To say Lynn is a colorful character would be an
understatement. She is in her 70’s and
more active than me and Larry combined.
She lives on “Suits Us”, a tiny little sailboat here in the harbor. She has been in Luperon for over 6
years. She knows everyone and
everything there is to know about this place … at least, her opinion of
it. She has an opinion on everything
and just loves to share it. She can
talk your ear off.
Darren is an American here, visiting relatives (from what I
can gather). He said his sister-in-law
owns Wendy’s bar … the place where we had hotdogs last night. I really can’t seem to get his story
straight but to my understanding, his (male) friend has an apartment here in
Luperon and Darren is staying with him (maybe they’re a couple … I don’t
know). He’s mentioned something about a
boat in the harbor too so I think his friend has a boat that Darren will soon
travel on. Darren has spent
considerable time in this area (on and off) so knows the area very well but
doesn’t know Puerta Plata as well as he’d like so is taking this opportunity to
go with us as Lynn shows us around.
Regardless of his story, he was a really nice guy … very laid back …
and is a nice balance between Lynn and
reality.
We took a gua-gua to Imbert. Okay, gua-gua is pronounced gwa gwa. It is the typical college prank of how many people can you fit
into a volkswagen beetle at one time?
Well that’s what they do only instead of using Volkswagens, they appear to
be some beat up old cars that you wonder if will even run. These are small cars (probably seats 4 …
maybe 5 if you’re pushing it, by American standards). Here in the DR, it is amazing how many people you can fit. It was me, Larry, Lynn, another lady and her
two kids in the backseat and the driver and Darrin in the front seat. Lynn said they would normally put another
1-2 people in the front and we were lucky he left when he did.
Now for the drive … OMG!!!
No speed limit, no regard for safety … just thank god he had a horn and
used it often. There would be a
motorcycle in his way … HONK … and that damn bike better get out of the way or
this guy would run him over. A truck is
stopped in the lane we’re in … HONK … and he veers around the truck without
even a concern that another car is speeding just as fast as he’s going … directly
at us. No slowing down, just voom, into
traffic. Damn, we’re lucky we made it
to Imbert alive!!! Lynn and Darren said
this is the typical driving habits in the DR.
So … from Imbert to Puerto Plata, we drove in relative
luxury. We were in a small bus that had
about 10 people more on it than should have had but at least it seemed like a
newer vehicle. I sat in the very back
row, squished with 4 other people.
Larry and Darren stood most of the way and Lynn (since she was the first
one on) lucked out to a seat!
Lynn had issues with a boat part that needed repair so we
got off the bus a little before town and she put it in for repair.
So … now the ride from the repair shop into Puerto Plata … I
apologize for thinking the first gua-gua ride was a white-knuckle ride. Lynn flagged down 3 motorconchos. Now, me, (with my great spanish skills)
interpreted that to mean motorcoach.
Sounds like a nice thing … right?
Nope! It simply means a
motorcycle that they use for taxis.
Lynn and the driver were on one, Darrin and the driver on another, and
me, Larry and the driver on the third.
And these drivers made the gua-gua driver seem responsible! They whipped in and out of traffic. There would be a red light and the cars are
stopped. They would zip past the cars
and make a left turn (into oncoming traffic who have a green light) … without
even slowing down. And helmets … forget
about it! If they don’t care how many
people are on the bike, they really don’t care about helmets!
Soooo … much to my surprise, we also made it to Puerto Plata
alive!
Now how do I describe Puerto Plata … well, it’s not what I
expected. Granted, we only saw what
Lynn wanted to show us and I would hope that you can gather from the
description of her personality, she is not one to leisurely window shop or do
the “touristy” things. She had her
route and we stuck to it. But overall,
Puerto Plata was surprising. It is
supposed to be one of the largest cities in this area, a port town and lots of
resorts/tourists … but to me, it was like taking Luperon and multiply it by 10
(maybe) and there you have Puerto Plata … derelict buildings, very run down and
very old. I guess we’ve traveled too
much on commercial cruises and into ports that are built around the cruise
industry because this was NOTHING like those!
But, it did have some awesome ocean views!
On the return trip from Puerto Plata, we took a bus to ???
(I don’t know the name of the little town but all it was was
restaurants/bars). We stopped at one of
Lynn’s favorite restaurants in the area.
The meal was excellent. We
ordered “family style” and just split everything. We got two orders of fish fingers, two orders of fried shimp,
french fries and beans/rice. We had
four of those large beers that we shared.
The total was 1440 pesos (about $35 US). It was a LOT of food and very good!
I was wondering how we would get from this place to Imbert
where we’d catch the gua-gua back to Luperon but we were with Lynn so I was
sure she knew the ropes. After our
meal, she stood in the street and just waived down a car. It already had someone in the backseat but
we all piled in. Now, there are actual
“taxis” in this area and we were warned to make sure we didn’t use the taxis
because they were very expensive. I
didn’t know how to tell the difference between a taxi and a gua-gua. Obviously, neither did Lynn (although she’d
never admit it). We got into Imbert and
the driver told us it would be 500 pesos for the four of us. Lynn was expecting to pay about 20 pesos
each (80 pesos total). So … the yelling
match took place. Lynn was adamant she
was NOT going to pay 500 pesos. The guy
agreed on 300. Regrettably, Lynn took
150 pesos and almost threw it at the guy and walked away (mumbling loudly under
her breath). The guy followed her and
the match continued. Arms were flying
in a show of anger (on both sides) … universal communication in any
language! Finally, the driver gave her
back the money as though it were an insult to him. She actually took it and thru it back at him, sending it sailing
to the ground. Larry, Darren and I just
walked as far away as possible. I could
just envision the local authorities with their big guns coming after us but fortunately,
things settled, the guy got in has car and left. The money was still on the ground (outside the guagua we’d gotten
into for the ride to Luperon) and the locals were scrummaging for it under the
car. It was all very dramatic and sure
added interest to our day.
So … that sums up our day to Puerto Plata. Will we go again? I really don’t know. If
we do, we’ll be sure to ALWAYS verify cost up front because there is no way in
hell we would argue the way Lynn did.
We would have paid the fare and slipped away ticked off that we’d been
taken as the typical tourists we are.
(Lynn’s position was, the car already had a passenger and
stopping to pick up more passengers is what a guagua does – NOT what a taxi
does, so if he is going to act like he is operating a guagua, then he gets paid
guagua rates. Lynn also said that the
locals hate confrontation, so if you stick to your rights, they will back down)
Okay … side note … when we were sitting at Wendy’s Bar
today, having drinks with Darren and ??? (someone else who’s name slipped my
mind), a dog befriended us. He was
constantly with us no matter what we did.
Well, as we headed back to the dinghy, this doggie lead us all the way,
always several yards in front of us. It
was so adorable (yet sad at the same time).
He jumped into our dinghy and then straight into another one that was
touching ours. I’m sure he thought he
was in our dingy … for sure! He sat
there with this peaceful and relaxed expression. That is, until we pulled away and left him behind. It wasn’t 20 seconds before he jumped out of
that dinghy, into the water and swam as quickly as his little legs could
doggie-paddle and tried desperately to reach our boat. There was a nice chop on the bay so I was
afraid the poor fellow was going to drown.
Fortunately, as we got far enough away, he realized he could not reach
us and swam back to shore. It was
sooooo sad. We’d heard the story of
this poor little doggie. Supposedly,
his master was from England. He needed
to fly back to England for a couple of months and just left this poor doggie in
Luperon. We were told, he swims out to
boats in the anchorage looking for his master.
Considering he took so fondly to us, I’m sure he just wanted a home on a
boat! His master … well I’ll try to be
polite and not curse him out. He has
never returned.
Luperon has so many “strays” that just wander the
streets. If anyone wants a dog, this is
the place to pick one up. They are all
so friendly, street-wise and affectionate.
But, at the same time, it is so sad because you know, this is not the
life they began. I curse all the
sailors who can just abandon their companion so freely. Damn, that’s sad. Luckily, many of the Gringos in Luperon have befriended these
poor little pooches and are helping them survive in a life they never signed up
for. Poor sweeties! I almost want to take them all with me!
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