Tuesday, 23 June 2009

  • Punta Cana Trip - Day Five (her perspective)

    Day 5 - Monday

    It was not the most restful sleep we'd had - lying on top of a comforter - nothing underneath it but a mattress.  I had folded over the edge to give myself a little cover and I fought it most of the night.  The alarm sounded at 5:15 and I just had to lie there for a moment more.  My legs ached.

    I finally got up and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth.  Roberto was asleep on the couch and that made me nervous.  I'd hate to have to wake him, but we need him to guide us.  The bathroom door made a scraping sound.  When I came out of the bathroom he was up and I was glad.

    The day before they had explained how their custom is to make their guests coffee.  Clint loves the coffee here so no real problem for him.  I had said I drink very little coffee and with lots of sugar.  Just as he had done the day before at the church house, Roberto was in the kitchen making coffee for us.  We needed to go and my stomach was not ready for coffee, but there I was being handed a mug, just as I had said, with very little coffee and lots of sugar.  Clint got a full mug black.  We sipped.  It was time to go.  Roberto left the room and I snuck over to the sink and poured mine out.  Clint followed shortly.

    "Ready to go?" I asked.  We grabbed our things and started walking.  I wasn't sure if we were walking to the bus station or where.  Seemed like that would be an even longer walk.  We stopped on one road and waited for a taxi.  The taxi drove us past where the bus had dropped us one the corner.  We turned and could see the bus station was just around the corner.  I almost felt silly but we had been warned not to listen to people telling us where to go because they would get us lost.  Staying put and letting the search party come to you is always the 1st rule of survival.  Maybe we would have been fine, but I felt like we would have drawn more attention to ourselves if we had started wandering around lost.

    So anyway, Roberto stayed with us to make sure we got the right bus and made sure we were comfortable before he left us. I tried to use the bathroom at the station, but on top of not having toilet seats there was no toilet paper either.  Not even a place to hold it.  I skipped that - though my stomach felt upset and I wasn't sure if I would make it.  Our bus was not an express so there would be stops and it was only going as far as Higuey.  Once in Higuey we would need to catch another bus to Punta Cana.  This bus was just as big and nice as the first bus.  They showed a video of a local variety/comedy show.  It was so awful it was funny.  The bus wasn't full so they drove around town with a guy hanging out yelling, "Higuey, Higuey, Higuey!"  We were able to pick up several additional passengers this way.  What made me nervous was that we didn't know what bus stop to get off at.  There was a stop at a big bus station so I walked to the front of the bus to ask the driver if this was where I could catch the bus to Punta Cana.  Men crowded the bus door and a couple, upon seeing me, said "right this way, sweetheart. come with me." (spanish)  I got nervous.

    The bus driver said it was the next stop and I was relieved to go take my seat once again.  We got off at the next stop and no mob was waiting at the door so that was nice.  We saw buses marked 'Sitrabapu' and went straight to them, but they pointed us to a bus that would go directly to Moon Palace.  This bus was much smaller and there were no seats leaft.  I asked if there would be another and they said in 15 minutes.  We'll wait.  As soon as that bus left the station, another pulled in.  It might not leave for 15 minutes but it showed up right away.  there was a sign taped to the window listing their stops and one said 'Mon Palace' so we felt confident with our choice.  Once the seats filled up people kept piling in to stand.  We laughed that the people on the last bus probably thought we were weenies for not standing.  A man got on the bus with a chicken tied to his hand.  I was so excited!  We were true adventurers doing things the hard core way!  A lady in uniform got on our bus with a Moon Palace name tag, so we knew we could follow her and everything would be just fine.

    Back tracking to the previous bus ride, my stomach kept cramping like something bad was gonna happen.  Then, it would calm down again.  I ripped out a sheet of notebook paper and started crumbling it up and really working it in my hands.  clint was so confused and asked what I was doing.  I told him if I didn't feel any better I was using the bathroom in Higuey no matter what.  He seemed impressed with my paper crumbling technique.  Well, my stomach felt fine in Higuey and I was glad for it.  I didn' thave to use my paper after all.

    Our bus made lots of stops and picked up lots of people even thougth there was standing room only.  Finally they called out Moon Palace and several people got up including us.  It looked like we had an uphill hike ahead of us - that's ok.  The man at the door stopped Clint and asked if we were going as clients in which he informed him we were.  Oh no, this is not your stop.  We sat back down and shortly we were pulled up to the front gate.  It was embarassing to be treated as better.  We could ride the same bus, but we couldn't go in the same door.

    I have to admit that the gate that left me no impression in the beginning was a very welcome sight.  We started walking past the guard shack when a tour bus rolled in and they gave us a ride to the door.  Inside was our friend Tony - the man who sat in the back with us the first night.  He was happy to see us and the feeling was very mutual.

    We walked into the lobby and I pulled my cellphone out to let Julie know we had made it, but no sooner had I done so that I saw her standing up ahead.  She was standing there talking with some people, but when she saw us she exclaimed with great joy "You made it!" and grabbed her chest in relief.  We were all smiles and never intended to mention any of the times we felt in danger.  I noticed the lady she was talking to had casts on both arms.  I quickly directed my attention to her.  Apparently she had fallen during one of the rains and broken both wrists.  I felt so horrible for her.

    We headed back to our room. Mmmm. Bed.

    I think this is the day we ate lunch at Cafetto.  I ordered a hamburger and Clint had a chicken panini.  He didn't like his but I thought mine was just fine.  We were worn out and headed back to the room to rest until it was time for me to work that night.  This was the night of the farewell banquet for the first trip.  I had brought a dress to wear and it was nice to get showered and dressed up after feeling so grungy.  I was scheduled to work 6:30-9pm.  Julie allowed us to go into the dinner when it started at 7:30 and eat and listen in.  We had just gotten the list of shuttle departure times for the next day so after the banquet I ended up having to work longer than normal to tell everyone their time.  I know that was a bummer for Clint - but it's part of why we got to go.  10 o'clock came and I was ready to get out of there.  We'd already eaten so we just went straight to the room.  I had to watch TV to unwind like always - Clint fell asleep pretty quick, but I was awake for awhile.  My laptop died and forced me to quit watching the movie and go to sleep.

    I was excited to sleep in because I didn't have to be at work until 1:30 the next afternoon.

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    • From: julamula
    • Posted: 6/23/2009 10:04 AM

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