We signed up for a 3 ½ hour “walking tour”. We ended being hijacked by Domani and Tomas in a bus for 5 hours. We stopped outside of a church – La Churcha, a church brought from England literally and rebuilt here by a group of Methodist. Next stop was to the Humpback Whale “Museum”. It was a one room building. With one skeleton of a humpback whale, a skeleton of a dolphin, shell of a sea turtle and some Indian artifacts. I’m sure that it is a big deal there but it was pretty sad to those who have been to museums here. We take so much for granted. We are so blessed.
Then we stopped along the way to look a cocoa, mango and banana farms. The next stop was at MaMa Juana’s……I’m sure she was a friend of his family or family or something. This was the only shopping stop we were permitted. I bought a piece of Larimar and a carved box. It was just a tiny store. They gave us a sample of some kind of wine…boy was it strong. I couldn’t drink it. Most people choked on it.
Next stop was in Las Terraras….it is some “resort” town. Beautiful scenery looking out to the ocean. The town was pathetically sad. Sidewalks maybe 2 feet and broken up into small stones. We were told to walk the sidewalk because the streets are dangerous. We had a bunch of seniors with us who were having trouble walking…I wondered why they would sign up for a walking tour! We walked one block to a restaurant of an obvious friend of his and were told this was the only place to get food. Of course there were other places. There were so many of us there, we didn’t think we would get served in the ½ hours we were told we had so Glenn and I walked the beautiful beach. Turns out it was a good thing because a coke was $12!
So our walking tour was 10 minutes of walking and 4 hours and 50 minutes of driving. I felt like I’d been kidnapped and pretty darn ticked off that we paid $32 for that tour which was not worth the money. So we got back to the boat at 3:30 pm starved because we didn’t eat lunch and just about ran to the caferteria!
Sights and impressions of D.R. – Long tender ride. A man on a roof at the dock with a rifle. Beautiful scenery & in contrast poor, small houses (maybe 500 sf at best), laundry hanging everywhere, skinny dogs, wild ranging horses – skinny too, children begging to shine your shoes—but I had flip flops. Then also lots of trees and forest areas…can’t believe there is so much forest but then again who would want to live there, what is there here for them.. Burning trash. Piles of coconut everywhere. Banks which were maybe 5 feet wide and 6 feet deep (you got to see the pictures). School is optional so there were schools with kids but lots of kids not doing anything sitting on porches. No one has screen doors, they just keep all the doors open on the house. No screens in windows, windows wide opened. People lounging inside and outside the houses. Old house made of queen palm wood (which is now illegal to harvest). New homes made of block. Lots of houses started and abandoned. Lots of mopeds and motorcycles. Gas is $4.40 a gallon. No chains like the other islands (no McDonalds, Senior frogs, etc). House are close to the street and close to each other. No red lights. Driving on the left side of the street. Lots of honking and passing in dangerous mountainous roads. Two types of toilets….some for pee-pee some for cacas (you can imagine what is caca).
Captain Rob just came on the pa…he’s so darn funny. Today he says, Good afternoon Ladies (LONG PAUSE) and Gentlemen. We are going on to Labadee Haiti or Labadee, Maybe. Maybe we get there maybe we won’t. We will get there 8 am or 0800 for those of you with an alarm clock.” He’s a hoot. The other day he said it was High Noon and he wondered how many were High at Noon today…..
Well ship is ready to get underway. I had mixed feelings about this island. One the one hand there was a great shopping center close to dock where I could have shopped but then again I would have never seen the “real” Samana warts and all. Domani said that the people on the island were not poor but were not rich sort of middle class. I would say looking at them, they are poorer than the poorest American. They live a tough life requiring hardwork, working and living off the land. Everyone is so thin.with clothes that look like they’d been second hand.
Our tour guide Domani just graduated from college after years of going to school and working. He has 4 kids and now has finished his law degree. He told us he was born in a house without water and sewage. I look around at everything I saw today and I can’t help thinking I need to pray for those people…and I will keep them in my prayers always.
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