Puerto Plata

The days here are long, but I don’t know where they go half the time. I am always tired and always praying for una briza. Yes, the girl who hates wind and air conditioning has now become a fan. Speaking of fans, I don’t know how I would survive without the one above my bed. In all seriousness though, I am still loving it here. Today there was an international fair outside the student center. It was a little delayed by a short downpour, as all rain showers occur here, but picked right back up after. There was dancing, performances, booths of places I’d love to go, and an American booth giving out PB&J. I’m not quite an expert at dancing yet, but I’m trying. My host brother is trying to teach me because he is much better. Here’s a riddle for you—what do dancing, Jesus, and the ocean have in common? They comprise how I spent my first Saturday in the Dominican Republic.

Entonces, let’s go back in time to last Saturday. Puerto Plata, or the port of silver, was a great first excursion outside Santiago. It took about an hour and a half to get to a place called Mount Isabel del Torros. There they have the only cable car in the Dominican Republic to take you to outstanding views, the smaller version of the Jesus statue from Rio, beautiful nature, and Dominicans trying to sell you things at tourist prices. There are pictures, some here and others in an album (click here), but I promise they don’t do it justice. You’re just going to have to go see for yourself. In the waiting area, there was also an authentic Dominican band which was awesome, even if they were just playing for tips. I will find a CD of the music before I leave.

We went quickly to the fort in Puerto Plata. I need to do more research on it, because we were a little rushed. By the time this is published, I will have more information, but for now I’m going to guess it has something to do with Trujillo. Everything in this country’s history either revolves around Trujillo or Christopher Columbus. (I was very wrong, here's some information.) After, we ate lunch in the supermarket, La Sirena, which everyone keeps calling a “Dominican Walmart.” I probably have heard that term over ten times since I got here. And because the locals are so eager to call it that, some of the Americans have started saying, “Do you want to go to the Dominican Walmart?” Anyway, there are food courts, banks, cell phone stores, and many other things besides groceries in every La Sirena. Though I really wanted to sit down a restaurant that serves seafood, I did eat four slices of Dominos pizza.

Another hour in the bus and we were at Cabarete. This is one of the most popular beach towns in the DR, behind Sosua and La Romana. It is well known for the international wind surfing competitions held there. Our group had a pretty empty part of the beach until about fifteen Haitians and Dominicans came by to sell things to us. We were offered fruit, rental chairs, drinks, massages, jewelry… and hair braids that I was literally forced into. The woman was not very happy with me when I said that I only had twenty pesos, but decided that would be the fee for the braid she had just put in my hair. A man also tried to sell us cigars while we were twenty feet off shore, however we were expected to buy and smoke cigars while swimming. Once you convince the people to leave you alone for a bit, the beach is nice. One of the ISA employees took me to look for shells and gave me all the ones she found. I now have an excessive amount for only my first beach trip, but it was fun and we did find some good ones.

It was an exhausting day and it took two hours to get back home, but Taylor and I still wanted to go out as we had planned. In retrospect, we probably could have taken naps because our brother didn’t come home until 10 PM to get us, but showers, aloe, and other things took priority. I may or may not have forgotten to put sun screen on my back at the beach, so I was a mixture of red and green. It’s turned into a nice tan by now and I keep looking at my arms unable to believe how tan I am. I was glad it was dark on Saturday though, so I looked less like a traffic light. It didn’t stop anyone from checking out the gringas, but I felt better about it.

First, went to Victor’s friend’s graduation party from PUCMM. The journey there between a broken down jeep and a lost taxi was difficult, but I had a great time. It was fairly similar to a graduation party in the US, but a little more fancy than I am use to. Maybe it would be more closely compared to a wedding reception. I should have taken a picture because it would be easier to explain. Around one o’clock we headed to the discotheque and it was packed. It remained crowded until around 3:30 AM. The music was interesting for sure; a lot of American music was played with a techno beat along with Reggaetone and some salsa music. The strangest point of the night was when I found myself dancing fast to “Someone like You” by Adele. Sunday ending up to be a very lazy day, since we stayed out until 5 AM and I woke up four hours later. It was a lot of fun though and I hope to do it again soon.

Well, that was my weekend in 1000 words or less. Tomorrow I am headed to the capital for two days! Hasta luego!