TravelStream™ news feed for member aberweger on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/aberweger en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:53:32 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aberweger/1/1193321700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aberweger/1/1193321700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aberweger/1/1193321700/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:53:32 -0400 Dominican Republic - what an amazing island

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Zürich, Switzerland

In Madrid we take off at 09:30 am and we're landing at 11:35 am in Zurich! Home...sweet home...! Laura, my best girlfriend and my father anticipate me at airport. We're happy to see each other again and that we didn't have any problems or troubles... It's very strange to be here.. back in the civilized Switzerland!! I still wear Flip-Flops, sommer pants and just a shirt... but damn... it's cold here!!! Everybody wear a coat... brr... So I change my clothes at the airport and we drink a cup of coffee at Starbucks Coffee... But I'm not here.. no definitely not... I'm still on an island... beautiful Caribbean.. beautiful Dominican Republic... and I know.. I have to go back.. I will go back! Whenever the time comes for the next trip...____________________________________________________________ ___________________ ¡hasta la vista!
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Madrid, Spain

So we drive with a taxi to the airport in Santo Domingo. Check-in our bags and go through the passport control. We have still some time and so we buy some Dominican coffee in the shops and drink something in a take away. Undelayed can we enplane at 05:15 pm (Swiss-Time 11:15 pm). I don't realize that I really leave this country!! I'd give my right arm to stay here.. but no chance.. not now... so we take off and leave the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean behind/under us! I have much time to revue this last days.... and the first time that I have tears in my eyes; the situation / the memories are so sad, yet so beautiful at the same time.9 hours later we're landing in Madrid, Spain. It's 08:00 am. I haven't slept in the plane.. but I'm not tired.. So in Madrid we buy something at Starbucks Coffee and go to our next plane! :-)
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Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

...damn... the time goes definitely to fast! It's already our last day here! Or half day... I stand up at 06:00 am to go down to the beach and see the sunrise! Woooow.... you definitely have to see this! It's AMAZING! Really.... spectacular and just... wow... ! So I'm at the beach, walk along and take many photos! I go swim and I feel really just satisfaction, peace and ya... everything seems to be fine. You forget all the troubles at home.... you're here... right now... at this place ... the sun goes up... and you're just amazed!! That's what I feel.... that I never want to go away from this place... But ya... how it is... unfair but reality... the minutes and hours pass by... we eat our last breakfast and go back down to the beach. I swim with Daniel in the sea and we have a very good time...;-). It starts raining and wow.... it's just perfect! Ya... I go to the restaurant to have dinner with the others. We have to pack our bags and check out in the lobby. For the last time I go down to the beach, fill some sand from the beach in a bottle and have the last minutes with Daniel... We have to say goodbye... we change our numbers and ya... hope to keep in touch. :)
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Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic

Our 3rd day at the beach. After a good breakfast we make a boat trip together. With Daniel from the Sea Pro Divers Team. It's amazing to see the beaches from the boat! The weather is great & we have a good time on this trip! I think like 30 minutes later we're back in the hotel. We swim and then we have lunch together. After this Moni and I go to the Spa of the hotel and get a massage! For 30 minutes. It's relaxing pure and exact the thing that we need. After this recreative time we go back to the beach. I feel like a sponge! Full of oil and slippery! :) So we're back at the beach and I want to drive banana boat. Moni & Gabriela pass. So I go to the Sea Pro Divers and finally does Daniel drive the boat & Wilfred, Demetrio and I sit on the banana!! It's sooo funny and really worthwhile! Daniel drives very fast and from time to time we all fall down in the water!! We have so much fun together. After this 30 min. tour we're back at the beach and decide to go swim! So Monika & Gabriela join us and so we 3 swiss girls are with this 3 dominican boys.. :) We talk (english), make jokes and have a very fun time! :) I get to know Daniel better..and it's very interesting.. Ya.. we have a good time in the sea... tell us much and Daniel teaches me a little bit in spanish... So either ... the time goes fast and it's already time for dinner! I say goodbye to Daniel and the others and we 3 girls go up to our rooms. We take a shower and talk in our rooms. Hans (the other swiss employee which is in an other city) told us that he wants to come this evening to have dinner with us. Because it's our last day here in the Dominican Republic! So we wait in our rooms till he phones us. At 07:00 pm the ring phones and it's Hans. He's in the lobby of the hotel. So I'm the first who goes down. The other 2 have to get ready. So.. I come down... and woooow... there is not just Hans... Juan is also there!! What surprise. He who was always with us in the first week... who drove us to the public beach, to this hotel and just showed us everything!! What a great surprise! I'm very happy to see him. So.. Monika & Gabriela come also down and we have a lot to talk about. Either has Juan to go back to Santo Domingo. He doesn't have time eat with us dinner... he has an other meeting. But it's just great to see him for this time! So... we have to say goodbye to him one more time... and the last time!! Hans stays with us and we eat together in the restaurant of the hotel. We have a delicious dinner and our last drinks all together in the Dominican Republic! Hans goes back to his hotel and we three walk along the beach and go to our rooms to sleep.It was a great - amazing last day in the Dominican Republic. The weather, the boat trip, massage, banana tour, swimming with the guys in the sea, the see again with Juan & Hans and the dinner with Hans!
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Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic

After a good night in a super hotel we eat breakfast. Veeery good! Fresh fruits, pancakes, omeletts, toasts, different breads, cornflakes,..... everything you need! After this we start with our beach-program! :) Relax & enjoy. We lay in the sun on our deck-chairs and sun-bathe. Swim in the sea and go back to your deck-chair. :) Anytime Wilfred comes. He's from the Sea Pro Diver Team. He tells us about the different activities that they make. Like snorkelling, diving, boat trips, banana boat, surfing,.... Gabriela and I decide to go snorkelling! We really want to do this! At lunchtime... suddenly it starts raining! We're eating lunch in the restaurant and already think... oops... so we can't go snorkelling! Just an hour later is the sun back! *jipii*...  So.. we go to the house of the Sea Pro Divers Team and then we go with Almondo and an other guy from the team and an other tourist snorkel! We drive with the boat along the beach and have a great time! Snorkelling is awesome and we see a lot of beautiful underwater "things", animals, plants,.... Starfishes, colored fishes, lobsters, a ray, ....! Great experience. After the snorkel we come back to our beach and we just swim a little bit in the sea. Go to the room, take a shower and have dinner! It's sooo funny... We (by the way... we=Monika, Gabriela & me... all from the same office in Switzerland)... have so much fun together and ya.. it's just funny ... hehe... we kid around with the employees of the restaurant and... we order a Caipirinha after Banana Mama after after after,... Gabriela and I go to the disco and start dancing! We love the latin music & dance styles! But we're not very good with. But we dance with local men. So... it's very funny and easy. :) They know how to dance. ;) After a spontaneously midnight-swim in the sea we go back to our rooms and yeah... there were some other occurrences this night... but psst... whatever in the Dominican Republic happens - stays in the Dominican Republic. :-)
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Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic

Ya... our happy day!! As agreed Juan comes with his wife Marie to our hotel and he helps us with the check-out. We drive to a public beach! It's amazing there.. The sea, the local people... just everything! There we meet coincidentally our other swiss employee Hans. He walked with some colleagues along the beach and decide to swim at this place! Great to see him again! It's just wonderful. We're swimming in the sea and it starts raining!! I LOOOVE this! You're in the warm sea and it just starts raining! Wonderful - wonderful - wonderful! We have so much fun there... There is a little kitchen from some local people with some tables and we order a lunch. We have fish of course, rice, ananas,.... (see photo) It's just delicious. I lovin it to be under local people. To see how they live and not to have any extra-tourist-care!After this afternoon-lunch Juan drives us to the Coral Hotel in Juan Dolio. We're so happy to be there. We check-in and have to say goodbye to Juan and Marie! It's really hard to say goodbye to Juan! He's just such an amazing man and we don't know what we would have done without him! Thanks!! ;) So.. we come in our rooms and are really just happy! Fall in my bed and have just a smile on my face! Of course we go down to the beautiful beach! The hotel is fantastic! Not too big and not too small! Really perfect! I will come back to this place! So... we swim in the sea, enjoy the beach and sun! After this first swim in the new area we go for dinner. There are different restaurants in the hotel. Some with special food like mexican or dominican. But we always eat by the buffet. You have a huge assortment and everything is fresh and looks great! After dinner and a shower we walk through the hotel area. My employee tries her luck in the Casino. ;) Vainly. We have a drink, walk at the beach and then go back to our rooms and sleep. :-)
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San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic

So... today we move from our hotel in Santo Domingo to a hotel in San Pedro de Macorìs...! In the morning we eat unhurried breakfast and pack our bags. In the hotel we have a electrical power outage (not the first one in this week).. and so.... they had some troubles... but I think it's not an unusual thing there and so everybody is relaxed,...! :) We walk through the colonial zone. We visit the first church in whole America and an amber-museum which leads a swiss man! We go back to the hotel and pack our last things into the bags. We check-out of the hotel and Juan comes with the car. We drive to the beach. We already know a hotel in San Pedro de Macorìs - there we have a reservation. But Juan tells, that we have also an other reservation. So we drive to the Oasis Hamin Hotel. It's very touristic I think... and HUGE! But we didn't have a reservation anymore. We don't know why.. but they can't find one of our name in the system! But it's better... I don't want to be in such a tourist place! So we drive on to the next hotel. The Hotel Coral Costa Caribe. This looks very nice. Also hygienic, the employees are friendly,... but they don't have a free room anymore! It's weekend-time. :( ... But they say that we can come tomorrow! So we drive to the Hotel Playa Esmeralda in San Pedro de Macorìs. It's very small in the contrast to the others two. But it looks ok and nice. After check-in Juan says goodbye and we go into our single-rooms. Take the bikini and go down to the beach. The weather is amazing and a great atmosphere... But either.. after the first minutes in the water we notice, that it's not the "kind of hotel" that we looked for. The beach is VERY SMALL!!! Really... like 30 meters or so!!! We decide to call Juan and tell him our problem with this hotel. He promise to come in the evening to look and take us to an other hotel! -- our saviour -- After a drink we go back to the rooms and I want to take a shower...! Not a very good idea. The bathroom is full of mildew and there's just veeery cold water. After a couple of minutes... wumm... there is no water anymore! -.- ... So i go in my towel to the room of my employee Moni, knock on the door and go there under the shower and wash the shampoo out of my hair. We go down for dinner. We're very hungry, 'cause we haven't eat any lunch. So.. we hope that there's a good and big buffet... Forget it! Everything looks very unappetizing and unhygienic! So... after some pieces of melon there comes suddenly a local woman from our company. (Never seen before). She tells us some weird things... don't know... about an other hotel,... however...we say that she can go back... 'cause Juan will come... Ya... jiha... and he comes with his wife. We tell him what we think about the hotel, the situation and that we're definitely not happy here. So we get in the car and drive back to the Coral Hotel. We make a reservation there for the next day. Happy and satisfied we drive back and make a stop by a little supermarket on the street. We buy some things to drink and eat and Juan & I eat also a hamburger from a little "street stand"... I have to say that I don't like hamburgers from McDonalds, Burger King or so... no no... but damn... this one is just amazing!!! Really!  :D So... at this place we meet a german man. He moved to the Dominican Republic 10 years ago & he tells us some things about the country,... the change in this time etc. Ya.. we drive back to the hotel and Juan promises that he will come on the next morning to bring us to the other hotel. In the Playa Esmeralda Hotel we go down to the beach drink something and talk talk talk talk talk... Ya.. happy that we can change the hotel tomorrow ... we all drift off in our beds!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aberweger/1/1192795200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aberweger/1/1192795200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aberweger/1/1192795200/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:40:03 -0400 Dominican Republic - what an amazing island

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Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

4rd day... last whole day in Santo Domingo!After breakfast in the hotel we drive with Juan to the National Office of our company in Santo Domingo. We see into the different departments and learn the CRS-Team known. They show where they have projects in the Dominican Republic and what their daily business is. Juan has to do some different things in the office and after this we drive with him through the city. He shows us the best places to buy souvenirs,... We buy Dominican rum in a supermarket, post cards, coffee in an original old coffee house & see a lot of the city! For lunch we're in the Pizza-Hut restaurant in the colonial zone. Then we go back to the hotel... First I just lay down on my bed.. I have some stomach cramps... don't know why.. but don't feel very well... This evening is the last one where we are all together. 'Cause tomorrow we three women will drive to the beach. The other employee (Hans) has a meeting in an other city.... So we decide to go for the last time to our favourite restaurant "Harry's". On this place is the party "Santo Domingo de la fiesta"... not a huge thing.. but with live music & dance. It's great! There's a really good acapalla-group! Either I don't know the name of them! After dinner we sit in front of the stage and a couple of minutes later my employee Gabriela is already dancing with a local man. After this little dance session we go to the Hard Rock Café for our last drink there. The Strawberrie-Juice is just... mjami... :) The day was in contrast to the others not so hectic. But that's good. So we had a little bit time do think about the last days... the things that we saw and heard!
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Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Already the 3rd day... Time goes fast!!As every morning we have breakfast in the hotel & Juan pick us with the car. Today we visit an other project! The project "Canaan". It's circa an hour from the center of Santo Domingo located. It's more in nature than the El Piño project & it's less urban.First we attend a school. The kids sing for us and tinkered some flowers. We distribute some Sugus and Ballons & talk with the teacher. The children are so cute and they take much pleasure in our photos. They always want that we take a picture of them and then they want to see it on the display of the digital cam! We attend also an other school. The kids bring a poem forward. After this we come to a room with many people from the project. With locals. There are pastors, teachers, mothers & fathers,.... Several people which help with the new project. Canaan is a new project & now they were for 1 year in the set-up period. In this group with the local people they tell us what they have done in this last year, what they want to do in the future and what the next steps are. Everybody wants to report us what their job is, her motivation, her proud of all this,....! It was a long meeting and either didn't we understand very much .. 'cause they speak just Spanish and Juan wasn't able to translate the whole meeting (was just too much stuff...) But it was very impressive to see and hear how much their dedicated!! At the end they say thank you for like 100 times! They hug us and I really see that they mean what they say... Impressive again...After this it's already lunch time. So they bring many meals for all and we have lunch with them. We talk with several people & many kids come from the school to this place. We make photos and had a good time. Especially one girl (see photo --> Carolina) is so cute and ya... very pretty. In the afternoon we visit different families. Families with horrible, unimaginable destinys...! A mother of 3 children... her husband were shooted! Without any reason.... A Mother with 10 kids.... the husband splitted... some of the children of her are ill... herself is ill...! We visit a teacher and around the house stand 3 boys... Juan tells us, that we have to hide our digicams.... after the visit we get in the car and drive forward. The boys are still behind us... Juan is uneasy and worried! He doesn't want that we go out of the car anymore!! So... we drive around... one employee of me (a man) goes with a local employee to an other family. We stay in the car! After the last visit we drive back to the hotel. Take a shower & Juan picks us up & drives with us through the city. He shows us some places like the palace of the president and then we drive to the sea to a sea-food restaurant! The fish looks really *bombed* ... but it's good. :) Then, Juan shows us the red-light milieu of Santo Domingo. He drives us back to the hotel and we go to the restaurant "Harry's" to have a drink together and enjoy a Flamenco-performance.Back to the hotel, write my impressions down & sleeeeep.... Impressive day ... as all the others... and all the eyes of the kids.... just amazing... really... indescribable!...
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Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

So.. our 2nd day in Santo Domingo.After a very intensive day yesterday it goes on... in the same speed.We have breakfast in the hotel and Juan pick us up with the car. We drive again to the office and meet José, the project manager. Today we visit some sponsor childs! But first we are with the employees together and they explain us what they're doing,... we asked a lot and it was very interesting to come to know how the work of our company in this country works! So it was very interesting. Juan translates us everything from Spanish to English. After 1 1/2 hour we drive to the first sponsor child! It's a boy and he's the sponsor child from one of the employees (Gabriela) of me. We meet his mother, brother and sister and talk and play with them. It was a very special moment and very fascinating. To see how poor they live and how happy they're about our visit! Gabriela gives the kids some presents and of course their eyes are sparkling like diamonds!! After this first visit we drive to an other mother with 2 daughters. We talk with them, give them some gifts from the sponsor in Switzerland and after this visit we drive back to the family therapy center to have lunch with the other employees. We eat lunch and visit 3 other familys. The last one was the sponsor child from my sponsor here in Switzerland. After these visits Juan drives us back to the hotel. We go to a supermarkt to buy some water and our first beer. We're back in the hotel lobby and have our first Dominican beer! "Presidente" of course! We go all to our rooms and take a shower. We decide to eat dinner in the Hard Rock Café. I love this restaurant/bar/shop,... however! Of course.. it's not typical Dominican... but it was really good! I had Fajita con Camendo (shrimps)! Delicious! After this good meal we allow us a drink. Piña Colada! Awesome...Ya... it was also a very long, intensive and eventful day! One day more with so many memories, images, impressions... So.. I drift off and dream of the many cute kids I saw this day...
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