Dominican Republic Trip (part 1)

Earlier in our marriage, Joseph and I decided that we would take a trip to the Dominican Republic for our 10th anniversary. When our 10th anniversary rolled around, we were trying to sell a house, but 11.5 years was an even better time to go. It was easier to leave a two year old than it would have been to leave my one year old last year. It was REALLY hard to be away from my two year old, so I don't think I would have survived last year anyway.

We flew out the night of Dec. 25th, leaving the kids with Joseph's parents to deal with the Christmas night meltdowns that inevitably happen after a day full of sugar and new toys already breaking. Wayne and Penny had the kids for the first half of our ten day trip and my parents had them for the second half. 

We flew into Santo Domingo on the afternoon of 26th. Joseph did not serve in this area, but it is where the MTC and the temple are. We checked into the Marriot, rested for a bit and then walked the two or three blocks to the temple. We were in a session with six Haitians, so the session was in French. We were given headphones to hear it in English though.

The next morning we walked to a supermarket to buy our breakfast. The garbage everywhere is a bit overwhelming. If there is an empty lot, it is filled with trash. There are several piles of garbage like this on each block. I kept wanting to take a picture of all the trash, but didn't want to offend anyone, so I had Joseph pose with his breakfast in front of one.

 I didn't see this as much in the other cities we visited, but in Santo Domingo (the capitol) businesses hire guards that carry either a big stick or a gun. Even the tiny corner stores have them.

 People take every opportunity to make money. As we left the airport and were poised to load our suitcases into a taxi, a man rushed up behind us and just grabbed our suitcases out of our hands and loaded them for us. Then he held out his hand for money. As pictured below, there are people at every busy intersection that weave through the stopped vehicles selling things like fruit and cell phone cases and chargers. This man sold a water bottle to the driver of that yellow truck. A few times, as we were riding with a member, a man came up to us at an intersection and started washing the windshield, holding out his hand for pay afterward.

We stayed in Santo Domingo for one night and then got on a bus and headed to Santiago the next morning. We were driving on a freeway, two lanes going each way with a median in between. We came up on stopped traffic in both our lanes, but I guess bus drivers try to keep moving no matter what. We never came to a stop, we just crossed the median and drove on the other side of the freeway on the shoulder of the oncoming traffic. We went like this until we got around the problem (a shipping container had fallen off the back of a Semi) and then found a nice place to cross the median again (pictured below.)