The monument in the center of Santiago. Not my picture. But that is like a five minute walk from the internet cafe I´m in right now.
Hello everyone! As you have no doubt deduced if you have been following my Twitter updates or posts on FaceBook, I made it to Santiago, Dominican Republic! Woo hoo! Here´s a few stories about how this came to be.
First off, I think the flight from Portland to Boston might have been the best red eye I have ever been on. I went in with a plan of attack to fall asleep, and eventually, it worked! Step one: work out before the flight. I went to 24 Hour Fitness in the afternoon before my flight and did the elliptical - which is slowly growing on me as a legitimate workout. Had to be the elliptical because I hurt my knee playing hoops a few days before. About an hour, seven miles, and 1111 calories burnt, because I was at full resistance. Otherwise, it is entirely too easy. Step two: wear a hoodie. Step three: listen to ambient music. Choice of the evening was Brian Eno. Music For Airports. Although I listened to the entire album before I fell asleep, it was good to set the theme.
Most of the time before I fell asleep, I was thinking about how whoever invented the concept of the red eye, cross country, flight must have been a masochist. I swear, I probably looked exactly like Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith, after he turns to the dark side:
The inventor of the red eye flight?
Nevertheless, I eventually fell asleep and woke up as JetBlue Flight 96 was descending into Boston on a gorgeous sunny morning. We flew right in over the harbor and into Logan. A short time in the airport later had me checking into me next two flights - though it is strange that JetBlue doesn´t have a kiosk to do this yourself in the boarding area - and grabbing some Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Just an egg, sausage, and cheese bagel, plus a chocolate glazed donut. Yeah, I´m on vacation.
The other great news as I landed was that the flights to Santiago had not been canceled yet. In fact, Ryan called me from the DR as I was waiting for my flight down to NYC and told me that the weather was pretty much all clear. Right after talking with him, I heard over the loudspeakers at Boston that the nonstop Boston-Santiago flight was boarding, which made me feel very relieved.
My flight from Boston to New York was a breeze, though I knew that once I landed I had a tough task in order. Ryan had left some of his stuff, that he wasn´t able to take with him to the DR, at his former house in NYC - Brooklyn, to be exact. So, because I was coming down to visit, I offered to go and pick as much as I could up. This involved taking the AirTrain from JFK to Howard Beach, then the A train subway to Euclid Ave, then a short walk. Got to see Ryan´s former housemates, who were familiar because I stayed with him in New York in June. However, the stuff I picked up was crazy difficult to carry. It was a 47 pound massage table, and a few trinkets. The massage table was definitely a hard task, to do the reverse of what I did on the way to get to the house.
In fact, it was so heavy that while I was on the final part of my journey back to T5 at JFK, I started wobbling a bit on a moving walkway. I figured it was my mind playing tricks with me because I was tired and carrying something so bulky and heavy, but once I got downstairs, I learned there had been an East Coast earthquake! How crazy is that? I really enjoyed all of the responses on Twitter to it, especially folks from the West Coast, who were making political jokes.
After a long wait in line to check the massage table, which ended up being free, I was almost back inside the terminal. But before that, I had my first experience with the new creeper x-ray style airport security scanning. Many people know that I really dislike the ´´security´´ at airports. So, I gave the wall a glare as I was putting my hands up for ten seconds to be scanned. Maybe uncoincidentally, a TSA officer pulled me aside after the x-ray screening and groped my leg for a bit before letting me go. Ugh.
But, I had made it back to the terminal, with an hour and fifteen minutes to spare! Yay! I got some Jamba Juice and some overpriced pizza, and kicked it on the platform for a while as my iPhone recharged. Talking with Ryan on Skype to figure out what to bring to the DR at his former house had drained it pretty badly.
Then it was time to fly to Santiago! I always like flights to the Caribbean. First off, almost without fail, the passengers will clap upon landing, which is fun to be a part of. It reminds me of the joy of travel. Secondly, I get to fill out all of the customs information for entering a foreign country, which is always interesting to try and decipher.
This flight was also interesting because we were flying in the wake of Hurricane Irene! Unfortunately, it was too dark for me to see anything as we were flying near the general area. I had forgotten how much quicker it gets dark near the equator.
When we landed, I paid the ten dollar BS tourist card fee, grabbed the table after a nice search for it, and got through customs. Fun story though - they thought it was a TV inside the case, which I would have had to paid tax on. I was like ´´no, es una mesa!´´ a couple of times before they let me through, haha. Not before ripping up and throwing away my boarding pass though. Dang. I always keep my boarding passes - I can´t even remember the last time that I flew and did not keep it. Will have to see if I can somehow print another one later.
After a brief wait, I was welcomed by Ryan and his friend Elvis, who shares the apartment with Ryan. Elvis is a cool guy. He´s a denist, and also paints on the side, so their place is really beautiful. It was a nice ride into the city, a good talk over a tuna melt and pasta (Ryan knows me too well) and a relaxing shower before I sent some updates online and fell asleep to the sound of a hearty breeze going through the trees outside and into my room through the open window blinds.
Today, I woke up to the sound of traffic, along with that breeze. I helped Ryan figure out his lesson plan for the English class that he is currently teaching as I type in an internet cafe, and then we set off on a new day´s worth of adventure. Had lunch with Ryan´s girlfriend Jenny at a delicious local place, then walked around the city a bit.
Santiago isn´t really a tourist destination. It´s a working Dominican city. There is a big monument in the middle that is nice to check out, but other than that, what makes Santiago great are the people and the feeling on the streets as I am walking. An interesting note about the DR is that EVERYONE wears pants, even when it is crazy hot out, as a part of the fashion. As Elvis put it in the car today, the DR thinks it is in Europe, and that you are looked at like you are crazy if you wear shorts. You can spot a tourist in an instant if they are wearing shorts. Thus, I am currently wearing jeans, even though it has to be like ninety degrees out.
I can´t upload any pictures I´ve taken yet, but if I could, there aren´t that many so far anyway. Most of my time so far has been spent soaking up the air and seeing people. I´m sure that will continue. Tonight I think we are going to meet up with friends and possibly see a movie. Tomorrow, we are going to head out to Puerto Plata, a beach town, to take some pictures and spend the night at a villa there. Friday we´ll be back in Santiago, before I leave for NYC again at 1 in the morning on Saturday.
Anyway, it´s been a good time down here so far. I´ll try to update when I can, and be assured that plenty of pictures will be taken. Hope all is well, wherever you are!
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