An adventrous weekend!

I had an AWESOME time this weekend! I woke up early on Saturday and took a bus to the northern coast of the DR called Samana. Of course, the bus had to break down along the way. And of course, there was no cell phone reception as we were driving through the hilly jungle on a dirt road! I finally got in- 4 hrs late- to Samana and decided not to have too many more adventures that day. Instead, I headed to my hotel in the sleepy fishing village of Las Galeras using the public transportation (called a gua-gua, it's a really small minivan that they cram about 10-15 people in, and sometimes live chickens!). Although the trip was exhausting and at times stressful everything was totally worth it once I got into Las Galeras. My hotel was heavenly- huge, safe, clean, warm water in the showers, overlooking the ocean, with a balcony... it would be a great hotel room in the US but it was absolutely INCREDIBLE in DR terms and in my mind after living here!

The town of Las Galeras was incredible! It's a one-road fishing town where everyone is friendly and no one is ever in a rush to do anything. I strolled on down to the most amazing beach I've ever seen and took a glorious swim in the warm crystal blue ocean. When I got out, a man walked towards me and asked me if I would like him to cut down a pineapple or coconut from one of the tress on the beach for a snack- don't mind if he does! I spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing, taking tons of pictures, feeling so darn lucky to be working in a country this beautiful when you get away from the city! I can't wait to show you all the pictures- not a bad day of work!!

Since it's a fishing town, the food was all incredible and heavenly and inexpensive. I spent the evening talking to people who walked by my table under the palm trees, listening to music locals were playing, and sipping fresh juice. It was pretty darn awesome. I can't say it enough- this place was paradise. I could easily see myself never ever leaving here. The biggest problem I had here was overcoming my inertia and strong desire to just never do anything ever again.

The next morning, I went whale watching!!! It was awesome!! I got to see humpback whales several times- incredible!!!!! Definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Every year humpback whales travel to this area. My tour guide was the woman who first realized that humpback whales migrated to Samana between January and February. She came to work as a scuba instructor, found a humpback whale on a dive, and never left; now it's 25 years later and she doesn't miss the snow in the US at all! How amazing is it that I got to watch the whales with such a legend?! I took tons of pictures and can't wait to share them with you! In the meantime, check out her website for more info about the amazing trip!

http://www.whalesamana.com/home.html
http://dr1.com/travel/special/whales.shtml

I also did some touristy things in the villages I spent time in this weekend. I bought an awesome painting from a local artist. I also bought David some hand-rolled Dominican cigars to share with the guys on our wedding day! :)

As I've learned so many times here in the DR, Dominican time is a bit different and it's best not to plan your day out too well. My 4-5 hr whale watching trip was 7.5 hrs and despite frequent reassurance not to worry about time from the locals, I was less than 30 seconds from missing the last bus back to the capital! I came back to the hostel super excited. My first weekend exploring the country on my own was a huge success! I had an amazing time and better yet, I had an adventure that gave me tons of confidence with exploring the country and speaking conversational Dominican (which is very different than conversational Spanish!).

Perhaps the best part of my weekend was a phone call I got from David. As our Valentine's day present, he bought tickets to visit me in the DR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have had trouble sleeping since I found out the great news- I just can't wait to show him off and show him the DR! I'm excited for all the fun trips we will have! My biggest challenge is going to be getting David to be patient with Dominican time here- he's even more of an itinerary type A personality than me! I get to see David next week! Yay yay yay!!!