Trip to Santiago, DR

I waited to post this until I was able to upload photos from Sara, which I finally did.

04.28.12 

Trip to Santiago from Luperon, DR

Countryside outside Luperon

Agricultural land

Along with Mike and Sarah on Tanqueray, we hired a driver, Nino, and his Toyota Camry station wagon for the day.  We drove through the mountains to Santiago.  The drive through mountain farm and wild land and small villages was beautiful.  People mostly farm in the countryside where you see few personal cars.  Most who own motorized transportation drive motorcycles, and you will see an entire family riding on one.  The Dominican Republic is lush with trees and foliage which makes any drive scenic.   

Mounument to the Restoration

Sara and Mike

We first visited the Monument to the Restoration atop a hill with a stunning view of the surrounding city and valley.  Three teen boys offered to shine Dave’s shoes, even though he wore white tennis shoes.  We later saw the boys racing each other up the hilly paths.  We chatted with them and found out that they were 15, 16, and 17 years old and each had a profound dream to become a professional baseball player.  As we chatted, they vociferously named a long list of American baseball players born in the DR.  Sammy Sosa!  Jose Rentaria!  Juan Marichal!  (my hero!) They knew their numbers, too.  In broken English, one of the boys finally said, “Give me one dollar?”  I said, “Por que?” (Why?)  He said, “para aqua.”  But the 16-year-old scolded him saying, “No!  No!”  So I didn’t.  The boys challenged me to a race, but I declined and sent in my substitute, Dave.  He raced two of the boys and came in third, giving it his all.  It was enchanting to chat with these three polite young men and watch them practice in pursuit of their big league dream. 

Two of our three new friends

By then it was lunch time and we had more provisioning to do so went to a mall with a big hardware store and big supermarket.  We were leery about Nino’s promise of good food at the Food Court, but decided to chance it.  What a bonanza!  Delicious grilled red peppers, fresh corn salad in vinaigrette and roasted pork and other savory treats.  And you can buy beer, if desired.  This ain’t your mama’s Food Court.  Because the DR produces its own food, the vegetables and fruits are delicious as is the meat.  It was fun to people-watch at the Food Court.  We noticed a difference in how people dressed as they were a bit trendier compared to small town Luperón. 

That's paella on the left!

Satiated, we continued with our provisioning and found hoses, clamps and rum.  Yes, Dave was on a mission to buy some Dominicana rum and accomplished his mission at the Supermercado, so we are well-stocked for visitors.  Hint.  Hint.

Mangos...yum!

After seeing a bit more of Santiago, we headed back through the mountains and stopped at a fruit stand where we bought mangoes, bananas, and a large papaya.  We then stopped at a small shop in a village where we bought fresh cheese -- one is light orange and is hearty and the other is white and tastes like mozzarella.  We bought two balls of aged hard cheese dipped in wax that do not need to be refrigerated.  And for the road, we bought some coconut cookies. 

We dropped off Mike and Dave at the dinghy dock so they could take the provisions back to our boats.  Sarah and I went with Nino back to the gas station to fill up our 5-gallon jerry cans with gasoline.  Mike came back to pick us up, and that was our Santiago day.