I flew out of Los Angeles on an overnight flight. I took Benadryl to help me sleep on the plane (didn’t help much). I had a 3 hour lay-over in Atlanta where it was pouring rain: which would explain why all my clothes were wet when I got to the Dominican Republic.Somewhere out over the Atlantic Ocean, I spied this outside my window.
It was either the Florida Keys or the Bahamas. We landed in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and this was what the airport looked like:
I had decided to rent a car, being as they drive on the right hand side of the road making it not such a big change for me. I had a lot of ground to cover and it didn’t seem like public transportation was going to be worth the hassle and time. I’ve driven in Mexico, so it wasn’t a whole lot different from there. Just very defensive driving and being alert to absolutely everything (from potholes to other motorists coming into my lane to avoid potholes on their side).
My first destination was Miches, a small beach town. I missed the direct route, because things were so poorly marked and they really don’t make very good maps for that country. It ended up taking me over 4 hours to get to my hotel. But I had driven through some very beautiful country and the people seemed very nice (all 20 that I stopped and asked for directions of). I stayed 2 nights in Miches in a little cabana on the beach. They have a main house with a bar and restaurant. I really did nothing more than relax there. I walked, even went for a run one morning, took in some sun and lazed about.
From Miches, I drove to the capital: Santo Domingo. Roads in this country are a challenge. There aren’t many road signs, they’re usually not paved, and the rain and driving cause major potholes all over.
I managed to make it in record time. I stayed at a guest house right in the colonial district. It’s owned by a lady from Tennessee. Her ex-husband lives in San Diego. Small world. She has an art gallery there where she sells local artist’s paintings, sculptures, metal work, and jewelry. Some of the stuff is from Haiti as well. There was an artisan fair in town, and I did a lot of shopping there, as well as the main shopping street of the colonial district. I stayed 2 nights here as well.
Down in the Caribbean areas (as well as other tropical places in the world) it is advised to protect yourself against mosquito bites to avoid malaria and dengue fever, and such. I brought along 23% Deet. This stuff can kill you. I think I fumigated my lungs every time I put it on, which might explain the cold I have now which is tearing apart my lungs and sinuses. Either way, I was still bit up viciously and itch to an ungodly extreme. I think they’re super mosquitoes. You never see them or hear them, only the crazy itch afterwards.
After Santo Domingo, I went off to the sleepy beach town of Juan Dolio. I stayed in a hotel that has quite an Indian Flare to it. The lady who owns it is Italian, but spent a lot of time growing up in India. She has started a humanitarian project, paying for education for young girls in India. Apparently it’s doing very well. The lady who is the secretary of the organization lives about a half hour from me. I met her down there, and she mentioned the possibility of me going to India and teaching at the school (English). It would be an awesome experience, but it starts in June and last several months. I’m not sure I can commit to something like that. We also did a yoga class while I was there. Here also, I laid on the beach (subjected to spontaneous downpours) and got a little swimming in. I also stayed 2 nights here.
The sunset on the plane ride home was beautiful. Although from Atlanta to LA, I sat next to a guy who told me the weather had been crazy since I left, and it had even snowed in Malibu! When we landed in Atlanta, I got a voice message from a friend who lives in my new town, and she said the freeways leading to our place were closed due to crazy snow. Thankfully I had already gotten a hotel in LA for the night since I got in so late. In the morning though the freeways were still shut down. Since we live in the mountains, there really wasn’t the option of taking another route, because each lead to ice and snow. It really wasn’t much in relation to the rest of the U.S., but apparently southern Californians are ill equipped (and trained) to drive in anything other than 75 degree and sunny weather. So my friend and I met up south of the road closures, did a little grocery shopping and running errands. They finally opened our road up around noon. I got home about 3pm to find myself completely blocked out of my driveway due to the foot and a half of snow blanketing the whole thing (not to mention the 2 foot high berm the snow plow created at the entrance). I turned around (with my jeep in 4 wheel drive) and headed to the hardware store for a snow shovel and ice scraper. I spent the next 2 hours shoveling snow (with a cold I picked up somewhere on my vacation).
I managed to shovel enough for a parking spot for my jeep (forget the whole driveway, it’ll melt in a few days), a path to my porch, and enough off the deck to not drag snow into the house. Then I went inside, took some Nyquil and went to sleep. What a crazy end to a tropical vacation!!
Down in the Caribbean areas (as well as other tropical places in the world) it is advised to protect yourself against mosquito bites to avoid malaria and dengue fever, and such. I brought along 23% Deet. This stuff can kill you. I think I fumigated my lungs every time I put it on, which might explain the cold I have now which is tearing apart my lungs and sinuses. Either way, I was still bit up viciously and itch to an ungodly extreme. I think they’re super mosquitoes. You never see them or hear them, only the crazy itch afterwards.
After Santo Domingo, I went off to the sleepy beach town of Juan Dolio. I stayed in a hotel that has quite an Indian Flare to it. The lady who owns it is Italian, but spent a lot of time growing up in India. She has started a humanitarian project, paying for education for young girls in India. Apparently it’s doing very well. The lady who is the secretary of the organization lives about a half hour from me. I met her down there, and she mentioned the possibility of me going to India and teaching at the school (English). It would be an awesome experience, but it starts in June and last several months. I’m not sure I can commit to something like that. We also did a yoga class while I was there. Here also, I laid on the beach (subjected to spontaneous downpours) and got a little swimming in. I also stayed 2 nights here.
The sunset on the plane ride home was beautiful. Although from Atlanta to LA, I sat next to a guy who told me the weather had been crazy since I left, and it had even snowed in Malibu! When we landed in Atlanta, I got a voice message from a friend who lives in my new town, and she said the freeways leading to our place were closed due to crazy snow. Thankfully I had already gotten a hotel in LA for the night since I got in so late. In the morning though the freeways were still shut down. Since we live in the mountains, there really wasn’t the option of taking another route, because each lead to ice and snow. It really wasn’t much in relation to the rest of the U.S., but apparently southern Californians are ill equipped (and trained) to drive in anything other than 75 degree and sunny weather. So my friend and I met up south of the road closures, did a little grocery shopping and running errands. They finally opened our road up around noon. I got home about 3pm to find myself completely blocked out of my driveway due to the foot and a half of snow blanketing the whole thing (not to mention the 2 foot high berm the snow plow created at the entrance). I turned around (with my jeep in 4 wheel drive) and headed to the hardware store for a snow shovel and ice scraper. I spent the next 2 hours shoveling snow (with a cold I picked up somewhere on my vacation).
I managed to shovel enough for a parking spot for my jeep (forget the whole driveway, it’ll melt in a few days), a path to my porch, and enough off the deck to not drag snow into the house. Then I went inside, took some Nyquil and went to sleep. What a crazy end to a tropical vacation!!
By the way, today at work we burned piles of brush… in a foot of snow. My boots aren’t waterproof. I’ll be driving into the city this weekend to buy snow boots.
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