navigating the mangroves back towards Caño Hondo. Back at the base, enjoy the pools and relax in the quiet of the canyon.
Lodging: Paraiso Caño Hondo
Day 6: Samana Bay
Cross the Samana Bay by ferry, keeping an eye out for dolphins or manatees as you head to the country’s largest peninsula on the northern coast of the island. You will arrive at your eco-hotel by mid-afternoon, so take some time to enjoy the beach and relax in this new ecosystem.
Lodging: Aventura Rincon Eco Lodge.
Day 7: Permaculture
Today you will get in touch with nature and the food we eat. Spend the day practicing different permaculture techniques, learn from specialists how to design a sustainable lifestyle, eat healthy, and immerse yourself with hands-on experience in a tropical food forest.
Lodging: Aventura Rincon Eco Lodge
Day 7: Back to Santo Domingo
After one last swim in the ocean, head back to Santo Domingo. Visit the cenote caves at Tres Ojos National Park or explore the Colonial Zone’s local watering holes, chic modern restaurants, and galleries of Afro-Caribbean folk art.
Lodging: Hotel, Santo Domingo
Day 8: Buen Viaje!
See you next time!