My three favorite/memorable vacation spots - Punta Cana

Punta Cana, The Dominican Republic

Visiting the Dominican in eighth grade was my first real trip out of the Country. It was also the first island I had ever experienced. The scenery was beautiful on the beaches and even more breathtaking looking from the water. I could not pass up the opportunity to parasail over the crystal blue water. You could see everything, the coral, and the colorful fish that are so close to shore. (For anyone that has never tried it. I highly recommend it...unless you are deathly afraid of heights.) It's was very peaceful floating up in the air, you could barely hear any of your surroundings. Now, I had been tubing before, but nothing like this. My mother and I figured we would do all we could why we were there and that included getting on a plastic banana float with holsters, and holding on for our dear life. This banana was filled with about six other people being pulled by a fast boat. Apparently the object was to stay on the float for as long as you could, but when the driver started doing donuts in the water both my mother and I flew off in different directions. Let’s just say I felt that one in the morning. Even though this island appeared to be very luxurious and had the cliché "living in paradise" theme, the outside was very poor. Houses seemed not far from dilapidation and the living conditions of these people were almost too horrible to even imagine. So, this last piece of information I’m going to share with you was my most memorable experience there. My parents and I signed up for this tour, we saw the villages and the cities where people resided, we were able to eat a sugar cane straight from the ground, but most importantly, we visited a school. It was a school for younger children around seven or eight, but this school was very different from the rest. It was not required and definitely not mandatory, but you see these young inspirations walking miles to get to this school so they can have an education. Their faces were beaming and every time I talk about my island journeys I think of them.