Monday, December 03, 2007

more passport pages, please

we just got back from a quick overnight trip down to to Santo Domingo. we had to go to the American Embassy so that i could get more pages added to my passport. believe it or not, i am nearly out of the pages that immigration officials can stamp upon entry into a foreign country. that's what happens after going on a big 3 month backpacking trip in '01, taking many business trips to London while working for Orange, and entering and exiting the DR many times over the past 2.5 years.

well, the american embassy was a disappointment. i guess i had this romantic notion of an embassy and instead found myself in a building that felt more like a bad ER waiting room. panel ceilings, linoleum floors, glass enclosed rooms, and signs about getting a reward for turning in terrorists were the sights, and of course the more than 150 people (Dominicans) waiting in the visa line at 7am to get into the building and be granted the right to make the trip of their dreams. luckily i did not have to wait in that line, as there was a separate line for us American citizens. still, i was there at 7am because they only process the passport stuff mondays and wednesday mornings 7:30am-9:30am. you wanna be there early just in case

there were 3 things i found quite astonishing during my 2 trips to the embassy today (i had to go early in the morning and then return at 3pm to pick up my passport with add'l pages). first was the lack of English speakers both outside and inside the building. this was accompanied by a complete LACK of signage for what to do, where to stand, which of the 28 "windows" to go to once you were inside the building, where to sit, what would happen when some people had ticket numbers and others (like me) did not. lastly the bathroom was unbelievably terrible - toilets filled with urine and reeking due to the relative heat in the place. not quite what i would expect that we would want to present to our citizens and those looking to get to the US. i guess the Santo Domingo embassy is not the highest of priorities for Condoleeza Rice.

anyway, i got my pages and we bolted out of town. we've been back an hour now. the drive is just so exhausting. first you have to contend with the zany capitol traffic. we're talking cars squeezing into any free space such that there really are no lanes. this means instead of 5 lanes, you have 8 lanes of traffic all bottlenecked at lights. trucks are belching out smoke and passing on the right. cars looking like they will fall apart at any minute are cutting you off while motorcycles weave in and out of the whole mayhem too.

once you make it out of the capitol and onto the highway, then it's on to motos coming straight at you in the "shoulder" of the highway or pedestrians walking along the side that you have to avoid as the souped up rally car maniacs go flying past you. there's always the occassional car in the fast lane that is going about 20mph while you are coming up behind them at 65mph along with the nut in back of you who will now pass you on the right. throw in the occassional lane drop due to "men working" that comes without any warning around a bend, and you can see how this is not a country for which cruise control was created.

once you get through the 1.5 hour highway stretch, it's on to the mountain road from Moca to Cabarete. a beautiful windy road with chicken trucks, over-anxious Cabarete taxi drivers, slow pokes, and people, usually like a 5 year, walking or playing on the edge of the road is the name of the game here. it was getting dark by the time we hit the mountain road so we were anxious to get through that as quickly as possible, but you gotta be careful not to go too fast around the hairpin turns.

once you arrive home, the first thing you want to do is take a shower. i like windows versus AC but that means that you feel like you are wearing the road and all its smog by the end of the trip. i'm not sure there is another activity where you get as dirty without really doing anything.

so that's the drive, one i can't say i would love doing very often. give me Las Terrenas anyday over a trip to Santo Domingo!

oh, speaking of the capitol, we should say that we did enjoy our time in the Zona Colonial. highlights included a few coffees and lunch at the Conde restauarant where we sat at the outdoor tables overlooking the park and the whole world going by. drinks and dinner at the segafredo place. some empanadas from the authentic reposteria. sitting in the park on Padre Billini, just relaxing and looking at the 15th century building in front of us. last but not least, by far the most memorable aspect of the trip was stumbling upon a small bar blasting merengue and lots of locals dancing away with their hips swaying just right to the beat. these were older folks who really knew how to dance and clearly had gone out specifically to dance that night. the music was fantastic, though very loud! that was just the kind of place that you hope to find in the Zona Colonial as it is such an authentic Dominican experience.

ok, i am done for the day! veronica took lots of photos so maybe she'll add one or some later to this post. buenas noches!

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