Back on the Move!

So I came home from the Dominican Republic to finish cleaning out my house and found out I was sick... very sick.  The good news is that I was sick at home and not sick while in another country.  I guess I need to be a little more careful about what I eat and drink?  This dish is what I think was the culprit.  It was delicious but I don't know what I was thinking eating ham!!!  But fried ham and tostones are gooood!

So the Dominican Republic is the first place that the website “couch surfing” actually worked for me.  And I shared a bunk bed instead of a couch. Couch surfing is a website that you have to make a donation to be a part of and  “get verified” but essentially what it is, is a free place to stay and a new friend to hang out with wherever you end up.  So people in all countries host travelers and when they themselves go traveling they can also get hosted by other people from couch surfing.   Well I had submitted a lot of requests from different places throughout my vacation but the DR is the first place where someone said yes.  I have found it’s kind of a hard thing to get started on because you need people on there to vouch for you that you are a decent person and not a serial killer…. :D  so I now have 2 couch surfing friends who “vouch” for me…. And hopefully more to come!

So my "host" in the DR was Onice Lopez.  She was super cool and tons of fun to hang out with.  She lives with her family of 2 brothers and a mom.  Vanderley (17), Mijarex (16) and Nelly.  Onice plays the guitar and violin.  She is in a rock band.... pretty cool!  The brothers also play guitar and are really really good!  So free place to stay, free food, and free entertainment!  If only every stop was like this!

The first thing we did my first day there was visit a friend of my Brothers named Bolivar Compres (sp.?) He and my brother served their missions in Santiago Dominican Republic.  Great guy, spoke really good english and had a great sarcastic sense of humor.  That's something you don't always find in hispanics (from my experience)  I just caught him on his lunch break.  He had no idea I was coming or else I probably could have spent the whole time with him.  But I did have a great time with the Lopez family.  I'm sure I'll stay with Bolivar if I ever make it back there with my brother.  While we were there at the mall Onice broke her sandal so I bought her some new ones.

The next thing we did was hit the beach!  We went to Boca Chicka, it was great!  Onice left me alone for 5 minutes while she changed and when she came back a local vendor had conned me into some fresh seafood.  Well… by the time he was done with us he asked me for like 40$  and I was like… no way!  Well Onice threw a fit and we got away for about 15 dollars.  So we decided to store our wallets and other things at a local scuba shop but Onice forgot to leave her sandals there so she just left them on the beach.  Well we played in the water for awhile but when we got back her sandals had been stolen!  We went looking for them and she was sad cause she was convineced they were gone forever.  We kept looking and while she talked with the police I wandered into a painting store.  Well after looking around awhile I told the store owner that I had to “go be with that girl out front by the police”  So the shop keeper went outside with me and called over this really pretty girl (who was sitting at a table by the police) and she came over and introduced herself to me.  Then she asked what I was “looking for”  haha!  I said… no no no no no…. I meant I need to go help my friend who was talking to the police find her sandals.  I left kinda chuckling.  The owner told me that next time I come to the beach to come alone!  Well eventually we found the little kid that stole the sandals and all was well!

The beach took us about 1.5 hours to get to from down town by public busses and about another hour to our next destination.  We went and saw chapels and museums all about the early DR and Columbus ETC.   Very very cool to be around stuff from that time period.  We saw some street performers, walked into a street boxing match (this thing was official!) , and even found like the most romantic little place to eat… well.. I thought it looked romantic… you be the judge by the pictures.

That night we went back to the house changed and went out o the discoteca.  It was tons of fun and different than any other places I have been dancing.  The pictures didn’t turn out well… it was dark there…. But great experience to go dancing in another country
:D.