“But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
William Shakespeare
In the wee grey hours of the early morning we stumbled from our beds at Grandma's house in Pilling, England and in the dark of night arrived into Santa Domingo airport in the Dominican Republic. In between departure and arrival there had been several long and tedious plane journeys, the loss of a few hours and the grumpy complaints of jet lagged children. To our relief, we were finally ejected out from the sanctuary of the Las Americas Aeropeurto into the cloying heat and the throng of late night taxi drivers. I once again thanked my inner tour operator for organizing a minivan ahead of time. All I had to do was look for my name and mutter an occasional "no gracias" to the hopeful cab drivers with eyes bright and optimistic for the tourism dollars arriving with every wheelie suitcase. I muttered a Spanish greeting of sorts to an incredibly young looking driver with a sign saying HOLDEM. Either this was a stick up DR style or they had misspelt my maiden name. I struggled to scrape together the appropriate espanol communication from the deep recesses of my sloppy grey matter. It was way above my language skills to ask him for his drivers license so I could check he'd actually graduated from elementary school.
I slumped in the back of the cab with the kids and tried in vain to see through the window to check if we were in a Caribbean paradise or sweaty hell. The road seemed in fairly good condition as it meandered along the coast away from the airport, the dark blackness of the ocean on one side and the strip of concrete buildings and hotels on the other. In what seemed like a $2.50 journey rather than the $25 I parted with, we pulled into the forecourt of our hotel. (I was convinced I'd had a late night decimal point switcheroo pulled on me). The concrete block looked like decent enough looking accommodation and we stumbled into the foyer, squinting against the bright lights. To my relief, the young man behind reception greeted us in perfect English. Unfortunately our reservation had duplicated itself on the internet booking somehow. It seemed to be turning into uno problemo, with mucho scrutinizing of the computer screen. Ridiculously it seemed 2 rooms were more of a problem than none and the whole thing had the potential to turn into a third world style hassle involving waking up the manager. Perhaps it was the desperation in my bloodshot eyes that finally convinced the barely shaving, officious youngster to let me sort it out manana.
"It is good to know the truth,
but it is better to speak of palm trees."
but it is better to speak of palm trees."
Arab Proverb
“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Arriving into a destination under the veil of darkness prolongs the anticipation. Then when your eyes are rested and ready you can throw back the curtains and see what you've got. With one swish of light weight polyester, we revealed dense jungle and an abandoned concrete skeleton of a never to be built hotel.
"Moonlight is sculpture."
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The hazy sky masked the sun into a moon like glow and I had to double check the clock to make sure it was indeed morning and not night. By the time we had wheeled the baggage downstairs the sun had struggled to shine through and blazed into the promise of a steamy day. After sifting through the breakfast buffet to snag some recognizable nourishment we waited patiently for our 11am taxi to the other side of the island. This last leg of the journey would mean a four hour drive over the mountainous interior of the island to Greg who was awaiting our arrival to Cabarete on the Atlantic coast.
"If you come to a fork in the road, take it."
Yogi Berra
Within a few minutes of riding shotgun I knew exactly why one should never drive in the DR at night. In fact, I'm not sure if you should really do it at all even during the day. The roads where fairly good it was the drivers that were the real nightmare!
We skirted the clogged tarmac arteries of the capital city Santa Domingo and averted the street vendors. Then we headed inland towards the mountains.
“My body is a temple where junk food goes to worship”
Unknown
We climbed the hairpin turns avoiding goats, chickens and people. Half way we stopped at a "service area". If you can really class a waterless, seatless, doorless bathroom as anything service related. The food ranged from Cheetos to freshly chopped bloody beast, carefully hacked on a wooden block peppered with flies. We went with the distinguishable Western junk food and probably paid the same price for a packet of chips and a coke as the cost of the whole carcass.
Onward and upward we wound, our driver obviously felt the need to play dreadful "fufi" music and radically tailgate every vehicle we followed. In order to maintain the two meter gap between our car and the one ahead, we had to alternatively slam on the brakes and make jerky accelerations for the next three hours. The swerving mountain roads was the last straw and my jet lag was irritated into car sickness. I started to feel horrendously nauseous, the green churning, dizzy, watering of the mouth kind of commitment to vomiting. Maybe it was the junk food, perhaps the poor driving or twisty terrain. I suspected it was the hideous music, and breaking all British reserve I asked him to switch it off. I even admitted to him I might puke, in retrospect this was the most efficient way to slow down our want to be Mario Andretti. The last thing he wanted was the smell of my barf in his formula one minivan. I started to wonder if I'd brushed my teeth with tap water?
Luckily it was a mere 30 minutes more to Cabaret and Greg. We had been apart since the end of May and although our entire relationship has been scattered over several continents, we had all missed him. It was hard to imagine I would be up for much of a reunion seduction scene when my insides were charred with the orange dye from the cheetos. It's also never a good idea to have to worry about burping in the middle of a romantic moment.
Of course, Greg had chosen a place with the best view of the best kitesurfing spot next to the best kite school. It was simply divine. It was just so wonderful to be back together as a family, it was our first time in Cabarete, but we were home.
“Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?”
Stephanie Perkins
“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.”
Anais Nin
"When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator."
Mahatma Gandhi
As the night closed in we watched the last of the kiters out on the bay. Kiting is such a great sport to watch as we scrutinized the maneuvering of the long lines on the narrow strip of beach. While the colors of the sunset faded I decided to take a little nap which ended up lasting fourteen hours until the next morning.
"A smile is the light in the window of your face
that tells people you're at home."
Author Unknown
that tells people you're at home."
Author Unknown
I awoke to the rustle of palm trees shifting in hint of warm winds. The sound of the ocean lapped along the sandy shoreline. The hell journey of yesterday was long forgotten and Josh and I had a hankering to run outside and jump in the warm waters.
“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
“You can't put a limit on anything.
The more you dream, the farther you get.”
The more you dream, the farther you get.”
Michael Phelps
We had breakfast on the balcony overlooking the beauty of Kite Beach. In the warm caress of the morning air, I just felt so damn grateful. I let out a huge big fat indulgent sigh of contentment. My version of nirvana has always involved waking up and putting on a bikini, it definitely includes warm turquoise ocean water and of course white sandy beaches with fringed with palm trees. This was a day to ooze gratitude for being alive. I just wasn't sure who to heap my appreciation upon so I just vowed to pay my euphoria forward to everyone today.
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.”
A.A. Milne
"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you."
Maori Proverb
The light in the Caribbean is just so beautiful it makes me want to live, bathed in it's luminescence, forever. The island of Hispaniola is no exception and it has the same amazing hues bouncing of the azure waters. The island is split into thirds, with the country of Haiti situated on the western third and the Dominican Republic on the eastern two thirds. With 10 million people, the DR is the second largest Caribbean nation after Cuba. The nation is Spanish speaking with English taught as a secondary language. I also heard plenty French and Haitian Creole being spoken around the place. Initially the island was inhabited by Tainos and Carib Indians until the arrival of the Spanish in 1492.
"All my life I feel I've been chasing the sun,
and at last I feel I'm going to catch it."
Christopher Columbus
In 1492, Christopher Columbus claimed the island of Hispaniola for Spain on his first voyage to America, he named it La Espanola. He called the local indigenous people "Indians" and the area the "Indies" because he believed he had found India. With the discovery of gold on the Island the Spanish returned in greater numbers. Christopher's brother, Bartholomew Columbus, founded Santa Domingo the capital and the colony became the Spanish headquarters for the New World.
"When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, "Ours."."
Vine Deloria, Jr.
Within 30 years of Columbus arriving, the Tainos were virtually wiped out through diseases such as smallpox and flu, enslavement, abuse, execution and starvation. The Tainos were generally a peaceful people but the abuse of their women folk and their enslavement by the Spanish pushed them into a rebellion which they lost. However, many of the first Spanish settlers took Tainos wives and so genetically the DNA survived.
With only low numbers of Indians left to subjugate the way was open to import African Slaves. After three centuries of Spanish rule with French and Haitian interludes the population of Hispaniola was 30% white landowners, 20% black or mixed ancestry freed men and 50% slaves. By 1821 the country had become independent but with a historical litany of internal strife, dictatorships, international interventions and civil wars. In the 21st century the Dominican Republic has moved towards a representative democracy and the sugar cane wealth has been replaced by tourism income. Economically the country suffers from government corruption, foreign economic interference, a rift between rich and poor and crippling blackouts from energy shortages.
This country seems like a strange mix of third world poverty with a crumbly first world infrastructure interlaced over the top. Precariously balanced on top of this is the tourism industries hotels and restaurants, yet it doesn't seem anything other than idyllic as we wander over to the cabana style cafe overlooking the beach.
Lord Byron
The restaurant was part of Hotel Extreme, and we had our first of many meals sitting on the heavy adirondack stools amongst the kite surfers who stared wistfully at the unmoving flags.
“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.”
John Gunther
It was difficult not to feel laid back in this kind of atmosphere, besides which I had roll slightly backwards to accommodate my over expanded stomach.
"All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath."
F. Scott
We very quickly jumped into the relaxing routine of swimming, walking, eating and chilling out in our fabulous apartment. Greg introduced us to our neighbor John who ran a kite school and paddle board rental. Behind John's house, just meters inland from the strip of apartments, hotels and restaurants was an incredible lagoon which just begged to be explored.
"The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands. The blood flows with the fast circulation of childhood."
Sir Richard Burton
“A river seems a magic thing. A magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself.” Laura Gilpin
As we paddled along the narrow and very shallow canal that had been dug out, dragonflies hovered in the sultry air. These metallic looking helicopters of the insect world were most welcome as it meant the mosquitos were non existent. Lily pads choked the narrower sections of the channel and we had to push off the muddy bottom to force our way through.
"…some unused lagoon, some nameless bay"
Walt Whitman
Rounding a corner and we were suddenly ejected into the vast water paddock with grasses billowing gently in the wind. At this point John's dog decided to swop boards and hitch a ride with a more than delighted Josh.
“If I saw you hitchhiking, I’d smile and return your thumb’s up, just for you doing such a great job of being a positive roadside influence.”
Jarod Kintz
Then it was Jasmin's turn to paddle the stowaway. We floated around in the tropical paradise of mangroves, reeds and lily pads. The silence was deafening, the peace all encompassing.
"Tea is a cup of life." Author Unknown
Upon our return to the shore John served up some freshly picked lemon grass tea. We chatted about our plan to learn to kite surf with him while we nibbled on the picnic of coconuts, bananas and freshly fallen almonds, all grown on his property. We decided to take a ride into Cabarete proper, do some grocery shopping and stop for a Mexican lunch at Gorditos. All the incredible food forced me to take an afternoon siesta.
Life in swimsuits can be tough especially when you eat so much you're not so sure you will be able to fasten them up properly. Our life here in Cabarete was indeed turning out to be a list of tough choices.....what sunglasses to wear....
“Do not allow people to dim your shine because they are blinded. Tell them to put on some sunglasses" Lady Gaga
what to order off the menu.....
what game to play on the beach....
what picture to take in the pool....
which view to watch from the balcony.....
“Life is a sum of all your choices.”
Albert Camus
