We had to be in StoDgo early Wednesday morning for a meeting with Aduanas, as well as some business meetings. We left Jarabacoa at around 7:15am to be at the main aduanas office at 9:30am. We made it on time.
As we neared the city, the weather was getting rough. Not windy but wet. Good thing was there weren't many people on the streets.
By ther time we got to Lincoln/Kennedy, the rain was intense and didn't let up all day.
After Aduanas we had a meeting near Luperon & Independencia. OMG. Water was 12" deep on Independencia, but the SUV slogged through to La Sirena. After buying some vittles we went back down Independencia...and the water was 2+' deep just past the Banco Popular parking lot. I saw a moto stop when the water covered his wheels. There was a dead small car on the north lane with water to 6" below the driver's window. We drove through the bank parking lot to get to our meeting in the apartment complex behind it.
4 hours later it was worse. The small car had water half-way to the top of the window. We had to drive through 18" of water to Luperon to another meeting. Around Luperon and Bteancourt, the road was completely covered, including the median. I went through it anyway and wish I hadn't...the water was really, really deep and we prayed to the Druid God's the car didn't die. Prayers answered. We had to go back down Luperon later, and decided to forget it.
Early evening we needed food and everything was closed, even the Chinese places. The rain was still coming down in buckets. We were close to the CZ and malecon, so we drove west on the malecon, standing water everywhere, and found Adrian Tropical open. We went inside with the help of guards armed with umbrellas.
Inside we met a group of 4 young brothers from New Orleans who had just gotten to town for a week of partying and vacation, 3 LSU grads and a U of FL grad (one had taken a business law course from my step-sister at LSU, a small world indeed.) We had dinner with them. They were bummed about the weather since they'd planned their trip for 2 months. They didn't know diddly about the DR and were planning to go to Punta Cana. I asked why PC, and they said it's the only place they knew of. After figuring out they weren't looking for the AI experience and they were *really* looking for parties and girls, I steered them toward the NC and Sosua, giving them a little insight to the scene there. Yup. that's what they were looking for and I'm sure they found it.:cheeky:
I also suggested a night in Santiago for some different flavor, maybe staying at Matum or Aloha Sol. They were most appreciative.
We headed down the malecon toward our favorite cabana near Luperon. The rain had slowed, and we were surprised the water had receeded somewhat. There were just a couple of deep areas, one where there had been a fender bender in deeper water, causing a snarl. We got to out destination with few problems.
The next morning it was completely dry, even where there had been 2'+ of water just a few hours before. Kinda surprising.
Interesting day, to say the least.
As we neared the city, the weather was getting rough. Not windy but wet. Good thing was there weren't many people on the streets.
By ther time we got to Lincoln/Kennedy, the rain was intense and didn't let up all day.
After Aduanas we had a meeting near Luperon & Independencia. OMG. Water was 12" deep on Independencia, but the SUV slogged through to La Sirena. After buying some vittles we went back down Independencia...and the water was 2+' deep just past the Banco Popular parking lot. I saw a moto stop when the water covered his wheels. There was a dead small car on the north lane with water to 6" below the driver's window. We drove through the bank parking lot to get to our meeting in the apartment complex behind it.
4 hours later it was worse. The small car had water half-way to the top of the window. We had to drive through 18" of water to Luperon to another meeting. Around Luperon and Bteancourt, the road was completely covered, including the median. I went through it anyway and wish I hadn't...the water was really, really deep and we prayed to the Druid God's the car didn't die. Prayers answered. We had to go back down Luperon later, and decided to forget it.
Early evening we needed food and everything was closed, even the Chinese places. The rain was still coming down in buckets. We were close to the CZ and malecon, so we drove west on the malecon, standing water everywhere, and found Adrian Tropical open. We went inside with the help of guards armed with umbrellas.
Inside we met a group of 4 young brothers from New Orleans who had just gotten to town for a week of partying and vacation, 3 LSU grads and a U of FL grad (one had taken a business law course from my step-sister at LSU, a small world indeed.) We had dinner with them. They were bummed about the weather since they'd planned their trip for 2 months. They didn't know diddly about the DR and were planning to go to Punta Cana. I asked why PC, and they said it's the only place they knew of. After figuring out they weren't looking for the AI experience and they were *really* looking for parties and girls, I steered them toward the NC and Sosua, giving them a little insight to the scene there. Yup. that's what they were looking for and I'm sure they found it.:cheeky:
I also suggested a night in Santiago for some different flavor, maybe staying at Matum or Aloha Sol. They were most appreciative.
We headed down the malecon toward our favorite cabana near Luperon. The rain had slowed, and we were surprised the water had receeded somewhat. There were just a couple of deep areas, one where there had been a fender bender in deeper water, causing a snarl. We got to out destination with few problems.
The next morning it was completely dry, even where there had been 2'+ of water just a few hours before. Kinda surprising.
Interesting day, to say the least.