Berzin's Excellent Adventure Pt. I...

Berzin

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Nov 17, 2004
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Arrived in Santiago and was picked up no problems.

Got to where I was staying in La Vega and took some time to chill out and have some lunch-


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Some views from our friend's apartment-

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Then off to run some errands. Unfortunately I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted in the lovely city of Santiago, but I'll make sure to do that on my next trip.

Some scenes of the Cibao, a beautiful place. This particular photo is of a local river in La Vega. It's hard to determine from the angle, but the drop down to the water is quite a ways down, and during the last bad storm the water reached where I was standing, and where I was it was about waste-deep. Very hard to imagine, but we visited someone who lives in the area and saw the water marks on the walls of their home-


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Some more photos of the surrounding landscape-

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Someone who races bicycles that I know had mentioned how the t-shirts they hand out at races were beginning to take up too much space in his closet. I suggested he send them to me so I could hand them out, and he sent me a box full of stuff-

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I called Chip and he arranged to help me hand them out to some Haitians who live in his neighborhood-

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Had enough time to enjoy a beer, courtesy of Chip. Sorry Presidente, but my preference is now Brahma-

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Next it was off to see Hillbilly to drop off some tea from Zabar's in Manhattan. Always great to see Hillbilly, who graciously offered to hang out whenever we could coordinate our schedules.

A local Haitian in La Vega named Robinson, who runs errands for the family and always comes by to say hello also got a t-shirt-


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The report will be in parts, due to the fact that it takes time to pick out the photos I want to post and my computer for some reason is running extremely slow and it's taking forever to post them, even though I left it off and no one used it the whole time I was gone.
 
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Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Nice shots!! They might need resizing for faster posting?? MMMM, that tea is sooo good.

Blessings,

HB
 

Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
Jan 1, 2002
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It is nice to see you are having a goodtime. Good to see poster's face... Enjoy your trip !
 

Berzin

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Berzin's Excellent Adventure Pt. II...

Carnival Celebration in La Vega-Sunday March 13, 2011.

I thought this celebration takes place every Sunday in February, so I was lucky to be there to get some shots. A great time was had by all.


Television interviews right before the event-
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The crowd gathers...
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Cool looking vehicle-
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Young ladies-
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The parade participants-
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Moca

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Great pictures!

I am glad to see you had a wonderful time.

Thanks for sharing (and making us homesick).

ATB,

Moca
 

rice&beans

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May 16, 2010
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You're good Berzin...I gotta give ya that..........like badpiece, I'm now searching for a flight.......


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51418611@N05/5545167492/" title="pushing_buttons by bocachica64, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5545167492_9806e63a85.jpg" width="320" height="320" alt="pushing_buttons" /></a>

Great shots!!!!!!!

Thanx...........
 
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Berzin

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...and the crowd disperses.
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A tigre taking offense at the paparazzi...
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Hanging out at El Naranjo...
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That's it for Pt. 1. Hope everyone enjoyed the photos.
 

Jetblue Flight 811

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Oct 17, 2010
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wow

so.......dime....just how long is carnival? I thought it ends in Februrary? I was in DR march 6-14 man i woulda loved to check out La Vega
 

Berzin

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so.......dime....just how long is carnival? I thought it ends in February?

I too thought it was only during the 4 Sundays of February, so I have no idea why there was this event going on in March.

From what I was told the best day to be in attendance is the third Sunday in February, but this one was not bad at all. I found it quite excellent.

As an aside, anyone complaining that getting hit by those devils hurts and leaves marks are wussies. I got pummeled repeatedly being in the middle of the action, and nary a bruise or a sore muscle anywhere.
 

RonS

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Oct 18, 2004
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As an aside, anyone complaining that getting hit by those devils hurts and leaves marks are wussies. I got pummeled repeatedly being in the middle of the action, and nary a bruise or a sore muscle anywhere.

Ahh! So the Brugal Extra Viejo worked! lol. Great pictures! Thanks for sharing those great pictures!
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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As an aside, anyone complaining that getting hit by those devils hurts and leaves marks are wussies. I got pummeled repeatedly being in the middle of the action, and nary a bruise or a sore muscle anywhere.
Except not all of the bladders are the same.

The carnival organizers "check" the bladders for softness. They have some criteria.

But almost every group has one or two bladders that were not inspected. Their bladder IS very hard, like a small bowling ball, and WILL hurt.

The reason they have one is because as they walk down the street folks don't know which ghoul has the hard bladder. And because of that folks don't get into the groups for fear of encountering the hard bladder weilded by the group "enforcer." It's an enforcement strategy: one doesn't know who has the hard bladder, so assume they all do and stay away.

That said, if the group has hired security or is sponsored by a larger corporation chances are they have no hard bladder because they're playing by the rules. But you know how rules are in the DR: most are merely optional suggestions.

I've been whacked with bladders in the past. But this year, with the better camera, I got into the middle of many groups...and paraders, not the ones close to me, but from other places within the group...would single me out and whack me with a hard bladder, chasing me to the side. Repeatedly.

"Wussie" and "bruise" are in different universes. And this year I had multiple bruises...for the first time in seven carnival years. And this year some of the whacks actually hurt...and I'm not wuss. Two of our guests this year got bruised. One female had nasty bruised in a 6" x 9" area on her thigh.

So a rule of thumb I learned: if you stand on the side you'll prolly get whacked with a soft bladder, a lot of noise but little pain or damage. If you get inside the group, expect the hard bladder. It's how they keep the young boys trying to show their toughness and balls at bay.

This parade I saw a guy holding his iPhone try protecting his butt with the hand holding the phone get whacked by what I assume was a hard bladder. The glass front was completely shattered. He was quite upset.

Our medical director from La Vega who worked the ER at Juan Bosch hospital said they routinely treated people for broken hands, fingers, wrists and lower arms from parade whacks. Soft bladders won't do that.

Just beware. Not all bladders are created equal...
 

El Tigre

El Tigre de DR1 - Moderator
Jan 23, 2003
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Berzin you should go to the cave of Las Fieras the best group in the entire carnival. Theirs always hurts and leave marks. I had a black and blue for 3 days :-(