Travels to the Carribbean

March 20-2023: Blog Post – Places I want to take my son

Dear Liel,

Today is your 15th birthday. I hope it is amazing for you. I wish I could celebrate with you and just give you a hug and see your sweet face. I miss you a ton.

Well, I just got back from the Dominican Republic. I’ve been bringing Douglas the mountain goat on my adventures as a stand in for all the places I want to bring you someday. You would have had such fun.

I went to Santiago, which is NOT a touristy place. It is where the real people live, in the real community. I was the ONLY tourist. First I caught the taxi, and that went OK. Then I figured out you could catch Uber, and that was much better because we had communication difficulties. I finally figured out that the Dominican language is a combination of regular Spanish and Italian, they didn’t understand lots of things that I said. But Uber was a good choice.

The first day I arrived it was so hot! I went to the restaurant right next door and watched what the locals ate and then I got the same thing. It was so good! I got red beans and rice, they put it in like a soup bowl, pack it in and then put it on the plate. They did this same thing all over town. They had what was either fried fish or chicken strips, I couldn’t tell, but ALL the locals got it. I got a cheese empanada (meat packet), and a salad. It was very good. And a beer. I sat out in the sunshine and ate it up.

The next day was the day I got the taxi to the Monumento a los Heroes de la Restauracion, it was what the city was known for. Well, of course, it looked different from the pictures online. There were very few people. But it had the most amazing view of the city and the mountains. This a mountainous region. I got the Uber back to the hotel and went out to dinner at the Cuban Grille and I walked to the grocery store.

After that I got a horse drawn carriage ride. I think I got ripped off, but it was still worth it. They charged me $60 US which is a fortune. I realized my error was that the price wasn’t set before we took off. Now I know for future. The ride was on a rickety metal carriage, and the driver told me all about the city as he drove me all around the town – all in Spanish. I understood some of it. The local middle school, Escuela, was getting out at the time and there were so many students in their yellow uniforms. They all waved and said hello. After that, some guy came up to me and wanted to take a picture of me in front of the monument, like holding it with my hand. Anyway, afterwards, he told me he wanted $10 US for his services. I told him no and walked away.

The next day I went downtown to the Mercato downtown. It was pretty fun. It was similar to the ones we had been to in Mexico, but because this isn’t a touristy place, there were very few souveniers around town. I only found your Tshirt and a magnet for Grandma at the airport. I walked through the mercato and then walked around town and got something to eat. I really enjoyed walking around the city.

For many other days I walked around the city. It was so fun to just start somewhere and then walk to see different sites and try different foods. One day I went to the mall and just walked around. It was fun. I didn’t buy a single thing, but I enjoyed getting my steps in.

I made some friends – the optical shop outside of the hotel, the ladies said hello to me and called me mi amor. One guy I met at the Cuban Grill restaurant. The taxi driver gave me his number to call when I needed a ride but that didn’t really work out. Some of the Uber drivers would talk to me and one was studying medicine and doing Uber on the side. Most did not speak English and some just a little.

At my hotel they had free breakfast every morning. There were 3 choices. One was the local special, which was so good! The breakfast lady was always so happy when I ordered it. It was this thing called mangu, which is like mashed potatoes with maybe potato and banana but not sweet. Then some kind of meat, maybe grilled cheese, fried egg, juice and some amazing coffee. The other was a sandwich, but in the local style, also amazing. Then an omlette, but I didn’t get that because I’m not a fan of omlettes.

I had a good trip. On the way back, we were delayed by an hour and a half, leaving Santiago, because we had to change the tire on the plane, so I missed my connecting flight. The last flight to Seattle on any airline at 6 p.m. So United put me in a hotel for the night in Newark, New Jersey, but I had to be up at 3 a.m. because my flight was at 6:30. Anyway, I got back and home and settled back in.

Douglas can’t wait for our next adventure and hopes to be reunited with you soon.

Love, Mom

Travelingteacher.me