semana santa

these are pictures of cabarete beach yesterday afternoon. the beach was packed with dominicans - swimming, dancing, drinking, littering - all in celebration of holy week "semana santa". we walked out to kite beach in the afternoon to see some of the reggae music that was supposed to be on out there. well, it was definitely island time for them, as they were still setting up the stage and checking the sound system at 5pm. we had been under the impression that the music would have started by 2/3pm. so we hung out there for a while and then decided to head back.

sponsors were out in force on the beach. you have to remember that this a poor country so there are not that many companies that are large enough to warrant using sponsorship as a marketing tactic. the 2 industries here though that are regulars in sponsoring events are BEER and MOBILE COMMUNICATION. so... Presidente and Brahma compete with each other with big blow up beer bottles on the beach. Orange and Verizon duel with each other by sponsoring music events and have big banners on and around stages etc. here's a shot of some of Orange's marketing where they sponsored the music event at kite beach.



our condo complex has been taken over by dominicans for semana santa as well. as it is the end of the high season, many of the units are free and available for short term rentals, which is not normally the case in the complex that mainly attracts long-termers. the dominicans have taken over the pool, which threw a bit of a kink into our BBQ plans on friday night. along with sandy and rich, we had planned a BBQ for by the pool and had invited vlad sr, denise, their friends from canada, and herman. after spending a few minutes by the pool, we opted instead to move the BBQ on to our deck. we had a feast with everyone bringing a dish to share and something to put on the BBQ. it was a good time.

our car has been parked inside our complex since thursday, as the street is completely nuts - traffic jams, people partying, motos driving in perilous locations. we thought it was a better idea to protect our car by having it inside our complex - we could not park it in our usual spot at the hotel next door because they were throwing a huge party and needed all the parking for that. we are looking forward to cabarete clearing out at the end of today, so we can use our car and be free again!

it has basically been 3 days of constant car alarms going off, car stereos blasting, bass thumping from the brahma party next door, honking cars, and dominicans singing/cheering/screaming all day and night long. perhaps this is what it feels like to live in the middle of the french quarter in new orleans during mardi gras. you cannot escape it.

after today though, we are into the low season until june when the winds are at their best and bring the hardcore wind and kite surfers to town. it'll be a welcome calm.