Sunday, March 11, 2012

Spring Break/ The DR & Panama City

I took extensive notes on my whole trip to the DR on my iPhone only to accidentally erase ALL of them the minute I got back to the States. So, instead of attempting to retype the whole thing I will attempt a bullet point summary:
  • Arrived in Santo Domingo after an 8 hour flight which took us through Panama
  • Taxi driver Kelly knows buys us "welcome" beers.
  • Go to the Monumento de San Francisco for awesome Dominican dancing and Latin music
  • Wake up and go to Peace Corps office- eat delicious mango
  • Take a bus to Kelly's site
  • Two motorcycle taxis take us to her site--I figure out where to put my hands on a 70 yr old man
  • Tour Kelly's site--reminds me of El Sal (everything does) 
  • Eat Dominican food--lots of yucca, egg plant (La Bandera)
  • Give out gifts to Kelly's friends-- meet Americans learning about the water filter project
  • Get haircut and nails done Caribe-style
  • Leave Kelly's site and visit Joe Kennedy's Peace Corps project- 27 Charcos-- Waterfall tour
  • Take buses to Cabarete, big beach town
  • Check into sketchy hotel
  • Hit the beach and drink happy hour beers at the local Irish bar
  • Go back to shower for dinner and Kelly has discovered thirty dollars missing. I tell her we will find it in the morning
  • Next morning, I discover I am also missing a thousand pesos. We figure out the maid ripped us off. We explain to hotel owner that now that we've paid $60 on the room instead of the original $30 we don't think we should pay. She agrees.
  • We hit the beach for an intense day of tanning before we leave-- its overcast off and on.
  • We get way too much sun and Kelly looks bright pink
  • Take a bus to Capital- at hotel I discover that I have a sunburn for the first time in my life. Kelly passes out in the lobby from heat exhaustion and dehydration.
  • Plane to Panama the next morning. We lay over for 8 hours so we decide to explore Casco Viejo.
  • While looking for ATM we are offered a free tour of the Palacio Bolivar where Simon Bolivar convened his Latin Congress against US Manifest Destiny.
  • Eat lunch at the Fish Market--yummy
  • Plane back home to US
PICTURES

Vocab
Guagua- Micro (ES)- Van
Si (deep voice)
guapo-enojada (ES)- angry
colmada-comedor (ES)-restaurant
Bola-drunk (ES)- hitchhiking


No comments:

Post a Comment