[Dominican Republic]: Part 2

I'm now sitting in United Airlines flight. I was upgraded after two India trips. And thanks to that I made it on today's flight even after reaching the airport so late. Nana kept saying but I didn't heed. Took my own time to shop, had tamarind juice and when I reached the UA counter they had closed it. Then I went inside those rooms behind the ticket counters and requested the lady and had to rush rush. Even if I hadn't rushed after security I would've been OK but still... When I cut line requesting, one man said why did you come late. Traffic I half lied. I should've said yes, it was stupid of me to arrive late.

I didn't sleep very well last night. Stayed at that island life hostel. It's nice but something too clean and well laid out, very american/european. For backpackers. It's OK sometimes. I was the only one to pin their map from Hyderabad. It was nice to speak to Mummy and Nana from there and also do my marketing weekly call (I was sitting at the bar like counter trying to get a good wifi signal that morning). Meaning it's easier to do everything remotely. AT&T even calls via wifi. 

Back to DR. I went to the Museum of Revolution. It gives a good perspective. In 1930s onwards there was thus dictator called Rafael Trujillo. Ruthless. Transferred all contracts to his businesses. Killed 1,000-30,000 non white people in the name of gentrification. Craziness of our world. If it's only for this reason I hope everyone gets a DNA test done to know where actually they are from. Then there was a revolution (Lelu even posed with two fingers viva revolucion he said). There was one odd exhibit of the revolution leader. It moves and his speech in background. People singing after.

My head is aching with that sunstroke type thing. (It went away with 1 glass orange juice and 4 glasses of water).

I stayed in Zona Colonial a historic district that's also very touristy in a somewhat good way. They are doing a good job with security and how they maintain the ruins. Christopher Colombus first arrived here. His statues are there. America's first church, first hospital it is all here. A lot has happened in the last 400 years. I mean a rapid, rapid change in our world.

When you actually be with the people, eat their food, breath the air, you somehow remember. I mean our body, our mind knows. We are all so interrelated. We fight because we've forgotten. We think they are different. We think we are different. We hardly are.

Even as we advance with our modernity culturally every place has gotten similar. Uber. Fast food. Mobile phones. Music. Work. Families. Like 80% similar and then some. Then we all have our local stuff like bachata or merengue music in dominican. And then we think my culture, my culture is so great etc. Then we find other people and cultures exotic. Like Miguel the driver of the shared taxi he got so excited to know I'm from India. He did the flowers in hair action and said muy buen for Indian women. Like they do with the fingers. I repeated it in the Uber to the airport with shoot I forget his name Vladimir yes...Vladamir showed me the blue water - it's after the toll area. So blue he kept saying. It was. Muy buen. Very good. He used his finger closing kissing action :)

The hospital I walked in the ruins. There were birds sitting in the ceiling. Something about it. Who would've thought then that hospitals in America would be a thing. 

I walked a lot. Let's see. 2km today. 11.8km yday. 8.1km day before. 11.5km first day. It was nice and sunny. My sun ka headache is gone now. People say it's not safe etc. I didn't exactly find it so. Well it's like any other city. Like NY or Joburg. There are safe areas. There are unsafe areas. 

We need the cities. They are the lifeblood of countries. Connecting one country to the other. They help us pool our resources and build airports for others to come and visit. They make it easy for us by having things we are used to like credit cards and Uber. And they breed problems too from crime to drugs. Late night one drunk called out to me senor senor I ignored. But I walked even in the not lit areas. I liked.

People play dominoes all the time. Like big people mostly. Blaring music. Dominoes. In the rural side, they are simply sitting and watching life go by. I guess that's how it is in India too and elsewhere. Just sitting peacefully. Not rushed. Not feeling that they are missing out on things. Coconut trees (that boy who resembled Jeetu in the shared taxi - he kept trying to make me understand about some coconut and farm). Hot sun. Pollo shops everywhere. I saw one guy cut up Pollo (chicken) with big cutting pliers with a yellow handle. It was odd to see an freshly dead being, inverted, roasted cut up that way with big pliers. 

I ate Haitian food last night at a place called Maison Kreole. Everyone wants you to have a good time with their culture. Had Prestige beer which was stronger than Presidente which I liked. Had how many 6 half bottles this week. It's so hot it just disappears. Anyway my workout has gone for a toss.

I liked going back to that Columbus square. The statue it's weird. Like Columbus is standing tall. And a barely clad young women is trying to climb up to him. Really tells women men attitudes back then.

I got by with Google Translate. But the thing is if they don't know how to write its pointless. I didn't have internet. They spoke too fast. I just said whatever I'd want say. Not understand most of what they said. They didn't understand most of what I said. But yet we connected. Some of us. It was easy to know. Talking, talking and language is a bit overrated. It may be causes more disturbance than helping. We don't have to do anything. We just sometimes simply connect.

Before going to Samana, I took a motorcycle taxi. Surprisingly he was from Serbia. His name was Dalibor. Looked in his late 30s. Very thin. Red t-shirt. I think he said his family or 6 yr old son is in Serbia. His friend from Bosnia came to work as a chef and asked him to come over. But he didn't want to work in the restaurant but he liked the motorcycle taxi life. Everyone has a story. He has a Haitian wife here. I asked him if he'd show me the city. So he did. Took me all around. Rich areas first. Where he said some apartments cost $2m (or did he mean 2m pesos). And government areas. President's house muchas grande (it's a huge palace like structure). He showed me the hotel where Godfather movie was shot. There he used his fingers curling kissing action too. We ate at a Dominican smart casual place. In the end he asked for two thousand (double what I expected). I gave him anyways. Both he and I knew it was more. But he needed the money more. We hugged and he kept indicating his fist to his heart when we left.

I was just there for 3 nights. But it means a whole lot.

Dominican = happy.