Ray: La Vega, Dominican Rep - Carnaval!
Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic
Monday, March 3, 2008
Our short 3 hour trip to La Vega was not without incident, of course. The bus broke down. I needed to use the toilet badly and had to get Jun to ask a local family if I could use theirs. Pretty basic hole in the ground stuff but I was thankful all the same. Trouble is we heard the bus tooting so I guess our replacement had turned up. We made a dash for it and only just got back on. Sarah told me they were determined to leave and kept telling her to get back on the bus so they could go but she refused to saying she was waiting for me. Chi was oblivious to all of this and thought we were all on the bus and didn´t know what all the fuss was about. Our first part of this trip had been interesting because there was a huge argument about politics between a couple of guys which of course dragged in several others. I thought they were going to hit each other at one stage and they must have argued for 2 hours. I think everyone was glad when the bus broke down because it gave all of us a break.
We arrived in La Vega and on leaving the bus we were surrounded by people asking us if we wanted a taxi. Taxi, taxi, taxi. Wherever we moved they moved with us. One guy was shouting, "I want a taxi?! I want a taxi?!" A mistranslation of course and we laughed but refrained from getting smart. We rushed across the road to the relative safety of Burger King and a bit of tea. We apparently were to wait there for Chi´s Japanese friends who were staying in La Vega. We had a good laugh about the service because we´d ask for one thing but get another. Chi kept laughing and telling me this would be good material for my book I would be writing at the end of journey. The Japanese girls finally arrived and we parted ways in the interim. Sarah and I were staying at another hotel.
Unfortunately for us our eventful night hadn´t ended. On arrival we were told our initial room booking wasn´t available so we´d have to pay extra. Well, Sarah argued, in Spanish, that we had made a phone booking asking for two nights at an economical rate. The booking was made but apparently the guy taking the booking didn´t bother to write in economical so we were being given whatever was available and conveniently for them it cost twice what we thought we were going to pay! After much debate we decided to make a stand and said if we didn´t get the economical rate we´d find somewhere else. The guy made a phone call and finally we were told it would be ok. It was sorted but not so the next day and we had to go through the whole thing all over again so we left. What a day!
The next morning while having breakfast we saw on TV a parade taking place so we asked where it was thinking it can´t possibly be in La Vega yet because we´d been told it took place at around 1pm. However, we were, as you guessed it, told it was La Vega so we gulped breakfast down and headed off to see the parade. It was awesome. There were schools from all around and they were marching through the streets in an assortment of colours. They were girls mostly in marching type uniforms and performing a dance routine very similar to marching parades and a little bit of cheerleading. The boys, some of them, were in the band although this consisted of several drums and plastic horns. They took great delight in hitting their drums as hard as they could and blew their horns as loudly as they could. Great fun. The footpaths were filled on either side of people, parents and supporters yelling their appreciation and support. The TV cameras were there too and many street vendors selling food, drinks and souvenirs. It all finished in a couple of hours with a group dressed in crazy costumes. fantastic spectacle.
We had our ordeal with the hotel, left, and wandered along to the hotel the boys were staying. Not first class, not even third, fourth or fifth class but it was ok for just somewhere to sleep for the night. The boys room was hidden away along a narrow corridor which looked very much like a prison and the room definitely so, although I think inmates have better decor and amenities. It certainly dingy and depressing. Anyway we finally got a hold of them only to find out they had gone to a parade at 2pm and we had been to our one at 12. Two different parades. Theirs involved adults dressed up in similar costume and went around hitting the spectators with a rugby ball sized thing. Apparently it hurt if you got hit several times as Jun was. I thought ours was better when we saw some of Chi´s videos. A lot of fun but I thought more people attended the schools thing.
We went out for some food and drinks at 10.30pm because we thought the town would be in party mode but sadly it was not the case. We found one place open but it closed at midnight and we virtually rushed out the doors. Our last night in La Vega. On our way home we went past a wooden runway that had been erected for the parade. Sarah thought it would be great for cart-wheeling along. Pity she was the only one. We had a good laugh watching her in the semi-darkness and then she made me take photos of her! Not easy to get action photos in the dark you know, but I tried. Man, she talked a hundred miles an hour too and we thought she might have been drunk but she said she was just drunk on life. Cheesy but cool. Here we were 1000s of miles away from home enjoying ourselves. Why not. Life is good.
Next day we said goodbye to Chi but not before another story for my book. We decided to go to Burger King for breakfast but on our arrival at 10.30am found it closed. This was hilarious because we´d been reading the advertising a couple of nights ago about breakfasts they supposedly had. We laughed and thought it typical. We´ve often found in restaurants that while they may advertise 20 or 30 items only a handful are actually available. It´s quite funny going "I´ll have this please," and they go "no have," this? no, this? no, what about this? no. Haha.
Sad to say goodbye to another travel friend but Sarah and I and Jun needed to go back to Santo Domingo. Jun because he was flying out to Columbia then home, us, because we were told we couldn´t get to Samana from La Vega, we had to go back to Santo Domingo! Haha. Not the first time that has happened! We got back there without any problems and headed back to Bettye´s. She didn´t have any room so we got one across the road. We said our goodbyes to Jun and left. We´ve had some really good times.
