My Trip to Samaná

After riding 507 km (315 miles), I'm back at my site. I went to go visit my friend Erica's site this past weekend, from Friday until Sunday. Included on the agenda was some whale watching and meeting up with some friends who I haven't seen in awhile as their regional meeting was going on at the same time. Here is a map of the route I took:

First I will describe my trip to her site near Samaná. I decided to take the coastal route because I was a little more familiar going that way since I had been to Cabarete for New Year's, which is a stop along the same way. I woke up nice and early at 5:45 am, got ready, and walked to the highway where I arrived at 6:15. I waiting until 6:40 and finally a public car came by. Normally I would wait for the bus since they are a little more safe, but one of my neighbors was with me as she was on her way to work at a hotel in Puerto Plata. We arrived in Puerto Plata at 7:20, where I transferred to another guagua, this one taking me all the way to Rio San Juan. About 20 minutes before we would arrive in Rio San Juan I was the last and only one in the bus besides the driver and fare collector. They decided it would not be worth it to only drive me all the way to Rio San Juan, so they reimbursed part of my fare which would be enough to take a public car all the way. They let me off where I could pick up a car. So I got in the front seat of the car since that's safer because you're only sharing the seat with one other person. Twenty minutes later we arrive in Rio San Juan where I would transfer to another bus that would take me to Nagua. This ride was pretty uneventful. In Nagua I would transfer to a guagua which would take me to Sanchez, and in Sanchez I would transfer to one that would take me to Erica's site, Las Pascualas, which is about a 10 minute ride from Samaná.

Finally, 6 different vehicles, and 6 1/2 hours later, I arrived and Erica was waiting for me on the highway. I was exhausted as I had come down with a cold a few days earlier, so she gave me some medicine, and then we ate lunch that her host mother prepared for us. Erica's host family was very excited to see me, as we are boyfriend/girlfriend to each other here in order to ward off advances from people in our towns. All we have to do is say we have a novio/a and people relax a little bit. I proceeded to tell her host family that my love for her is as deep as the ocean. Also, when we were leaving the house I told them that we were going to chulear en la playa, which means make out on the beach. They found this all very funny. So then Erica and I walked around town holding hands in order to make it appear that we were a couple. I also went on a search with her to help her find a place to live for the next two years. We didn't find anything official, but we got a couple good leads. After that I got a haircut, and then we were off to Samaná to meet up at the hotel with all the other volunteers.

We got to the hotel, I took a nice hot shower, which if I didn't turn on some of the cold water it was actually scalding, which is a rarity here. Now this definitely was not a luxury hotel. It was very bare bones, but the hot water was definitely a bonus. It was only $600-700 RD for a room each night, and with 3 people in each room, for two nights it was only about $7 US/night for each of us. That night ended up being the last game in the finals for baseball here. It is a 9 game series, and it was 4 games to 3 games between the Aguilas and Licey. Las Aguilas are undoubtedly the most popular team here, but for some reason all the people in my town root for Licey, which I guess I have become a fan of by default. I was a little upset that the Aguilas won the game that night, and in turn winning the series, but I was not going to let it get in the way of the festivities. It seemed like everyone in Samaná was out on the streets partying, and the street along the bay was packed with cars and trucks, people hanging out windows and 2o people in backs of trucks , screaming and yelling. It was insane. I would say it seemed similar to when the White Sox won the world series a few years back, but multiplied ten-fold. After we were done, we went back to the hotel and retired to our beds.

Next morning we had to wake up really early because we had to meet our bus driver who was taking us to where we would get our boat to where we would go whale watching. We had to meet the guy at 8:30 a couple minutes away from our hotel. We got our group together pretty well and were only about 10-15 minutes late, which is pretty good for a group of about 18 people. The boat took us to a little island out in the bay which would be our waiting point while other groups were out watching before it was our turn. The island was beautiful, with a magnificent beach and it was nice and relaxing while we were waiting. There was a little confusion with the guy we set up the tour with, but it eventually worked out in the end, and we went out on the boat at 1 pm. It is a bit early in the whale watching season so we only saw a few whales, but it was very cool seeing them in their natural habitat. The speed boat ride was extremely exciting as well. Had it been about mid-February we would have seen tons of whales as that is the high-season. I guess the flip and splash around as this is where the whales end their migration route in order to mate and give birth.

After that we went back to the island for a few more hours, and then we ended up going back to our hotel. Those of us who were staying at the hotel a second night decided to try out this Italian restaurant close to us. Samaná is a very touristy area which receives many European visitors, so they have pretty good restaurants. I wasn't really sure of what to think about going to an Italian restaurant here, but the owner and chef was a real Italian, and the food was by far the best that I have eaten in this country to date. They had excellent pastas, which were cooked perfectly, pizzas which also where very authentic with perfectly crisped crusts, and a tiramisu to die for. It was a little expensive on a Peace Corps budget, but it was definitely worth the splurge. After dinner we went back to the hotel and sat on the balcony overlooking the bay until we went to bed. It was a really good night.

In the morning I had to figure out how I was going to get back to my site. I ended up finding a guagua which goes directly to Santiago from Samaná. I decided I would go this way as it is faster and I wouldn't have to switch cars a bunch of times. It was a very crowded bus, but it only took us four hours to get to Santiago. Even though the interior route it is a little faster and cheaper, I almost prefer the coastal route as there is a little change of scenery every time you need to change vehicles. When we got to Santiago I saw another bus which looked a lot nicer which also goes directly to Samaná, so I am going to have to find out about this one for the next time I go visit Erica. In Santiago I met up with Rob for a little bit and used to internet to check my email. Finally I got on the bus that would take me back to my site. My Doña saved me lunch and this was good because all I had eaten all day was a couple packets of crackers and some gatorade. The food was excellent as always. Even though the food is very similar all the time, I always miss it when I'm away from here for a couple of days since I have to scrounge up some food to make for myself.

In conclusion, I had an excellent time at Erica's regional meeting, which was much better than my regional meeting where we went bowling. Make sure to take a look at the pictures. There are a few good ones of the whales. Enjoy