Let me attempt to write up a mixed trip report on my last two trips to DR...hopefully it will be as good as ever!
Jan 22-31 FIRST TRIP...
I had met through the 'net this guy from a TV show in DR, he picked me up at the airport and we had made plans to go see Las Aguilas-Licey, and during the week he would introduce me to different radio and tv people so I could continue my quest to find a job and move to SDQ.
The Sofitel Nicolas de Ovando in Zona Colonial is a gorgeous hotel, I had a beautiful room w/breakfast for only $55 a night, because my daughter used to work for the co. and she got me a great deal!
Sat. night went to the game with Roberto, then to eat and back to the hotel. He had 'something to do' (at around 1:00 a.m.!! I wonder who she was!!!)
Sun. he took me to El Conde, then to pick up his wife and a friend and we went to eat 'Chicharrones in Villa Mella'...(those pics are in the Media Gallery...)
At around 5 pm he dropped me off at Jan's house, and I was finally ready to go have some fun!!!
Jan and Felix took me to the Colmado, where we met some of Jan's friends and were drinking and enjoying ourselves for a while there...But...I wanted to go dancing...so Felix (who had a car) took us to TeleDebate...I know that's not the name of the place, but it's what everyone calls it! It's on 27 de Febrero and M?ximo G?mez...Funny enough, it was the same place my friend FrankyLover took me to have lunch on one of my other trips...Talk about a small world...only this time...they had a band playing, the place was packed and we had a blast!!!
Jan hooked me up with a cute little boy (22) that is in one of the baseball academies there (he already had conversations with the Boston Red Sox, maybe we'll see him playing for them one of these days)...He kept looking at me, but was somehow shy and I was dying to dance...so Jan talked to him, in her 'broken Dominican Spanish'...and he was my dance partner for most of the night...
I called FrankieLover, told him where we were, and he came over with a friend...I danced with him too, after he put the girl in a cab to send her back home...I think he had other ideas in mind...but he wasn't counting on me!
Monday, Roberto went MIA...he couldn't come to pick me up at all...kept calling to tell me 'later, later'...but later never came...
Jan, Felix, a friend of Felix and I decided we wanted to go dancing again, so it was back to TeleDebate...
As soon as we hit the place and sat at our table, I noticed this guy seating in a table across from us...alone...but all of a sudden, this handsome, tall young man came to sit with him...We kind of locked eyes for about 2 minutes, but then I went to dance with Felix's (ugly) friend...
On my way back to the table, I could see him checking me out...and I couldn't take my eyes off of him...
This went on for about 3 HOURS!!! I was dying, but I knew as long as there was another guy at our table, he would not come over to ask me to dance...Soooo...I told Jan, she told Felix and he took care of the rest...
Finally, he comes over and takes me dancing...We clicked right away...dancing bachata and merengue...4 songs in a row...He asked if I wanted to sit with them at their table, but I said it would not be nice if I left Jan alone, so I invited them to sit at our table...
His name is Tony, his friend is Dickson...(Dickson is visiting, he lives in Spain)
At around 4:00 a.m, he tells me he needs to go home because he works at 9 a.m....He has his own car, and offers to take me back to the hotel...just to drop me off, Dickson is with him...and he wants to see me again the rest of my time in SDQ...
I politely decline his offer, and we exchange phone numbers...He wants me to call him in the morning so we could go see a game that Tuesday night...
Jan, Felix, the friend and I go to have 'breakfast'...and then they take me to the hotel...
Tue. is very cloudy, I can't even go to the pool, so I order lunch (woke up really late, since I didn't get back to the hotel until 6:00 a.m.) and then Tony calls...Wow!
We make plans for him to pick me up later on, to go see a baseball game...He's also an aguilucho...
Roberto never calls, or shows up...He had mentioned something about a government job he was supposed to interview for, so I figure maybe that's what he's doing...
I call Jan, she's also spending the day in bed...I meet up with her...(I can't believe how easily I found my way around Zona Colonial from the hotel to her apt.) at around 5:00 p.m....We go to the colmado, talk to Rodolfo....(who apparently likes me a lot!) and wait for Tony to come pick me up...Jan reminds me of 'dominican time'....he had said around 8:00 p.m....10 minutes to 8 he shows up...we are both in shock! A punctual dominican! Another WOW!!!
Tony and I go to watch the game at a sports bar, he buys me some 'pastelitos' since I hadn't had dinner, and we watch the game...but it's getting a little boring...Las Aguilas are losing, again...so we decide to go dancing...to the place were we met...
The lady in the bathroom recognizes me, three days in a row, and laughs...she asks me if I met anyone and I tell her yes!!!
We dance till almost 2 a.m., then he brings me back to the hotel....Some little kisses, and we say goodbye!
At this point, I was unsure whether to stay for the whole week or not, maybe I could leave on Thursday, and save some money...Roberto is not coming through with his offerings, and I was really thinking it was a waste of time...
Wed. morning, early, Tony calls me again...he wants to see me that afternoon...he works till 6, but can pick me up around 8 again...
At 7 he calls again to tell me that his friend Dickson had borrowed the car, and was not back yet...but he still wants to see me...I tell him that I could have dinner with Jan and wait for him but not too late...At 10 p.m. he calls to say he has the car, but I tell him it's too late and I'm already doing something with Jan...( We were just walking around Zona Colonial, talking and telling each other our life stories)...He's dissapointed, and asks to see me on Thursday...Jan convinces me to leave the hotel and come stay the rest of the week with her...so I agree...I really don't want to leave DR...I know I could have a lot of fun just being with Jan, around the colmado and eating the wonderful 'chimis' that Ceasar makes...
Thurs. Tony calls early in the morning, for sure we are going out that night...he invites me to the movies to go see "Los locos tambien piensan"...
I love the idea, haven't been to the movies with a guy, on a date, in ages...
He arrives early, around 7:30...since the movie doesn't start till 9:30 we have time to go walk around el Malecon, and get to know each other...
I tell him about me, and he tells me about his life...He's 28, single, never been married, no kids anywhere...lives with his Mom, who's raising his cousins (the mom lives in Spain since the divorce, making money to support her kids) she's here now visiting, along with his grandma and an aunt who live in Pennsylvania...
He bought the car from his friend when he moved to Spain, he studied Marketing and English, so we talk in English 'to practice'...Not bad!!!
He doesn't smoke, loves to dance, doesn't have a girlfriend (broke up with the last one, who was also older than him, about 6 months ago)...
(I also later found out that he was TWO bank accounts, with money in them that he's saving to buy his mother a house, a passport and no intention of ever leaving DR)
Ok...so we go into the theater, holding hands, he buys the tickets, popcorn and soda for both, and would not take any money from me!!! Could this be possible???
The movie is a little funny, but nothing out of this world, I just enjoy the fact that I'm in DR on a movie date!!! :bandit: Holding hands, and in the company of a young really cute stud...!!!
Ok...this is getting long...I think I'll write part II tomorrow...
Can you wait??? I promise...it gets better....
Jan 22-31 FIRST TRIP...
I had met through the 'net this guy from a TV show in DR, he picked me up at the airport and we had made plans to go see Las Aguilas-Licey, and during the week he would introduce me to different radio and tv people so I could continue my quest to find a job and move to SDQ.
The Sofitel Nicolas de Ovando in Zona Colonial is a gorgeous hotel, I had a beautiful room w/breakfast for only $55 a night, because my daughter used to work for the co. and she got me a great deal!
Sat. night went to the game with Roberto, then to eat and back to the hotel. He had 'something to do' (at around 1:00 a.m.!! I wonder who she was!!!)
Sun. he took me to El Conde, then to pick up his wife and a friend and we went to eat 'Chicharrones in Villa Mella'...(those pics are in the Media Gallery...)
At around 5 pm he dropped me off at Jan's house, and I was finally ready to go have some fun!!!
Jan and Felix took me to the Colmado, where we met some of Jan's friends and were drinking and enjoying ourselves for a while there...But...I wanted to go dancing...so Felix (who had a car) took us to TeleDebate...I know that's not the name of the place, but it's what everyone calls it! It's on 27 de Febrero and M?ximo G?mez...Funny enough, it was the same place my friend FrankyLover took me to have lunch on one of my other trips...Talk about a small world...only this time...they had a band playing, the place was packed and we had a blast!!!
Jan hooked me up with a cute little boy (22) that is in one of the baseball academies there (he already had conversations with the Boston Red Sox, maybe we'll see him playing for them one of these days)...He kept looking at me, but was somehow shy and I was dying to dance...so Jan talked to him, in her 'broken Dominican Spanish'...and he was my dance partner for most of the night...
I called FrankieLover, told him where we were, and he came over with a friend...I danced with him too, after he put the girl in a cab to send her back home...I think he had other ideas in mind...but he wasn't counting on me!
Monday, Roberto went MIA...he couldn't come to pick me up at all...kept calling to tell me 'later, later'...but later never came...
Jan, Felix, a friend of Felix and I decided we wanted to go dancing again, so it was back to TeleDebate...
As soon as we hit the place and sat at our table, I noticed this guy seating in a table across from us...alone...but all of a sudden, this handsome, tall young man came to sit with him...We kind of locked eyes for about 2 minutes, but then I went to dance with Felix's (ugly) friend...
On my way back to the table, I could see him checking me out...and I couldn't take my eyes off of him...
This went on for about 3 HOURS!!! I was dying, but I knew as long as there was another guy at our table, he would not come over to ask me to dance...Soooo...I told Jan, she told Felix and he took care of the rest...
Finally, he comes over and takes me dancing...We clicked right away...dancing bachata and merengue...4 songs in a row...He asked if I wanted to sit with them at their table, but I said it would not be nice if I left Jan alone, so I invited them to sit at our table...
His name is Tony, his friend is Dickson...(Dickson is visiting, he lives in Spain)
At around 4:00 a.m, he tells me he needs to go home because he works at 9 a.m....He has his own car, and offers to take me back to the hotel...just to drop me off, Dickson is with him...and he wants to see me again the rest of my time in SDQ...
I politely decline his offer, and we exchange phone numbers...He wants me to call him in the morning so we could go see a game that Tuesday night...
Jan, Felix, the friend and I go to have 'breakfast'...and then they take me to the hotel...
Tue. is very cloudy, I can't even go to the pool, so I order lunch (woke up really late, since I didn't get back to the hotel until 6:00 a.m.) and then Tony calls...Wow!
We make plans for him to pick me up later on, to go see a baseball game...He's also an aguilucho...
Roberto never calls, or shows up...He had mentioned something about a government job he was supposed to interview for, so I figure maybe that's what he's doing...
I call Jan, she's also spending the day in bed...I meet up with her...(I can't believe how easily I found my way around Zona Colonial from the hotel to her apt.) at around 5:00 p.m....We go to the colmado, talk to Rodolfo....(who apparently likes me a lot!) and wait for Tony to come pick me up...Jan reminds me of 'dominican time'....he had said around 8:00 p.m....10 minutes to 8 he shows up...we are both in shock! A punctual dominican! Another WOW!!!
Tony and I go to watch the game at a sports bar, he buys me some 'pastelitos' since I hadn't had dinner, and we watch the game...but it's getting a little boring...Las Aguilas are losing, again...so we decide to go dancing...to the place were we met...
The lady in the bathroom recognizes me, three days in a row, and laughs...she asks me if I met anyone and I tell her yes!!!
We dance till almost 2 a.m., then he brings me back to the hotel....Some little kisses, and we say goodbye!
At this point, I was unsure whether to stay for the whole week or not, maybe I could leave on Thursday, and save some money...Roberto is not coming through with his offerings, and I was really thinking it was a waste of time...
Wed. morning, early, Tony calls me again...he wants to see me that afternoon...he works till 6, but can pick me up around 8 again...
At 7 he calls again to tell me that his friend Dickson had borrowed the car, and was not back yet...but he still wants to see me...I tell him that I could have dinner with Jan and wait for him but not too late...At 10 p.m. he calls to say he has the car, but I tell him it's too late and I'm already doing something with Jan...( We were just walking around Zona Colonial, talking and telling each other our life stories)...He's dissapointed, and asks to see me on Thursday...Jan convinces me to leave the hotel and come stay the rest of the week with her...so I agree...I really don't want to leave DR...I know I could have a lot of fun just being with Jan, around the colmado and eating the wonderful 'chimis' that Ceasar makes...
Thurs. Tony calls early in the morning, for sure we are going out that night...he invites me to the movies to go see "Los locos tambien piensan"...
I love the idea, haven't been to the movies with a guy, on a date, in ages...
He arrives early, around 7:30...since the movie doesn't start till 9:30 we have time to go walk around el Malecon, and get to know each other...
I tell him about me, and he tells me about his life...He's 28, single, never been married, no kids anywhere...lives with his Mom, who's raising his cousins (the mom lives in Spain since the divorce, making money to support her kids) she's here now visiting, along with his grandma and an aunt who live in Pennsylvania...
He bought the car from his friend when he moved to Spain, he studied Marketing and English, so we talk in English 'to practice'...Not bad!!!
He doesn't smoke, loves to dance, doesn't have a girlfriend (broke up with the last one, who was also older than him, about 6 months ago)...
(I also later found out that he was TWO bank accounts, with money in them that he's saving to buy his mother a house, a passport and no intention of ever leaving DR)
Ok...so we go into the theater, holding hands, he buys the tickets, popcorn and soda for both, and would not take any money from me!!! Could this be possible???
The movie is a little funny, but nothing out of this world, I just enjoy the fact that I'm in DR on a movie date!!! :bandit: Holding hands, and in the company of a young really cute stud...!!!
Ok...this is getting long...I think I'll write part II tomorrow...
Can you wait??? I promise...it gets better....