Santo Domingo to Oriani

      I wrote just a little bit about Santo Domingo on Sunday evening but will try to give the whole Santo Domingo "experience" today. 

     On Saturday evening I checked in online for my flight to Santo Domingo the next morning. They offered an upgrade to first class for $65. This also included 2 free checked bags. I was planning on checking 2 bags anyway which would have cost almost the same amount so I upgraded and got a better seat also. When I got to the airport on Sunday morning I took my bags to be checked. They asked to see my receipt for an application to enter the Dominican Republic. I didn't know anything about that requirement but was able to fill it out online without too many problems. Once I had that processed I got my bags checked easily. The flight to Miami was pretty uneventful,  a few bumps but not bad. In Miami I had about an hour before my next flight. The Miami airport doesn't have a huge selection of places to eat. The breakfast places had really long lines and the lunch places were just starting to open so I just got a snack before boarding. Obviously the online application I filled out to enter the Dominican Republic sped up the customs process because it didn't take terribly long. Then I had to go find my bags, which wasn't too difficult either. The hotel where I was staying said it had airport shuttle service but I didn't have any service on my phone to call them and thought it would be just as easy to get a taxi. It was. The guy who was "assigning" taxis knew a little bit of English and understood what I needed so he put me in the next taxi and we headed out as soon as the driver had the address in his GPS. It was about a 20 minute ride and cost $40 American. I was glad I had researched it before hand and seen that the hotel shuttle also charged that amount or I would have felt like he was really ripping me off. In truth, he probably was, but at least I had a heads up what it might cost. Like I said earlier, this little hotel only had a few rooms and was actually more like a bed and breakfast. It had a very small pool and also offered free Wifi- that was awesome! As soon as I got checked in I asked the lady at the desk if there was somewhere nearby that I could get some food. Yes, only about 2-3 blocks away there were several places to eat and also some shopping. I had an empanada and some ice cream then roamed the streets exploring what was available.  Then back to the hotel. I could not identify the water as "hot" but it was just a tiny bit warm. The hotel room had air conditioning and was quite comfortable otherwise. The guy at the hotel desk that evening didn't know any English but I was able to get the point across to him that I wanted to put these water bottles in the fridge in the breakfast area and he was okay with that. The hotel served breakfast from 8-10 so I checked it out the next morning. The lady who was cleaning in the office was the cook too I guess. She got out some fruit then scrambled some eggs and made some toast. The eggs and toast were good. I think the fruit was papaya... I am not a fan. Jay had messaged me about a chocolate factory that was a few blocks away that they had been to so that was where I went first. I did the tour of rhe little factory then was able to make my own chocolate bar. While the chocolate was setting up I went to the gift shop and picked out a few things and got a cup of hot chocolate that was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.! I wandered around the local streets then browsing in a bunch of the shops until lunch time. One rather interesting thing I came across- towards the back of one of the shops- a young lady was lying on the tile floor. Another lady was beside her with an empty 5cc syringe with a needle. I'm not sure exactly what was going on. In just a little bit, the young lady got up without help and they walked towards the front of the shop - they were saying something- but they were speaking Spanish so I have no idea what they said. I wasn't scared, it didn't seem like an unsafe place to be, just very strange. I cannot explain it. 

     Lacey had arrived at the hotel when I went back after lunch. Her room wasn't quite ready but as soon as it was she put Nyanna down for a nap. I read a book for a while then we went walking. It was too late to really see much so we tried to find the empanada place, and I couldn't find it. It obviously closed in the late afternoon so we found something else to eat then went to a little grocery store to get some bread, peanut butter, and jelly to make some sandwiches for the next morning as we planned to leave at 7:00 for the bus stop. We also got a small container of ice cream and had a little ice cream party on the porch of Lacey's room. We had talked with the worker who knew English before she left and worked it out that the night worker would call a taxi for us at 7:00 the next morning. This taxi was a small car with a tank of some kind in the trunk so Lacey had to share the back seat with some of our luggage. The driver didn't know English but got us where we needed to go when we showed him the address of the bus station. Online it said there were multiple buses from Santo Domingo to Jimani throughout the day but we opted to try for the 7:45  departure. At the bus terminal we weren't quite on the right street but there was an opening in the fence so we were able to walk to where we needed to be. Several willing volunteers came to help carry our luggage- hoping for a small tip- Lacey went with the bags and I paid the taxi driver. I could not understand how much money he wanted so I finally got out all of the Dominican money I had left and showed it to him. I know it was less than $30, but don't know the exact amount. The taxi driver just took it all- I knew the taxi ride the day before had been $40 American but this ride hadn't been as far. Another guy had stayed there by me, I guess to escort me across the street - so he talked to the taxi driver and they agreed that he would give me back 200 pesos. I didn't care, I was happy we had gotten to the bus station without problems. There were numerous people there at the bus terminal who knew Creole and Lacey is very fluent in Creole so we were good now as far as that goes. She had found the bus going to Jimani- actually it was going all the way to Port-au-Prince but we would get off at the border in Jimani. We got on the bus and waited for a little over an hour until they were ready to go. Neither Lacey or I had phone service so we paid someone a few dollars to use their phone to call Jay and tell him we were on the bus but not sure when it would be leaving. We had packed some snacks and pb&j sandwiches but there were numerous vendors around so we got some more water and a couple of apples to add to our stash. The bus was nice, air conditioned etc... We pulled out at 9 AM.  Very soon the music was turned up and we were rocking! The roads in the Dominican are very nice so we were cruising along nicely. We made several stops but they weren't long, two stops at bus stations where we got additional passengers. The bus ride was approximately 6 hours but only cost $25 per person. Jay and Lacey's  husband Ilomy were waiting for us at the border. They had been there a couple of hours already and multiple buses had passed, and we weren't on any of them. Apparently our bus was the last one across and they were losing hope that we would get through that day. We didn't have cell service so had been unable to update them on where we were. Actually crossing the border with the bus was fairly easy and did not take long. It took longer for Lacey and I to get our passports stamped on the Haiti side than anything else. Now it was time for Haiti roads, no more cruising! Rather time to start dodging pot holes and washed out places! Envision a freeway in America  (roads in the Dominican Republic) versus continuously traversing for 2 hours the worst area while jeeping in the Grand Canyon (road to Oriani). We arrived safely at about 7:30 in the evening.  There were numerous little girls jumping up and down and screaming on the front porch when they realized we had arrived. 

     That's all for now.