Almost Didn't Make It

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It's really laughable after the fact, but Mary and I almost didn't make it to the Dominican Republic Peace Corps 45th Anniversary Reunion. I misread the airline schedule and we showed up at the Tampa Airport just as the plane was in final loading stages. HOWEVER, lo' and behold ... there was a later flight and a later connection.

But, we arrived five hours later than planned (it was 12 hours total), completely exhausted. Fortunately I was able to send an email to the Hotel Duque de Wellington (approx $62/night compared to the official reunion Hotel Meliá at $120 or so) and Rigoberto, the hotel driver, picked us up.

All we could do was to call Lowell Braxton in his room and say, "See you downstairs for breakfast." We found that our AC sounded like an old propeller-driven DC-3, just roaring away, so we got the hotel to change the room for the night, which also turned out to be the next night also as they continued to work on the AC. The mattress was U-shaped, so Mary rolled to the middle and I clung to the edge to avoid being sucked into the middle. Not a good night, what with a spasmodic dry Florida-winter cough.

See you tomorrow. I have no pictures to enclose ... who cares about seeing a photo of the mattress!

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