Ok here i am, finally after a week in the Dominican Republic (DR starting from now), i finally manage to get to write something!!

The trip to get here was full of adventures, first never transit through the States, this country is getting ridiculous with their immigration rules, i had to pay a full price return ticket 1300€ coz i didn't have a visa for 2h transit!! And avoid Continental Airlines, i lost the conecting flight and got stuck in NY airport for 17h with no hotel, no food, sleeping on the floor (lucky i had my yoga mat!) ... Oh well the good thing is thatin this type of situation you always get to meet people. I met these two amazing 50 years-old Sue and Maria, from Manchester who were going to travel through Latin America for a month. I wish we'll keep on travelling like they do when we will be 50 girls!!!!!

I met the first Dominicans in the plane from NY to Santo Domingo the day after: two ladies who didn't know each other, but in 5 minutes they were laughting out loud in the plane completly histerical, exchanging their mobile phones numbers even if they were way different! One with literally 3 pairs of sunglasses on her chest, each one bigger than the other one, gold, 5cm of nails covered with some weird psychadelic nailpolish.. and the other one very classical, freaking me out asking me how i was getting prepared for judgement day.... But llenas de alegria, that's for sure!

I think it's a good definition of DR so far: it's very contrasted but the joy it's inhabitants are born with brings them together.

Finally getting to Santo Domingo after 2 days of travelling, the heat and humidity hit me. Add to that a cahotic traffic, pollution, 4 people on a motorbike, 6 in a shared car (carro publico), vans with no door replacing the public buses (wa-wa)... wahoo this is far away from the idea of paradisiac beaches everybody was taking to me about. The motorway going to the airport to Santo Domingo is actually along the beach, but as you look closer you realise it has nothing to do with what's in the guidebooks: trash, horrible smell and fishermen still getting there every single day trying to earn a little to live. Cooperation as a lot of work to do!

I got to the office, met my colleagues (2 Dominican Girls Patria and Myriam, my boss Kenia from Honduras) all of them extremely friendly and easy going, and i got straight away to work. It's very exciting i'll be basically working on a Biofuel project and Microcredits project both subject i am really interested in alternative energies and alternative finance systems.. The world is my oyster!!

I can't ask for more, the first night i spent it drinking my first Presidentes (THE Dominican beer, always the freshest, 100 RD$ for a jumbo 1L) with my boss, talking about the doubts i had about Development Cooperation (decisions are taken more by political interest than in the people's interest) the situation or DR and Haiti, which are one of the first colonies after the USA to take their independance and however still struggling due to enormous economic pressure they are having from their former colonists etc.

She showed me what would have been the MACBA in Barcelona, the place where everyone drinks beer they buy at the neighbouhood store (colmado) in the street and where you always meet the same people: Plaza del Duarte in Zona Colonial (the center). There we had a great dinner: pinchos BBQ made out of the trunck of a car! it's unbelievable how people get creative here, they have nothing and manage to set a car, to make a BBQ in the truck, umbrella if it rains, have plates, cuttlery, bread, veggies all for 130 RD$ (around 3€).

On thursday night, we went with my flatmates and their friends to check out a concert a guy i met on Couchsurfing invinted me to at Espiral (used to be called 8 puertas, an gorgeous building from the 16th centruy with 8 doors, 4 on the street, 2 on the exterior patio and 2 on the side) reconverted as a bar and having every night concerts in the patio, beers 2x1), listenned to an interesting fusion between Dominican rythms, eletronic music and african drums and drank my firsts Santo Libre (Rhum, 7up & lime 150 RD$) hmmmm delicious!!

DR has so much more to give than white sand beaches. It's a shame there is none of that written on the tourist guidebooks. Well actually, it may be better, so that only people leaving here and making the effort to get to know the people can have the priviledge to see this side of the country. And i have to admit, the insecurity issue may not invite tourist to get very adventurous: if you are a white girl like me (rubia as called foreigners) you never have to go alone at night time, always take a taxi, be very carefull to book the taxi in advance and not take any out of the street etc etc.

So for the week-end i was good to get away from croudy and cahotic Santo Domingo to get to Cabarete. At the other side of the island, in the North, it took us 5h by bus to get there, but i did worth it! Cabarete is just one little street, along the beach, with a few bar and hostels for the surfers, kite-surfers, wind-surfers.. basically all kind of surfers. Even if it's THE sport for surfers to come, it's still very quiet, Dominicans are not pushed away by the tourist and come to the beach with their famillies or friends. And at night time, everyone mixes together drinking Cuba/Santo Libre, Presidente, dance on some Merengue sound, follow the flow from bar to bar and at the end at the casino where strangely there is a disco. Me, Ariel and Chirstina where at 6am the only rubias left which gave us the opportunity to get free merengue lessons but no surfing lesson the day after, as our brain was melting out of our ears on sunday, we could only crash in the sand ;)

More stories to come... xxxx

La Soph