MY SEMANA SANTA EXPERIENCE--- YES, I yelled. No, I did not drink too much Dominican coffee tonight. Or mamajuana. Just a tale of my 13 day experience, starting on Good Friday arrival, 4pm in Los Corrales. The first stop was to a big (medium) grocery store outside of the airport. Got what I needed for Habichuaela con dulce, rum, beer and some food for about 5 days. Check. Drove to our condo which was a FKN traffic jam about a mile from the beach. Crazier than LA traffic. Our "rental agent" was on a moped with her beautifully dreadlocked husband cussing and screaming at all of the locals to move the FK out of the way.....then saying we would have to stay in another hotel/condo that night because we couldn't get to our unit. I said....I will walk and so will the rest of us, and so she and our taxi got us to the "pirate" ship party entrance (I wondered at the time why there were Pirates with lunchboxes) and we walked about a quarter mile, dragging our suitcases and endless groceries across a beach of drunk, happy, adults and kids passing rum in the bottles and yelling. I was tired but jealous. Sort of...
Our place was great, altho the music from the bars raged until all hours. Part smelled like sewage. That was okay because I expected that to a point. We met MANY locals, just by what you all said--saying some Spanish and a friendly hello, sharing beer and rum and conversing about nothing really-----just smiling and blending in and not forcing things. The locals were piranhas...my 16 year old 5-9 daughter was a commodity...she is a tall, pretty reddish blond, so you can imagine.
Im glad I kept a close eye and didn't drink too much. The first few days. I am in a foreign country nonetheless, so I have to have a good head. I did when I was in public. The walk to the town (main town of Bavaro)--which we drove, was like a meatfest. We were 5 girls going at dusk to an atm----um fkn stupid and note to self---don't wear beach clothes. Wait...don't go at all at dusk....
Throughout the week, we partied with locals on the beach, with some Canadians, a lady from the US, a Dominican family from La Romana, Jesus from Puerto Plata, a family of 5 boys from Punta Cana (all hardworking and very respectful---worked at the local restaurant and had minimal education, but some of the nicest boys I have ever met).
Day 4--- I break my foot. Yes, no drinking this day actually. I drove a car this day (yes, I drove), and didn't drink because I can't drive and avoid 8,000,000 motorcycles and schoolbusses in the wrong lane..........come home SOBER and step off of the balcony wrong and break my foot. Dominicans for some reason all want to medicinally message my foot. Not sure if it helped or made worse, but their inclination was to massage the **** outta my foot. I did not go to a hospital only because there was nothing to do but put a boot on it.
The rest of the trip we spent cooking, bleaching food and dishes, no one got sick, treated bug bites, a swollen foot, cooked Habichueala con dulce (was GOOD), went to Bayahibe, Playa Blanca (pretty but restaurant was too touristy for us), and our best day was eating fish out of an ice chest and drinking mamajuana and rum out of a shared bottle with a wonderful Dominican family at Macao beach. We partied with this family and are now friend on facebook, planning another trip. Our kids loved and played with their kids, and the Spanish we know (which is different from the Dominican Spanish), ended up to be all we needed.
I loved the fish and lobster cooked in the car tire bbq's on the beach, the head blasting merengue and bachata and the pushy sunglass guys. I learned "Yo vivo aqui"
The Dominican sucks on so many levels---the education, although it seems to be getting better----is so bad, yet it is special. The prostitution house was burned down while we were there. The guys walking down the streets and freeways with guns are either hunting people or animals. I don't want to know. The driving was a blast but not for everyone. Glad to do it once. Hired a car after. I came home knowing I am better off for staying there and for knowing the people I met. And damn it....I didn't hide one single freakin easter egg..........................
Thanks from the bottom of my inexperienced heart for this forum, the thread and the honesty.