Simon y Luis su la Calle

Hard to imagine that it's been less that 24 hours since we left JFK, this has been a very full day.

Brain is so fried, I don't have the resources to write proper paragraphs and details, the narrative will have to wait until later. Here's an itemized mini recap:

• Jet Blue flight 731 at 9:40PM to Santiago, Republica Dominica, landing at 2:55AM.
• Befriended Juan-Luis and Angie, two a brother and sister pair who introduced us to their family and helped us get out of the airport in with a bargain taxi fare.
• 2 hour taxi ride from Santiago to Sosua in the pouring rain and rotten roads
• Lou's first experience with an LPG powered car: "Scott, is this safe? Should we step out of the vehicle?"
• No one in Sosua has heard of our hotel, nor can they or our driver read a simple map. It doesn't help that "Hotel Koch" is nearly unpronouncable en español.
• Finally giving up on the hotel and having the driver let us off at nearly 6am next to PJ's 24 hour restaurant and bar. Somewhat sketchy.
• No sooner do we leave the taxi does a pimp and his prostitute ride up on a motorcycle. "Sa kafe," she says, a Creole greeting that means "What's up". Hatians. Cool.
• Antionio, our waiter at PJ's helps us get comfortable. We have a tasty breakfast of huevos con queso. Luis calls and locates our hotel.
• We check into the hotel, a spare but clean bungalow on the top floor with an enormous balcony patio overlooking the pounding surf.
• Luis and I get some serious sleep for two hours. We wake up to clear skies, a pleasant Carribean humidity and inviting waters.
• Chatting with the daughter of the hotel's owner, Felix Koch. Gisella and her father are part of a very small Dominican Jew population that came here fleeing the holocaust when most other countries (including the USA) we're refusing refugees. Mr. Koch is 89 years old and fading fast, but he's lived his adult life here and enjoys a quiet peace on his property by the sea. Gisella speaks fluent English and tells us all about the Jewish population and helps us get our bearings. Too bad the synagogue and Jewish museum will be closed until after we leave here.
  
• Walking around Sosua, mostly dodging Hatian shopkeepers. They love it when I say "Non, mesi!" (Creole for "Non, merci!"). We pick up a tube of Peroxicam cream from the local pharmacy. I plan on getting some more, who wants one?
• Lunch at the Austrian owned place next to the hotel. Luis charms the pants off our waitresses while I practice my spanish.
• Negotiating a taxi (20 pesos, about $0.80 total) to take us 1 mile down the road to the Caribe Tours bus station, from whence we'll depart tomorrow afternoon to back Santiago.
• Avoiding a rip off of $5 to get a ride on a motorcycle back that same mile.
• Picking up supplies at the Super Mercato. They have the individual sized UHT milk here. The best travel snack! Peanut butter and various breads for snacking along our travels. Luis doesn't trust my choice of a German dense black bread. He sticks with the all-wheat white.
• A short nap and then a stroll down to La Playa Sosua (the beach). Along the way we get caught in a rainstorm and duck into a bar for something to drink. I have a Brahma beer and Luis has a chilled glass of coconut milk, hacked from the fruit right in front of us.
• Back down to the beach. Dissapointing, there's lots of people and the water isn't very warm and instead of sand below the waterline, there's cratered concrete. We can do better. Oh yeah, it starts pouring on us too.
• Back to the hotel to dry out and shower up for dinner. Luis and I sit on the patio and watch the sunset, chatting about whatever.
• Wandering around for dinner, finding finally a very good smelly Italian restaurant run by real Italians. The carbonara is up to snuff! Dinner conversations with Rob, the British stock broker.
• Internet cafe to write this blog.

Tomorrow, we're going to get up early and enjoy the beach before the afternoon rains come. Then, it's down to Santiago for the night before we head off for our next destination. All is well, all is spent. Stay tuned. There should be some pics up on smugmug now by the time you read this.

Buenos Noches!