Passporters Expedition 2009 - Cabarete, Dominican Republic

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Mon., August 10, 2009 - Pitstop in Sosua before going to Cabarete

Our four hour bus ride from Santo Domingo was very comfortable and relaxing. The tour bus temperature was set perfectly, the seats reclined and everyone on board was easy going. My sister sat next to her husband and a young man was kind enough to exchange seats with me so that I could sit next to my cousin. The scenery during the entire ride was of green country side (except for a quick pass through Santiago), which was a nice change from being in the city.

Upon our arrival in Sosua, a driver picked us up at a busy bus stop and drove us to the Amber Guardian management office so that we could pay the balance due on our townhome rental and pick up the keys. After we agreed on the balance, the manager gave the driver the townhome keys and told us that we could give him the rental fee directly. Here's where the fun begins. The first order of business was to get cash out of an ATM. The driver took us to a plaza that had three banks in close proximity to each other. Every bank denied us withdrawing funds for different reasons! My sister found out that Chase had put some sort of security lock on her debit card and once they removed it, she was good to go. Me on the other hand didn't have anything wrong with my account and debit card, according to a Wells Fargo phone banker. The representative couldn't understand why the ATMs wouldn't accept my request and told me to just keep trying different banks. Well I reached my breaking point after two hours of this nonsense of trying the local ATMs multiple times, in the extremely hot sun and humid air, and thinking that I lost my passport during the process! I used all of my cash on hand to pay my part of the rent and decided to try to get more money later at another ATM in Cabarete. If you plan to visit the Dominican Republic, then carry plenty of cash. Few places take debit/credit cards and the ATMs are very fickle.

It was a relief to enter our townhome and kick back after so much running around. However, we needed to go to the supermercado to stock up for the next few days. Our neighborhood, Callejon de la Loma was centrally located and within walking distance to all of the places that we frequented during our stay in Cabarete. We asked a local motorconcho driver where the nearest grocery store was and he directed us to Supermercado La Rosa. We had a great shopping experience because it was easy to find what we needed and then we had a fast check out because the store wasn't crowded. Actually, it felt like the store was opened just for us! Furthermore, the owner was very nice. She arranged for a motorconcho driver to deliver our groceries to our front door for free, so that we wouldn't have to carry them home. We even met and conversed briefly with Jorge Espaillat, the deputy mayor. Later, we learned that he lived right across the street from our townhome when we saw him hosting a neighborhood meeting. Our first night, we feasted on chicken curry and vegetables over rice, prepared by brother-in-law who is a natural born chef. It was delicious and we had some left over for later.

Tues., August 11, 2009 - Volunteering at The DREAM Project

The DREAM Project school was only a ten minute walk from our townhome. We went to the school at 8 AM looking for Jonathan, the Director of Development. Massiel a teacher for the school informed us that he wasn't in. She reached him on the phone and discovered that he was at the DREAM Project main office. Massiel introduced us to another volunteer named Cesar, who knew how to get to the main office. We walked together and arrived there in fifteen minutes. We greeted Jon and volunteers/staff members Rachel, Lindsey and Socorro. We donated books, tooth brushes and tooth paste in addition to a monetary donation we sent earlier via Paypal. Then we refilled ourselves with ice cold refreshing water while Jon explained the mission of The DREAM Project. Initially our task was going to involve cleaning and painting a local school to get it ready for the new school year. However, Jon advised that our volunteer work changed to painting the walls and dugout of a local baseball field, which the locals referred to as the Play. We took the scenic route on the beach to get there. Once we arrived, we were greeted by an entire Dominican baseball team that was ready to help us paint. The baseball players were thrilled to have their surroundings enhanced so the entire team assisted us with the task, which enabled us to finish ahead of schedule. It was great working alongside such an enthusiastic and friendly bunch.

Volunteering was very fulfilling because we saw the results of our work. We never painted the walls surrounding a baseball field before, especially in a foreign country. The baseball team continued to paint other buildings adjacent to the Play after we left. Now we were ready for another new adventure....surfing! So we hopped into the back of Jon's pickup truck and headed home to prepare for our surfing lesson. View some of the highlights of our volunteering effort in our video PE 2009 - Dominican Republic.

Cabarete Surf Camp

Our driver picked us up at the Ocean Dream Plaza, which was only five minutes from our townhome. He told us that he began surfing when he moved to Cabarete from Germany. Furthermore, he taught us a little bit about kite surfing and how expensive it is to purchase all of the necessary equipment. The Cabarete Surf Camp was a quaint place consisting of two beach huts stocked with surf boards, wet shirts, storage for participants' personal items and other miscellaneous things that you may need for surfing. Our lesson began on land with stationary surf boards affixed to raised posts. We learned how to paddle out and jump up and stand in position. Then it was off to the water! Everything about surfing was FUN to us, including wiping out....LOL. Let me mention that it's a good thing that we had our water shoes, because the shore and ocean floor at this beach is very rocky. Our lesson lasted one hour. We were informed that we could've used the surf boards all day for the same price if we attended the morning session. Next time we'll have to take them up on that offer!

Cabarete Night Life

Fortunately, we weren't too tired after surfing to venture out into Cabarete and experience its night life. Our buddy Cesar that we met earlier through the DREAM Project, took us to a spot ironically named LAX. I'm from Los Angeles and LAX is the name of our international airport. Ok, back to LAX in Cabarete...lol. The club/bar entrance is literally on the beach. It was only a fifteen minute walk from our townhome. We met a lot of cool people at LAX, one of which was Cesar's friend Manuel, who was a volunteer for the DREAM Project. This was the first time that I've gone to a club in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. I didn't get any funny looks for my attire, only total acceptance. Also, contrary to my experience in Santo Domingo, I didn't need to be fluent in Spanish to get the local Dominican women to dance. I had the BEST time!

Wed., August 12, 2009 - Whitewater rafting in Jarabacoa

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to party until 4AM, because we had to meet our driver at 6AM to go to Rancho Baiguate in Jarabacoa, for whitewater rafting! I think our bus ride was two hours, but I'm not sure since I slept most of the way. Nevertheless, I was well rested once we got to our destination.

The Rancho Baiguate took great care of us. First we ate a buffet style breakfast while watching the instructional video. Then we changed into our wetsuit, helmet and life vest and took the bus ride to the Yaque del Norte River. Our ride through the mountainous residential area was uneventful until those of us on the sidewalk side of the bus got drenched when some youngsters with buckets full of cold water splashed us while we were passing by! Now it all made sense as to why our bus didn't have any windows. 😱 We received more hands on instructions once we arrived at the river. Whitewater rafting was very exhilarating, but scary too. Boulders were present throughout the rapids which on several occasions almost caused our raft to flip upside down! Plus I would've fallen out of the raft if it wasn't for my foot harness. I was relieved that half way down the river we had a chance to regroup by docking and having a small snack. The latter half of our adventure was tranquil and it was followed by a nice lunch before heading back home. By the way, while exiting the bus, I noticed that the bus driver had a gun in his lap! We spent our last evening in Cabarete partying until the early morning at LAX and another cool club/bar, I believe by the name of Bamboo.

Passporters Expedition 2009 - blog to be continued in Sosua, Dominican Republic....stay tuned. Videos will be posted on Passporters.tv

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Comments

[jorge espaillat]

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