Sarah: Samana, Dominican Rep - whales and scooters
Trip Start
Dec 27, 2007
1
22
80
Trip End
Dec 28, 2008
Samaná Peninsula,
Dominican Republic
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Dead zones - this part of the world is full of them. Dead zones are the result of a laissez-faire approach to trash: once you or your family has finished eating, or in some other way created some rubbish, you may dispose of it in: a) the ocean, b) the river, c) the lake d) the beach, e) the gutter, f) the park, g) the garden, h) the floor, i) the tree.... or if you can´t find any of the above appropriate places, one of the rubbish bins that say "keep our town clean." (At least someONE out there is trying) The result of this broad policy on trash is the ubiquitous and unpredictable presence of the "dead zone" so named by me because of the resemblance of the smell to that of the dead sheep rotting in the tree lines on my family´s farm. So, frequently when walking through the streets, one of us will say, "dead zone!" and then we hold our breaths (difficult, and worse, if one is eating) and take turns at bravely checking if we´ve past it yet.
So yes, one of the unpleasant parts of the trip, as ray has written about, is the amount of rubbish everywhere, and the obvious disregard people have for their environment: the result is a destructive, stinky, unhealthy eyesore. On one walk around Santo Domingo, we succeeded in finding a small, sheltered beach - there was more rubbish than sand and a couple of scavengers (one dog, one woman) were the only sign of life. I know I sound scathing, and I know one isn´t supposed to be judgemental of third world (well second and a half) countries, but it´s still horrible.
So that, along with the hassling by hawkers, beggars, oversexed men and even primary-school aged boys have been the lowlights of the trip. (it´s disconcerting when ten year old boys are calling out "hey mama, hey mamita (little mama)" when you walk past them. I now turn and scowl at them (as I do the men) and say in English "don´t be rude!". P.S I´m NOT your mama!
On the not horrible but interesting note: spouting. To "have a spout" is something one should do regularly if one wants to keep clean and as stink-free as possible in the tropics. It involves going into the bathroom and turning the taps of what would be a shower if it had a shower-head. Several of the hotels we´ve stayed in don´t have shower heads - I wonder if they fetch a good price on the black market?? - so we´ve made do with having spouts. They´re not too bad provided the pressure is good and the water is warm (neither of which can be guaranteed). But, we can´t complain when we´re paying $15 a night!
Also, for $15 a night, you can´t be assured of 24 hour water - no, I don´t mean 24 hr HOT water, but water full stop. Often the water stops running at 10:30 and doesn´t start again until 7 or 8 in the morning. This is not good to discover after a late-night trip to the bathroom that results in the all-too-common poo soup, or its cousin, poo mash, (an unpleasant side affect of foreign bacteria in the digestive system). We´ve cottoned on now, and fill up empty drink bottles with tap water before nightfall. Have I mentioned that Latin American and Caribbean toilets don´t accept toilet paper? That goes in the trash can beside the toilet. We call them Atkins toilets, after the Atkins Diet cos they only eat protein .... sorry. You just have to hope the trash gets emptied regularly. But hey, at least it´s not just a hole in the ground ... so far...
So, on to the cool things we´ve done here in Samana, other than just lounge around the water front and walk out to some of the islands. Oh, our Italian friend Luca told us they filmed Italian Survivor here. Yesterday, I went whale-watching. Many of the North Atlantic humpback whales breed in Dominican waters, as part of an annual migratory cycle that takes them up the eastern seaboard of the United States and over to the freezing waters of Greenland and Iceland. We were on quite a big boat of about 40 people, but the sea was pretty rough. It was very wise that ray didn´t come with me because of his susceptibility to motion sickness. Several people were throwing up as the boat was lurching forwards, backwards and side to side. At one stage it felt like we were at a 45° angle to the water, sideways. We chased a couple of travelling, solo whales for a while, but all we could see were their spouts. Then we came upon a reproductive group - male, female and calf. Actually, there might have been four. It was really interesting trying to spot them - I learned to look for a "fluke print". This is a calm patch of water on the surface of the otherwise textured, choppy ocean. It´s kind of like a puddle or oil-slick. This is created by the movement of the whales tail, or fluke, under the water as its swimming, creating, iIwas told, a
?vacuum that keeps the water still on top. It´s really hard to spot at first but then really exciting when you do, because it´s the sign of an enormous creature moving around just below the surface of the seemingly empty ocean. A cool feeling. Also, just before the whales surfaced, you would see a pool of light green/light tealy colour. So you can imagine 25 people standing on the top deck of the boat, expectantly scanning the miles of ocean, and when someone yells "3 o´clock!" or "seis!" or "deux heures!" all aforementioned 25 people run to the relevant side of the boat, wavering, falling, grabbing on to anything that will support them, including other people. Everyone quickly learnt to tell the time in English, Spanish and French. We got to see the whales surface several times, including the baby, so we could see about half their bodies. Then sometimes, if they dove quickly enough, we could see the tail rise up. Unfortunately, we didn´t get to see any breaching, which is when they do their "jumps" and lift their whole body in the air. I got some great photos of the surface of the ocean - very difficult to catch the whales with the slow response of the digital camera, you almost have to pre-empt their movements. Oh, what was cool was when the group swam under the boat, apparently curious of the sounds and vibrations of the boat. Of course we were all waiting with great anticipation to see where they would surface.
That afternoon, after returning from the boat trip, we hired a scooter and went scootering around the peninsular. It was fantastic to have the freedom to go anywhere, feel the wind in my hair (or in my ropes, as ray calls the braids) and yes, I like the speed. Well, only made it to about 65kph as the scooter has only one gear, but it felt fast! I didn´t tell ray that the back brake wasn´t really working, which is ok, cos most of the time going down hill you only use the front brake, but when you turn a corner, you´re supposed to use the back brake (as I found out in one slippery, bloody incident on the farm when I was about 10). I just told him we were going so fast because of all the weight we were carrying. Road rules, like rubbish bins, are either non-existent or not used very much. There are no road signs, no road markings, and you just have to work out what you´re supposed to be doing by what everyone else is doing (and what direction they´re driving in). You don´t have to use indicators (in fact you stand out if you do) and you can park anywhere, any way on either side of the road. BUT, you can honk the horn on approaching a blind intersection, and if you´re the first to honk or you don´t hear any other honks, you just cruise through. Most of the streets we´ve met on our trip are on way, which makes for ease of movement, but if there are no other cars around, you can´t really work out which way is the one way. Anyway, this rule doesn´t apply to motorbikes or scooters. Also, you don´t have to wear helmets, and there is no limit to the number of people who can ride a motorbike - the only limit is how many bums you can fit on the seat. We´ve routinely seen families of four riding around on a bike, and often we´ll have a guy drive past on a bike asking us if we want a lift. Can you imagine me, Ray, and the driver driving round town on his scooter?
Speaking of getting a lift, iIve mentioned how we´re always being asked, hassled or accosted by people with whatever sort of "taxi" they´re offering. A new one in La Vega was people following us with our luggage yelling, "I need a taxi?! I need a taxi?!". Refrained from being too derisive. We´ve considering getting t-shirts made that say "No we don´t want a %#&"n taxi!" or better still, just "NO!" Maybe I should write in on my forehead.
So, we head back to Santo Domingo in a couple of hours and then tomorrow fly to Sao Paolo, Brazil. New continent, new country, new language (dammit).
Really excited - South America!
