Dominican Republic 2019

Thursday, October 24

Jared picked me up from my house at 7am and we went to the Brigham City Walmart. I had been given $100 by my boss and he told me to buy a ton of snacks and treats to give to Katie and the girls that she was living with. He did this because I had told him that the girls were basically starving. Their program wasn’t feeding them much and a few of the girls were running low on money. He’s very generous! So we bought a bunch of granola bars, fruit snacks, trail mix, and Gold Fish to take with us. We also bought Katie a bunch of Diet Coke ha she had been craving it. We were able to fit everything in the extra suitcases we brought and then we were on the road again. We had to stop in Centerville to meet with a mom of one of the girls and grab a care package for her daughter. Finally we made it to the airport and parked and took the shuttle to the terminal. We met up with my mom and we went to go check our bags. Between the 3 of us we had 7 bags to check ha after checking our bags we went through security and went to the Sky Club to get some food. Our first flight was to JFK and it took forever ha Jared got upgraded and we didn’t (punk) haha once we got to JFK we had to take a bus to another terminal. This took forever. Luckily our layover was fairly long. JFK is not efficient at all. We finally made it to our gate and we were starving but we didn’t have much time so we just bought bagels at a nearby coffee shop. When we scanned our boarding passes we got upgraded to first class! My mom’s first experience in first class. We were fed on our flight so I was mad I had purchased two bagels ha we landed in Santo Domingo at like 10:30pm. Customs was easy. Our lady didn’t speak English so she didn’t ask us any questions and we got through. While we waited for our 7 bags at baggage claim, my mom and Jared went to exchange some money. After we got all of our bags we went to get our rental car. It was under Jared’s name and the guy at the counter said that driving in Santo Domingo was crazy ha which made us nervous. Luckily our hotel was just outside the airport so Jared drove us there. It was pretty hot outside for how late it was so when we got to our room we turned the AC down as low as it could go. My mom and I had to share a bed because they couldn’t fit a rollaway bed in the room. My mom took the comforter off of our bed because she thought a sheet would suffice but I put my blanket that I had brought next to me just in case. Luckily I did because I absolutely FROZE during the night. 

Friday, October 25

We got up around 9:30am and went down for breakfast. After breakfast we went back and packed up and then we headed for Katie in Puerto Plata. It was so nice having Jared, who spoke Spanish, with us.  He was able to communicate everything for us. It made my mom feel much better having him along! I drove to Puerto Plata and driving there was ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. Jared was my copilot for multiple reasons. He could read the signs and my mom would’ve had a heart attack watching me drive. Lanes didn’t matter. There were cars everywhere, motorbikes everywhere, and people everywhere. People would merge in front of you even if they completely cut you off in the process. I saw so many almost accidents it was crazy. The craziest part was while we were in the city of Santo Domingo. Once we got through that (which took forever) it got a little better but it was still crazy. Also we decided at this moment to offline download maps just in case I lost service and we couldn’t get the directions back because my service was so spotty haha we eventually got them back up! People would walk around the cars at stoplights selling you things. They’d knock on your window and start yelling in Spanish at you. I just had to start ignoring them. Once we got into the country a little more, the lines for the lanes stopped existing. It was just a giant road with no rhyme or reason. People would pass into oncoming traffic and the oncoming traffic wouldn’t even bat an eyelash. They’d just move into the shoulder and keep going. Blinkers definitely didn’t exist. We stopped at a gas station to go to the bathroom (they had a bathroom sign and we hadn’t seen one basically the entire drive) so we stopped because we didn’t know when the next one would be. We got drinks and then we were back on the road. Two hours into the drive, we stopped in Santiago to get Jeff from the airport. It was Jeff’s first international flight by himself and he killed it. It’s intimidating flying solo somewhere! After we picked him up, we had another hour and a half to go. As we were getting closer Jared was visibly getting more and more anxious. We started talking about how we were going to surprise Katie with him but we decided that we just had to play it by ear because we had no idea what was going to happen when we got there. So the address that Katie gave me just led me to her neighborhood and not her actual house. They don’t really have addresses. So when we got to her neighborhood we had no idea where to go. I pulled up her location on find my friends and we just had to navigate towards her location. Her neighborhood was horrible to drive through. The road was TINY. Our car barely fit on it. And cars would be coming toward me and I had nowhere to pull off so I’d get over as far as I could and they would somehow pass us. I still have no idea how we fit. My service was really spotty in her neighborhood as well so we couldn’t just call her but finally my service allowed us to call her and we saw her on the balcony of her house. So I parked down the road from her and I told Jared to hide behind the car and come out when she wasn’t looking. We walked down the road and Katie came out of her gate and we all got to hug her and say hi! She’s been feeling homesick and she cried when she saw us. It was so good to see her. I’ve missed her so much! As I was hugging her, I turned her back to the car but as I did that I noticed that we couldn’t see the car so that meant that Jared couldn’t see us haha so after we said hello I told her to hop on my back (she never wears shoes) and that we needed to go to the car and grab all of the luggage for her and her roommates. Once the car came into view I put her down and hugged her again. As I was waving for Jared to come out I told her that we brought her something and she turned out and saw Jared. Jeff got it all on film but she freaked out and yelled his name and sprinted at him. She jumped into his arms and they hugged for a long time. It was seriously the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Katie was “pissed” that Jared had been lying to her about his plans haha after their hello we drove the car closer to her house and unloaded all of the luggage. She gave us a tour of her house and during the tour we met her “RA” head teacher girl. She was weird. Katie introduced us and she got to Jared and said this is my boyfriend Jared and the RA was like, boyfriends aren’t allowed to visit. And Katie said, I thought they could if it was with family. And the RA said, oh yeah phew! Because boyfriends aren’t allowed. She said that like four times! She also thought that Jeff was Katie’s dad hahaha anyway she was very weird and didn’t handle that situation well at all ha then Katie packed a few things and we went to our Airbnb. Abbie Slaney came with us (Katie’s friend from my mom’s old neighborhood) (also Katie’s room roommate in the DR). Our Airbnb was way nice! It was only 15 minutes from where Katie lived and it had a pool. Jared got the tour from our host and then he told us everything in English. We put our stuff in our rooms and then we walked to the beach. It was almost dark by the time we got to the beach so we didn’t swim. We just took a few pictures and then we walked down the beach to find food. We ate at this cool place right on the beach. I got a cheese empanada and a burger. The food wasn’t that great but the Coke tasted amazing. There was a wild dog that sat by our table and we secretly fed him some food. We are suckers for dogs. After we ate we walked back to the Airbnb and got in the pool. The water was fairly cold but it was fun! After swimming we showered and talked outside and Katie and Jared took Abbie back to their house and then went to bed. 

Saturday, October 26

We had to be up by 6am in order to make it on time for our Paradise Island tour. We caught the sunrise and it was beautiful!! We had to drive into Puerto Plata’s “downtown” area to be at the meeting place. We were able to park on a pretty nice street (I was worried about parking and leaving our car somewhere) but we found a good spot and then we waited at the meeting spot for our tour company. They picked us up in a van and we got the back two rows to ourselves. Our tour guide called us “La Familia” because we were the only family on the tour ha we had to drive about an hour to our destination so most of us passed out on the drive. Once we arrived, I felt like I was in this weird dream state haha I didn’t fully wake up for a little while haha we had stopped at this resort and we were able to have unlimited Coke and some treats. They had these treats that were like vanilla Oreos with strawberry filling and they were so good!! We chilled their for a little bit and then we got on a boat and went to Paradise Island. The boat ride was about 20 minutes long and the water was soooo blue and clear! We pulled up to Paradise Island and it was this tiny sand bar with bamboo huts built on it. We got off the boat, set our bags under one of the huts, and we had Coke and watermelon and cantaloupe. Then it was time to snorkel. They gave us our snorkel gear and our tour guide handed us off to another tour guide. This tour guide spoke zero English. He basically just led us through the water and to get our attention he would say eh! And then motion us somewhere ha the snorkeling was so fun though!! I hated the life jackets they made us wear. I deflated mine as much as I could so that I could swim underwater. I went down as far as I could go and I’d look at the coral reef and then I’d float back up to the top. I had the GoPro with me so I could get some cool shots and then the guide came and motioned for the GoPro so I gave it to him and he spent the rest of the time off on his own getting “cool” shots for us haha I kept trying to get it back but he didn’t understand ha once I gave up on trying to get the camera back I noticed there was a jellyfish below me. So I went to motion to Jeff or Katie or Jared or my mom and as I was looking around for them I noticed that we were SURROUNDED by jellyfish. It felt like Finding Nemo when Marlin and Dory were surrounded by jellyfish. The guide motioned for us to go back to Paradise Island and he gave us our GoPro back. Jared asked him if we could go again and so he let us go get a drink and some watermelon and then we went back out again. This time it was just us and this old couple. The old couple had zero awareness about where they were and when they could kick. They ran into us several times and kicked us and they had no clue haha we separated ourselves from them and we were good ha the guide took our GoPro again and this time he got some shots of us and some other “cool” shots. I say “cool” because after watching the videos they weren’t that cool haha but he tried! I noticed the jellyfish quicker on this second time around and I actually got stung a couple of times but it didn’t hurt too bad. Once we were closer to shore, our guide actually caught a jellyfish and we all got to hold it. It was stinging our wrists as we held it. To let it go, he threw it as far as he could. I don’t know if that was great for the jellyfish but... once we got back to Paradise Island we just chilled on the sand and watched the MANY photo shoots that were taking place. It was hilarious to watch. We tried to do a crossword puzzle but we couldn’t concentrate ha then it was time to go back to the resort. On the way back, we took a detour through some mango tree fields. The tour guide that we had while snorkeling was our boat driver as well and he was loving driving us through those trees! It was a blast! We were flying! Then we stopped next to the other boat that had our actual tour guide in it and he would talk to us about the trees and the wildlife and then we were off again. We got back to the resort and they fed us lunch. We decided that the DR tries to mimic real beef but it’s just not very good. None of us could finish the burgers they gave us. After lunch we had some time to swim by the resort so we got in the water and then laid out to dry off. It was a blast! Jeff and I don’t do much “chill” traveling and it felt nice not being rushed. After a little while the tour guide came and got us and we got back on the bus. On the way back to Puerto Plata we stopped at a store and we learned how they make cigars and then we bought a few souvenirs. We got these fresh fruit popsicle things and they were delicious. Then we headed back to Puerto Plata. After we got dropped off at our car, we went to the Airbnb and showered and then we went to this food truck place called Food & Chill Zone. I’m going to brag and say that I did an AMAZING parallel parking job when we got there. Then we ordered some tacos from one of the food trucks. They were DELICIOUS. I got a chicken taco and a chicken quesadilla and they were so good! Oh also I forgot to mention that when we went back to the Airbnb and we were showering, we all realized that we were absolutely fried. Jared’s burn was hilarious because Katie had tried to put sunscreen on him but failed so he was super splotchy. After we ate the tacos we got some shakes that had donuts on them and they were okay. Then we went back to the Airbnb and went to bed. 

Sunday, October 27 

Jeff had to leave at 9am so he could get to the Santiago airport on time. So he ordered an Uber and left. It was sad that he had to leave! He hardly had any time there. After he left we all got ready and we drove to get breakfast at Burger King. My mom fed me as I drove to the Monkey Jungle haha The last 4km to the Monkey Jungle was on a dirt road and it was a rough drive haha I was getting the hang of driving in the DR though! At the Monkey Jungle, we got a discount because Katie and Abbie lived there so it only cost us like $20 a person. We were the only ones there so we had more time with the monkeys than usual. We had to empty our pockets and leave all bags in the car because the monkeys steal things. After doing that we went into the enclosure. Our guide had sunflower seeds and almost right when we walked in there were squirrel monkeys everywhere. He would put seeds on your head and the monkeys would jump on you. They were so light! Like maybe 2 pounds. It was an absolute blast! I did get peed on by about four monkeys though haha I had urine all over my hat and it was running down my arms ha there was a monkey with a baby attached to it and it was the cutest thing. After we had some fun with them doing that we walked a little further and we were able to feed the monkeys watermelon. The guide gave us each a plate and the monkeys would jump on us, suck the juice from the watermelon, and then spit the rest out ha it was so fun! And they knew once the watermelon was gone that they weren’t getting any more food so they all left haha once they left, we walked a little further and there were some other types of monkeys in cages. They were aggressive so we weren’t allowed to touch them. But we were able to feed one more monkey through the cage. And then it was over. I was so sad it was over ha I wanted to experience it all again! But another group had shown up so we left. After we left we drove to Sosua Beach. It was a mad house here. We were getting approached left and right about buying things. Food, chairs, tube rides, umbrellas, you name it! We did eventually rent some chairs and an umbrella down the beach because my sunburn was on fire and I didn’t think we would last in the sun ha it was so hot! I got in the water and rinsed all of the urine off and then we just chilled on the beach and in the water. It was very relaxing! I actually fell asleep at one point in the shade of our umbrella. When we were ready to go, we packed up and walked through the shops. I bought a few things at one shop and Abbie helped me barter. Ha then we went back to the car and drove to the Airbnb. We showered and then we went and got tacos again from the food truck. I was not feeling great at dinner. I thought it was the combination of my sunburn/lack of water but after dinner we went to the grocery store and I had extreme diarrhea (TMI I know but this is my journal). When we got back to the Airbnb I was pretty sick in the diarrheal sense ha I was up all night. It was just lovely as you can imagine. 

Monday, October 28

We woke up and went to breakfast. I was still not feeling great so I just had a few pieces of French toast. It was good though! After breakfast we went and dropped Katie off. We said our goodbyes and it was really sad! After leaving her we headed back to Santo Domingo. It was a miracle but I didn’t get sick the rest of the trip. We drove to Los Ojos Tres caves and walked through. Two guys tried to get us to pay them to take us through the caves but we said no. They kept telling us that they could get us on the boat that takes you to the third lake and come to find out, anyone can take the boat haha so we went to the third lake and then we went back to the car. Right as we got in the car it started raining. We were hungry so we went to McDonald’s and then we went to our hotel by the airport. We checked in, dropped off our stuff, and walked across the bridge to the ocean. It was not somewhere that you could swim but we watched the sun set and it was amazing. The colors were unreal. Once it was dark we walked back to the hotel, watched TV, and then went to bed. They even fit a rollaway bed for Jared :) 

Tuesday, October 29

We woke up and packed and went to the airport. We filled up just outside the airport and they fill your tank for you. We only had to fill up twice the entire time we were there! That was nice. Proud to say i didn’t hit or get hit by anything while driving. Which was a major success. We checked our luggage and went through security. We had to eat at Domino’s because they didn’t have many options. Their pizza wasn’t bad though. My mom had ordered pizza at a different place during the trip and she didn’t love it so we were nervous about getting pizza again. Then we boarded (didn’t get upgraded but Jared did ha) and we flew to Atlanta. We went through customs, re-checked our bags, and then boarded to Salt Lake. Once we got to Salt Lake, we said bye to my mom and drove back to Logan. It was such a fun, quick trip!