Day 1- Friday March 26, 2010-Santo Domingo

We arrived in Santo Domingo around 1:30 and took a 30 minute taxi ride to our hotel. Our taxi driver spoke English very well so he was able to talk to us the whole ride. He told us about how the driving in the Dominican is much different than America- basically, no laws! You can drive however fast you want. People will turn in front of you or cut across the street in front of you whenever they feel like it. People are constantly honking at each other to get out of the way. There are no lanes and very few stoplights. The cars here are all old and banged up too, I wonder why!? Even with all of that, the drive to the hotel was beautiful. The oceanfront is gorgeous. It was neat to see all the houses with the clothes hanging out to dry and people just walking around and hanging out in the streets. Once we got to the hotel we were amazed at how nice it was. It even had a casino inside (we did not partake in this though!).

As we began unpacking some of our stuff, Rik turned to me and said “where’s the computer?” My stomach immediately went into knots. “Oh my god we left it on the plane!” Long story short, we called Delta and they had our computer, but we would have to come back and get it by 5:30. We were relieved yet frustrated that we now have to get back in the cab, spend another $40 just to get to the airport and not get to walk around and sightsee (or go to the pool). We did decide to stay at the airport once we got there and wait for Ryan’s 8:30 flight so we could split the cab fare back to the hotel.

Ryan’s flight arrived on time with no major problems. I actually enjoyed waiting for Ryan because we got to see the way airports in the US used to be before 9/11. Everyone waited along this “runway” for their families outside the baggage claim area. When their family members came out, the people would run out onto the runway and give huge hugs and kisses. A couple of people had flowers and signs too. It made me sad that we don’t value family like this in the US anymore. We get to walk outside and hop in the car before you get yelled at for taking too long in the pickup lane.

Once we got to the hotel for the second time we decided to take a walk up the street to get some food. As we walked to this area where we knew they had a bunch of different places to eat, I noticed a street vendor with slabs of meat just hanging off the cart. This is how many people get their meat! They sometimes even have the whole animal hanging off the cart too. I was too chicken to go take a picture but I will try to get one sometime while we are on the trip.

After a relaxing snack and sitting in the nice breeze we walked back to the hotel to get one last good night’s sleep in a bed!