I procrastinated writing or posting anything partly because that is "who I am" but mostly because I doubted that my words could ever adequately or accurately reflect my experience. Many have traveled abroad and seen much worse conditions than I did on this trip, but the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions were my own; in real time and in Real 3-D. They are not anymore real or more important than your or anyone else's experience--except to me, because they're mine.
Melanie and I arrived at Santo Domingo airport later than planned at 10:30 p.m. As I departed our aircraft it felt as if someone had wrapped a hot, wet blanket around me. My t-shirt was spotted with wetness within only a few minutes of arrival and I knew that I had better get used to it. I was not to be disappointed--the Dominican heat and humidity assured me of this during my week long visit.
After claiming our bags we were greeted by George, the taxi driver, who had been sent by the orphanage to take us from the Santo Domingo airport to San Pedro, where we would be staying at the local Howard Johnson for the night. George spoke some English and engaged us in warm conversation during the 25 mile trip from the airport to our hotel. He was sure to inform us that his son was in Arizona at a spring training camp for baseball. The Dominican is the home of many baseball players, including the most famous Sammy Sosa. Having a successful baseball player in the family was clearly considered prestigious, and as I discovered later, a way out of poverty--sounds familiar.
During the ride to the hotel I became distracted by one sight in particular. We passed several small motorcycles that they call moto conches. What struck me about this was how many there were on the road--many, many more than we would see in the US, and even more striking was that some of them were carrying up to four people and I was told that they can carry more--and not a helmet in sight. It was not a surprise when I met someone the following day with some scrapes and bruises to his face resulting from a recent moto conch accident. I think I forgot to mention the "rules of the road." --thats because the main rule seems to be to "ignore the rules."
Welcome to the Dominican Republic!
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