D.R. or BUST!!

When we all woke up yesterday morning, we all thought we were in for a little bit of a long, but exciting day. However, no one ever dreamed the day would end up having 40 hours in it!We are currently back in Dominican Republic with a new first for Hero Holiday: 39 nursing and pre-med students, one doctor, two dentists, and our staff…and after 40 hours of being awake we are still going strong!We started our orientation last night in Buffalo, after some people driving as far away as 8 hours from the border to join us. In the middle of our evening pre-trip orientation in our hotel, Nettie, our Hero Holiday administrator,  received a call saying that our airline had canceled our flight due to weather in Buffalo. In fact, the whole airport was shut down. Now we were faced with a dilemma: we had tickets from JFK to Dominican, but no tickets to JFK…a quick negotiation with a bus shuttle company and two trips later, we found ourselves now sprawled out at 4:00 AM in the Rochester, NY airport, awaiting our new flight to JFK,  and on still no sleep…When we finally got to Puerto Plata, we shuttled to the hotel, dropped off our bags to get ready to go out on our awareness tour to see everything that we are about to be involved in, and out of nowhere: torrential downpours. (Did I mention we were out on open backed trucks?) But then, the crowning achievement of the 40 hours was the clutch going on the one truck in the middle of the road in the middle of the rainstorm, and the other truck getting stuck in the mud trying to get back to them…So, you may ask, was it worth it? And the answer, of course, is “Always!”. The group that is here is going to be doing medical clinics and working on a building project. Most of all, they are going to be experiencing what it is to make a difference. If today is any indication of what they are going to be like, I am already in love with them! They have not complained once when they were wet, tired, or hungry…they just kept telling us how excited they are to be here!And so, to all ourHero Holiday peeps that are with us for the next ten days in Dominican, we want to say that we are excited that you are here too, and that there is no one we would rather have join us for no sleep, unforeseen travel hiccups, broken clutches, torrential downpours, and the anticipation of what tomorrow can hold!