Nima, Caryn, Ryan, Stephanie, Amy, Other Ryan, and myself played some volleyball yesterday and were joined by Noah, Oli, and Tiger. It was a great game, as we didn’t keep score, but did surprisingly well. I think I’m really getting the hang of the communication part of the game, which is the most important part and the hardest one to get right. The bump, set, spikes were numerous, and the terrible hits were few by all. I am looking forward to playing each monday from now on. I was really glad Steph was able to join as she wasn’t expecting to be able to get out of work until later. Nima and Caryn also had just come from the airport, making it on time perfectly.
We got up early and Carlos and his mother drove us to the airport. We got on the first flight, and I forgot my water bottle in the airport there. We got to Miami and had a really long layover. Customs wasn’t bad, so Steph and I walked along the terminal a few times. Steph also got a massage. On the flight from the Dominican to Miami I sat next to a baby in the lap of a woman, the baby was grabbing in touching everything, and smelled a lot like poo. The flight from Miami to SF was uneventful. I was sooooo ready to get home. Steph’s parents came to pick us up and we got back to her place. We started the day at 5:30, but with the time change that was equivalent to 2:30. I watched the new Venture Brothers with Nick, Robert, Candice, and Robert’s Coworker.
We got going late in the day and took Jack and Stephanie to the airport. We also dropped off the rental car while there. Carlos then took us to a nice little bakery and we ran some errands. The bakery was the wooden spoon and the place that made the oreo cheesecake. We headed to old town to visit the amber museum, chocolate museum, and columbus house. The chocolate museum had a tasty chocolate tea that Steph and I got a lot of. We got back to the house in time to party a good bit with carlos family, although Steph didn’t join in.
We had a really nice tuesday in the Dominican Republic. We got up early to get to the dive shop but once we got there we realized it cost more than we had thought and I ran by an atm to get the extra. The dives were great as we went to Catalina Island to a place called the wall and the aquarium. We got 4 lionfish on the dives and 2 of then were big enough to eat. The lionfish was pretty tasty as it wasn’t fishy and was very light. I would love to get some more lionfish fillet. We played some volleyball and had lunch on the island as the dive master Igor told us how he ended up being in the Dominican Republic. He wad s really relaxed guy as was the whole staff. During the dives we saw some rays some eels lots of corals and sponges and fish of all kinds. When boating back to shore we had a fun ride with a few flying fish jumping out of our way. When we got back to shore the others were just driving up and we went to a restaurant for a apetizer that carlos liked which was starch stuffed with meat and fried. We went back to the house and relaxed had dinner and played Settlers.
We were hoping to go to the caves today but they are closed on Mondays. We also couldn’t go to the private beach because there was construction. It seems that Monday is a great day to be closed in the Dominican Republic. We went back to the gated houses and hung out at the pool. We got drinks at the swim up bar even though the actual swim up bar area wasn’t functional the wait staff brought it out to us at the swim up bar.
We played 500 which was fun. The pina coladas were delicious. We stopped by a truck stop for lunch and got some of the local food. It gave all of us a sleepy attitude and we went back to the house and got a couple hours of sleep. When we woke up we brought out the chips and played a game of Settlers. Since scuba was the next morning we decided to call it early.
we left early for the city. At the city we had a great breakfast at a little diner. I got a delicious orange juice and eggs. With breakfast I had mashed plantains which were goos and tasted like mashed potatoes with a little more sweet. The mashed plantain was called Mangu. I didn’t think plantains could be that savory. we then headed to the mall to go to a bank. Steph took out a good bit of money for the both of us. After that we went to a butchers shop to pick up some tasty meat. We then stopped by carlos house and met with his parents and 3 dogs. Amber was so much bigger than I remember. his parents gave us each a mango from their tree which were very sweet and messy. If mangos were always that good I’d get them more often. We stopped by the grocery store and picked up a ton of food and drink. Then we stopped by a place that served ham pulled pork and cheese sandwiches.
We went back to the house and hung out in the pool for a bit. Steph was really tired and couldn’t get to sleep so we switched rooms with Brian and Brittany. We had an underwater swimming competition and I almost got to four lengths of the pool. We then played a card game called Oh Hell.
Carlos started making burgers and brittany made some baked potatoes. After dinner everyone was ready to crash so we went to sleep decently early. I slept mostly well but tonight I’m going to have a glass of water ready amd ill leave the ac on all night.
We slept in today and got going close to 10. We went to the Cave of Wonders this morning and it was certainly wonderous. No pictures were allowed in the cave to preserve the cave paintings, but I took a picture of the front of the pamphlet.
The cave itself was huge and we only saw about a third of it. The cave was at least 40 feet high and the caverns were 100 feet across or so. There were a group of tree roots coming in from outside. the roots combined with the cave formations to make fantastic patterns.
After exiting the caves through an elevator we hung out with some iguanas. They got to be rather large and we were able to get into the pen with them. Only steph Brittany and myself got into the pen.
We went into the city and got lunch at a great cafeteria style restaurant. We let steph do her women in engineering thing and went to old town afterwards. In old town we went to the cathedral, the fort, and the hiuse owned by Christopher Columbus.
When we got home and settled down we played some poker. I was the first out and I was kind of glad about that.
We didn’t do much this morning. Around noon we went to the beach and everyone else had lunch there.
I took a good long walk and got to talk to Derick about a good many things. I really liked the walk because I’ve been feeling restless from inactivity. A quick rain storm came up and we all ran under the big roof. Carlos ordered lunch then so we waited around. Steph took a coconut from a l ocal for free and then took another for me that he later said was not free. I thought it was tricky but he didn’t get the 100 he wanted just the 65 I had. We went back to the house and played a game of settlers. I did terribly and even failed in king making to get Brittany to win.
We had a good dinner of mangu and kabobs. The kabobs were really good and brittanys mangu was also fantastic. The mangu is something that I might want to try making at some point.
After diner we had a bit of hookah and played dominican dominoes. Jack and angel won the first game but steph and I got the second.
We slept in that morning and had a good swim in the pool behind the house. After the swim Steph and I went on a walk and saw all the really nice houses in the area. For lunch we went to a really nice beachside restaurant and got to sit on a nice couch. It was a supremely relaxing lunch.
We went into the city to see the tres ojos caves. They were more like giant open holes but impressive. There was a fourth thay had completeky caved in and was still impressive as it was the largest. We got to take a small raft across one of the lakes and it was exciting to ride it into the darkness.
Stephanie got sick on the way to the cigar store so we stopped by carlos aunts house for something for stephanie. She and jack went to carlos house to wait for us. She still wasn’t feeling good after we got done with the cigar store.
We then went to the old square near the Columbus house at a place called the Wooden Leg. It was a really nice dinner and a great way to end the vacation. We were there a lot later than expected, but it was still really nice.
It's an Exciting World 