Ok so maybe it wasn´t quite the billionth, but it´s easily one of my favorite local spots here in Santiago. 

I mean, just look at it. It´s so darn cute-- all lit up like and twinkly like Christmas!
And see how pretty the tables!-- each with its own vase of flowers and porcelain elephant candle. 
Soft Spanish ballads drift in the background, setting the mood nicely. 
But don´t be fooled,  underneath the dainty charm is a menu that packs a seriously meaty punch.   
And the best (most dangerous) part, it´s only two blocks from my house! Just close enough for me to catch the sizzling smell of hamburgers on the breeze every once in a while, wafting through my open windows at night and calling me back.

Often times, Tío Pappy, a Canadian expat, will be out to take your order himself, so you know the service is going to be good. And if he isn´t the one taking your order, you can be sure he´ll stop by your table later to chat and make sure everything is alright, which makes for a very home-y, easy going atmosphere.  

After you place your order, he´ll be back in a few with a bowl full of mixed nuts and your drinks, so you are free to nibble and sip and chat while you wait for the main event. 

Everything on the menu is good, trust me, I know, but what Tío Pappy does best is burgers. And I´m not talking your typical grass-fed, dry Dominican burger, I´m talking a big, juicy, flavor-packed hunk of meat, dripping with gooey-cheesy goodness and all the fixins´. 

Since the grill is located inside Tio Pappy´s garage, you can go sneak a peak to watch the burgers sizzle if you´d like. 

Just look at that beauty; that´s a two-hander for sure. 

Of course, once you see the burger up close and in person, you might have second thoughts as to whether you´ll be able to finish the whole thing or not. At this point, you might considering calling out to Tio Pappy to come back with a big knife to cut the burger in two, that way you can save the other half for later.
This would be a mistake. I can tell you from personal experience (as I´ve tried this method on various occasions), you´re going to eat the whole thing. You might not think so, but you will.
 It´s that good. 

Cheers to Tío Pappy! 

If you want to check it out for yourself they are open every Wednesday through Saturday from 5:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.  I don´t know the exact address- but they are located in La Zurza, on calle 16 de Agosto, 2 blocks up from Avenida Francia. Just follow your nose :)

I woke up with the sunshine this morning. Stretching up sleepily, I reached for my toes, rolled out bed,  and tied on the tennies. It was time for my sunrise Tuesday/Thursday run. 
After a nice, heart-pounding jog, I was wide awake and ready to tackle some end-of-the-semester school work. Piropo wanted to help.

Ok, so that's a bit of a lie. I wanted Piropo to help, mainly in the form of reassuring snuggles....instead he spent most of the time trying vigorously to evade my clutches. 

Finally, I gave up the Elvira charade and settled back into my comfy bed to finish up my work-- snuggle-less, sadly, but much more productive. 

After a good bit of grading, I was feeling hungry, so I whipped up an Arepa de Maiz and popped it into the oven. It also seemed like a good time to do the weekly wash while it was baking. 

This time, I did have some willing helpers. 

Finally, with the clothes drying on the line, and the scent of warm vanilla wafting through the kitchen,  it was time for breakfast. 

So I headed to the patio, cut myself a nice big chunk of cake, and washed it down with a cold cup of green tea as my lovely city bustled to life below.
I just love mornings in Santiago. 

I've graded a lot of papers this semester....

I've graded them at resorts...

I've graded them at dinner.....

I've graded them at breakfast....

I've graded them at the beach....

And this weekend, I even had a grading party!

Of course, I always find its easier to do a tough task when there is some kind of reward involved to make it go down a bit smoother....in this case, my Mom's world famous cookie bars.

Danielle agrees :)

Finally, finally, finally, the last day of the semester arrived (yesterday). Which means my grading days are over! (For a while at least)

A few of us girls went out for well-deserved celebratory drink at Bene,  a swanky little cocktail bar with a nice chill vibe and big comfy couches to sink into and relax. 

Classes don't start up again until the first week of May.  Let the playing begin!

You may have noticed the sparseness with which I've been updating you on my adventures lately. There's a good reason for that: my Academic Writing class is killing me (Even now I'm hastily throwing this post together under a fluorescent light bulb at 11:00 p.m. while a stack of essays is sitting beside me calling my name.)
The thing is, and you've probably figured this out by now, but I love to write! So teaching an Academic Writing class should be right up my ally. And it is. Helping my students to express their ideas and become creative thinkers and writers, it's one of the best classes I could have been assigned to teach. 
But the grading, ooooohhh the grading. I've literally been spending HOURS upon HOURS reviewing, revising, and editing student essays and exams. And with the end of the semester under 2 weeks away, Iet's just say I've been feeling the crunch. 
It's been consuming me. 
So when an offer to head to the beach came up this Sunday, the angel on my shoulder was all "no way Jose, you've got way too much school stuff to do."  And I almost brushed the idea away without a second thought. But the devil (whose voice sounded suspiciously like Amy's) was all like, "Carpe diem chica!"  You can probably guess which one won out.
So Sunday morning Amy and I caught Caribe tours to Sosua. 
I gotta say, I'm glad I went with the devil on this one.  Just look at these pics! It couldn't have been a more beautiful day.  

Now Sosua is a pretty local beach. You can find a fair amount of tourists there (it actually happens to be the sex-tourism capital of the D.R. so don't be surprised to see old white men hanging out with beautiful young Dominican girls), and there are plenty of English-speaking bars and shops in the vicinity, but the majority of beach-goers will be Dominicans. 
Amy and I found a nice little bar with free chairs and a great menu. 

We plopped ourselves down on the beach, slathered on the sunscreen, and soaked up some rays while we waited for our meals to arrive.
Amy did a little light reading (if you can call Ayn Rand light reading), and I sipped on a cold beer while grading papers (I couldn't leave them completely behind!). 

Lunch time! They brought it right down to the beach for us. We didn't have to move a muscle. Talk about service. 

After stuffing ourselves to the gills, we laid back to snooze and people watch, occasionally getting up to dip our toes in the cooling waves. 

We also did a little on-sight shopping.

Nothing like a new pair of shades and a day at the beach to put things into perspective. Yep, now I have to make up for lost time and stay up later/wake up earlier to get all my grading done, but was it worth it? Totally. My grading will get done. It always does, but I can't make up for those moments I miss traveling and spending time with friends. It's good to be dedicated to your job, but every once in a while you have to take a step back, breathe, and refocus on the important things in life. Two months from now those essays will be ancient history, but I will remember this trip to the beach. I'll remember how awesome the fresh-caught fish tasted and how stunningly blue the water was. I'll remember bargaining for a pair of sunglasses and that feeling of adventure after having to flag down a ride to Santiago once we realized we'd missed the last scheduled Caribe tours bus. And another perk? After a little relaxation time, I'm ready to tackle the week head on. 
In a cheesy conclusion, I'm going to leave you with a poem. I first read this poem in middle school and loved it for the simple fact that it contained both my name and my sister's name. Further readings later in life made me fall in love with it for deeper reasons. I think it fits appropriately here. 
Enjoy and remember to treat yourself well this week!

So I spent my Dominican Easter at an Indian hotel hanging out with a bunch of Americans. Yep. Breaking all the traditions this year. 
But let me start from the beginning. 
Traditionally, Dominicans don't seem to have too many traditions regarding Easter. No Easter egg hunts, no chocolate bunnies, no baskets full of goodies on Easter morning, not even a Peep in sight. For a country that is so heavily influenced by the U.S., this one holiday seems to have somehow escaped the clutches of consumerism (which is probably a good thing). They do, however, have one strange tradition: sweet beans. Nope, I'm not talking jelly beans (oh, how I wish!)

Sweet beans, or habichuelas con dulce, are a strange concoction of red beans, sweet potato, milk, coconut milk, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, and other spices, all stewed and creamed together to form a soupy pudding and served up with mini vanilla wafer-like cookies. Every Dominican family has their own secret recipe and its traditionally eaten the first and last week of Lent, although nobody seems to know why. Even the end-all be-all source of information, the world-wide-web, couldn't explain the origin or tradition behind this interesting dish. Mysterious. 
I tried it once. 
Let's just say its an acquired taste. 
Dominicans would beg to differ though. I polled all my students (that's about 80) to see what their favorite part of Easter was, and at least half of them claimed it was habichuelas con dulce.
I just don't understand. 
This is one tradition I'll let the Dominican Republic keep for itself. 
The only other custom associated with Easter (and this is really a custom for all Dominican holidays) is to head to the beach and drink copious amounts of rum (which is what the other half of my students claimed was their favorite part) Now a beach vacation is definitely a tradition I can get behind. 
And that was my original plan for Thursday and Friday of Semana Santa (holy week).
Mother nature had different ideas. After a sweltering hot start to the week, Thursday through Sunday turned into one of the coldest, rainiest weekends of the year. Good thing I also had plans to go to the mountains! Gotta have all your bases covered here :) 
So after a restful Thurday and Friday in Santiago, I loaded up in a mini guagua with a herd of Hub friends and headed up to the hills (woah, look at those alliteration skills, I wasn't even trying!)

Our destination was the Blue Moon, an eclectic Indian retreat nestled on a lush and fairly secluded mountainside. 

The whole trip was organized by the Hub, and was open to all Hub members and friends. It was a pretty large crowd, including plenty of old friends I hadn't seen in a while and new faces I'd never met before. So we all gathered around the bar to grab a drink and mingle. One of the best parts about being involved with the Hub is that everyone is fascinating. Really. They are. Everyone has a different story, a different experience, and a unique perspective; it makes for lively conversations, especially when everyone is sipping on the Blue Moon Special :)

Then it was time to take our bags to our spacious and charmingly decorated cabins and wash up for dinner. The tantalizing scent of curry had us all drifting back towards the dining area in no time. 

In true Indian fashion, we sat cross-legged on cushions with leaves for plates and flickering luminaries to provide a slightly magical aura. 

The owner of the retreat came out to explain each course and to teach us how to eat Indian style; that is, without silverware and only using the right hand. 

And then came the food: Corn and plaintain fritters, carrot-raisin-peanut salad, curried vegetables, fall-off-the-bone tender spiced chicken, jasmine rice, and a series of intriguing and finger-lickingly delicious sauces.

We feasted....

....until we could feast no more. 

Then the little 'uns came out to dance and entertain while we sipped on coffee and tea and groaned about how happy and full we were while we waited for dessert (of course there is always room for dessert.)

One of the most adorable couples ever. 

Dessert, a perfect blend of creamy yogurt, fruit, and toasted coconut, was the perfect way to end the night. Not too long after we all drifted dreamily back to our cabins and into a peaceful sleep. 

The next morning we were up-and-adam early for a sunrise service. 
Happily holding our warm coffees and teas, sweetened with dollops of sugar and fresh cows milk, we filled the morning air with hymns and laughter at our sometimes off-key attempts. To tell the truth though, I like that we sometimes sing off-key. I know that God doesn't mind, he's just happy we are all there together, and for me, that's more beautiful than any song in perfect pitch. 

Aside from being slightly out of tune, one of our two trays full of the Body of Christ may have accidentally ended up spilled all over the sidewalk. Somehow, I think Jesus might have gotten a good chuckle out of that. The good thing about the Body of Christ though, no matter what happens there's always enough to go around :)

Next it was time for an Easter Egg hunt! As I explained earlier, its not a tradition here, but a visiting Hub friend from the U.S. brought down loads of plastic eggs and candy especially for the occasion. We filled up the eggs with all sorts of chocolaty goodies and hid them around the yard. 

After enjoying the kiddos' mad scramble to find the hidden eggs, it was time for breakfast and the ride back down the mountain. 

All in all, a beautiful Easter with beautiful people. 
Thanks so much to Elaine and Marcos for bringing us all together!