"mmurie's new Dominican Republic Page" Dominican Republic by mmurie

Hello and welcome to this marvellous country: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
I was there in summer ?99 for work training in a 5-star hotel resort in Punta Cana, maybe you know it better by Playa B?varo. This resort is about 60 km away from the closest town: Hig?ey, known by its important cathedral.
The first sight I had was amazing, the international airport being? how can I find a word? different! Its roof was made of straw! A hotel porter drove me to the resort and I was petrified when I saw the magnificience of those hotels.
On february, first contact with the manager of the resort was made, and on 25th June I was already there, alone, among coconuts, palmtrees, white sand and crystal clear water?

I was to work at the front desk of one of the three hotels, the only one exclusively with Dominican citizens as staff. They welcomed me in a very friendly way and soon I became one more.

Accommodation was given by the hotel (a junior suite!!) and I was sharing my room with Bel?n, who later became one of my closest friends.
She was one of the 12 people who came in training, like me! That was great! I was the youngest (20) but I didn?t mind.

I must say this was the best summer of my life, I lived in a different country, with different people I learnt a lot about human being and attitudes people can have in some moments.

We only had one day off per week so I couldn?t go too far. It was normally on Sundays and only a few of my mates were off the same day, but any change to do a little excursion was welcome! One of the day-trips we made was to La Romana; this place is known by its reproductions of a roman theatre, and also because Apocalipsis Now was shot there. It?s a very nice town! I went there with Roberto, from Guatemala and Jordi, from Barcelona. We ate in one of the hundreds of Pica Pollo there are in the country. I have a very nice souvenir from La Romana: We took a "motoconcho" (taxi-moto, the cheapest way to move!) to the bus station. When I got out I burnt my leg with the exhaust pipe. It didn?t hurt a lot but now I have a big mark on my leg!

Other days we just to Hig?ey to spend the day having a walk and others we went to Plaza B?varo a fli market where you have to haggle over for everything! Normally one has to ask the 10% of the price they said. When the shop assistant asks you 100 offer him 10! Then you will win!
And the most part of the days just were spent on the beach with friends or having for a walk. Carlitos was my very best friend during those three months and he knows I miss him a lot. We used to spend hours talking about the management of the resort and the excessive control that managers had on workers like us.

Once I worked 15 days without pause and could have 3 days off!!!!! It was the BIG opportunity! I picked up my bag and I went with Ingrid, my best college at the reception desk, to Santo Domingo!
We took the bus in front of the hotel (it was amazing, she knew the time tables and there was no information written anywhere!) This bus left us in Hig?ey where we took another bus to Santo Domingo, again without timetable information!
Before starting our last stage of this loooong journey we bought some bottled-water and a kind of cheese which tasted like a sort of? plastic! It was horrible? but I was hungry.
The bus started running and we just fell alseep. The last stage would last about 3 long hours and we were on our way for already 2 hours? The bus was full of people with bags, pillows, only hens were left!
Once we finally arrived, we took a taxi. They work in a very different way they do in Barcelona, can be sahred ( the one we took were 7 passengers in!!!) and always do the same rout. This is a very cheap way to move through jam caos!
But with enough money one can also take a taxi with counter? if you can guess which of those hundreds car is a taxi?!
We went to her cousin?s house to leave our luggage and went out to pick her friends up. After some delicious and cheap hot dogs (only 1.5USD) we went to a disco, I?m so sorry I can?t remembre the name? too much rum! It was a non smoking disco? that could be impossible in Spain! So I had to smoke some fags outside, where two guys were bidding me up like some fish at the market!
Ingrid, her friends, and I were sat, just there? I wanted to dance but they told me to wait? to wait? to wait what? They said: You must stay here until one of the men asks you to dance. WHAT? I took their hands and crept them to the ring. First they were shy? but later? WAW! Crazy! Everybody was looking at us like saying: what the h? are they doing? I spent there one of the best nights of my life!
Next day we slept until noon and in the afternoon we had to take the bus back to Punta Cana. My hangover was really huge, I can?t remember the trip back.

It wasn?t weird to find two or three blackbeetles behind my handbag, or a frog inside my room, or even a tarantula in at my door. Once, I was at the reception desk and thousands and thousands and thousands of mosquitos invided the desk, I counted about 17 bites in just 3 minutes!