2005 DR Trip: August 13

Our flight was mostly uneventful. We flew American Airlines from Madison (MSN) to Santo Domingo, changing planes in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Miami (MIA). We were late getting out of DFW, but our pilot made up time by flying directly across the Gulf of Mexico. He explained that it isn’t always possible to do that, because there are sometimes military maneuvers being carried out.

In MIA, we all took a wrong turn, and ended up having to go back through security. It took a long time. I was the last one through, and Vonda waited for me to see if I needed help. I had taken my shoes off to go through security, and didn’t have time to put them back on. Vonda took the heavier of my carry-ons, and we took off running. I found it easier to run in my socks than when I wear shoes. I also used the “fox run” technique my daughter learned at the Wilderness Academy in New Jersey. It helped.

In Santo Domingo, we zoomed through customs: one our Food for the Hungry (FH) friends in the Dominican Republic is friends with someone in the government. She called her friend, and said we were coming with medical supplies and other necessities for the people of Los Botadas, and she didn’t want us to have any difficulties getting through customs. The official sent a document with the FH person that, apparently, authorized her to take us right past the customs checkpoints.

We joined Martires, Almonte, Victor and Maximo, and loaded up the truck. Several men from the airport helped. Then they dunned Dr. Bill for $20, to be shared with all the men. Then they went around and asked each individual member for $1 each. We thought this odd, as we knew Dr. Bill had given them $20, so we flagged Martires. He sent them away. One of them came back and tried again. Jonathan admired his persistence, and said if his company ever expanded to the Dominican Republic (DR), that guy would make a good salesman!

We ate at a pizza place, and it was quite good. It was about 10 p.m. by the time we ate. It was about 11:30 when we got to the camp, and there was no power. The camp is a federally-owned facility, and is a training center for agriculture and industry.

Martires got the main in charge of the camp to come and start up the generator. We were very surprised to see several people camped out in tents. Martires checked with them, and learned they would be gone on Monday.

By the time we’d gotten our room assignments, settled in, and gotten to sleep, it was 2:00 a.m. Susan is my roommate. We were assigned the same room that my husband and I used in 2003.

Between 2 and 6 am, we heard two roosters fighting. The other campers were up and about at 6:00. I got up about 6:15.