For example, I took a week-and-a-half vacation to the Dominican Republic, and I just got back today. The public schools had last week off, so I decided that it was time to go to the D.R. with Julia Oliver, because we've been planning to do it for over a year.
I left the Thursday before the break and flew direct to Santiago, the second largest city in the country. I stayed in a very plain hotel and didn't do much. I came down with a cold, and then, stupid me, I left my bank card in the ATM! I am so used to swiping my card in the ATMs here that I completely forgot to take back my card. I didn't realize that I didn't have my card till later in the afternoon, when the banks were already closed. The guard at the bank told me to come back in the morning, because it was probably kept by the machine. I spent the evening stressing out, worrying that someone might have taken it and used it to pay for a million things. Lucky for me, the people at the bank, who were very nice, found my card in the machine and gave it back. I could then stop worrying whether I had enough pesos to eat breakfast and take a bus to the beach!
Santiago
So, on my second day, I headed for the beach town of Cabarete, which is close to Sosua, the town where Julia and I would be taking Spanish classes. I decided to splurge and stay in a really nice place that had free wireless internet (so rare). It was right on Kite Beach, which has optimal conditions for kite surfing and wind surfing. I hadn't been planning on doing any of those kinds of crazy activities; instead I was going to sit by the pool and write a paper that was due Monday. That didn't happen, however, because by this point I was sure I had a fever. Mainly I just knitted, read, and watched TV. I saw the end of the Yankees game and fell asleep watching the Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart. I never did find out what happened to that bird!
The next day, I read a bit more before checking out and went to Sosua, where I was supposed to meet Julia. She wasn't going to be in until the early evening, however, and our school liaison would only be meeting us at 7 to let us into our studio at the school. I found a restaurant that had free wireless internet, run by a talkative Canadian guy who took on my laptop as a clean-up project. He took off a million unnecessary things from my computer and freed up lots of space. He even gave me a program that makes my desktop icons appear like a Mac menu! Of course, spending all this time overhauling my laptop didn't leave me a whole lot of time to write my paper. At the school, I found Julia talking with a couple of German students living in a school apartment. The student coordinator showed up a bit late, gave us keys to our room, and took us all out for a tour of the town's main drag, where we stopped at a little bar to have a drink. We had known that Sosua used to have a large German Jewish population, relocated during World War II, but I had not expected to see so many German restaurants and German-speaking residents, tourists, and students. We also discovered that Sosua is actually a center of prostitution, which was a little bit of a disappointment. You could see lots of scantily clad women hanging out in red-lit clubs, which made them much less appealing.
Sunday, Julia and I explored the main beach, Playa Sosua, which was crowded and loud. Everyone in the town seemed to be there, sitting in the sun, playing in the water, eating, drinking, playing loud merengue and bachata, and dancing. I went back to the room to write my paper, finally, while Julia went to the other beach, Playa Alicia.
Monday we started our Spanish classes. We had to take a placement exam, and then we were both taken to the advanced class, which only had one other student--Marcel, a Swiss guy on vacation with his girlfriend while taking the year to write his dissertation on innovation in private banking. He turned out to be a nice guy, for a banker. Our teacher was kind of a spacey lady, but she was sweet. After class, we had lunch and went to Playa Alicia. It was a bit strange, because it's technically a private beach for a couple of resort hotels, but tourists can access the beach while locals cannot. After a while, we had a drink at the bar and went back to our room to watch more of my Netflix DVDs of our favorite Mexican telenovela, La fea mas bella, the end of which neither of us had seen.
Sunset at Playa Alicia
Tuesday after class, we had a bachata lesson with Nena, the cook and maid at the school. It really is amazing what Dominican women can do with their hips; I could not even pretend to have a clue!
Wednesday we went on an excursion arranged by the school. We took a minivan with several German and Swiss students to the town of Rio San Juan. It was a harrowing hour-long drive on a road covered in potholes, with the driver swerving every few seconds in attempt to avoid the holes. We were happy to arrive at Laguna Gri-Gri, where we took a boat through a mangrove lagoon to the sea.
We saw a cave full of swallows and a "natural pool" with gleaming and clear blue-green water.
The boat left us at Playa Caleton, where we swam in the beautiful water.
The van whisked us away to another beach, Playa Grande, which was very big (hence the name), but had such a large surf that I did not go in the water.
Thursday was our last day, because Friday we would miss class to catch an early morning bus to our next destination. We were busy trying to fit everything into one afternoon--we lazed on Playa Sosua, which was lovely and less crazy on a weekday, had dinner with classmates, and then went dancing with our dance teacher Nena. The dancing was extremely fun! Nena was silly so we had a great time.
Friday we took an uncomfortable bus ride to Samana', a town on a small peninsula to the east. From there, we got on a public minibus (more discomfort) to the town of Las Galeras at the eastern tip of the peninsula. After settling into our rustic bungalow room, we went into town to eat lunch, where we discovered that the town did not have a bank. Therefore, we had to take the hour-long bus ride back to Samana' to take out money and then get on the bus again to Las Galeras. It was completely stupid, especially after finding out that the all-inclusive resort in Las Galeras had an ATM.
The garden outside of our bungalow
Saturday we hiked for two hours to an amazing beach, Playa Fronton. The only people there were a couple guys who lived on the beach, so Julia and I had our own private little paradise. The water was incredible. One of the beach residents was knocking down coconuts with a pole, so I asked to buy one to drink the juice, but he opened two for us and gave them to us for free. At 3 we sadly left for the hike back to our bungalow. The sun was shining strong and I ended up totally sunburned.
Sunday morning we hiked an hour to Playa Madama, which was not as difficult to reach as Fronton. It rained, though, so we couldn't get in the water. We found shelter from the rain in a cave, where we read.
We hiked back so that I could get to Samana' in time for my bus, but I left too late and missed the bus back to Santiago. It was fine; I stayed in a hotel in Samana' and took a bus in the morning. I had to hurry and take a taxi to the airport, but I made it in time and came back home safely.
A church made of corrugated metal in Samana'
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