"The Bad News and The Okay News"

Last Thursday night, Wil called and said, "I have some bad news and some okay news." I said, "uh, okay..." He said, "Which would you like to hear first?" I said, "the bad news." He said, "why do people always choose the bad news first?" I was like, "I don't know, but they do. Just tell me." So he said that he wouldn't be coming to the capital last weekend. I said, "okay. At all??" He said no. So then he told me the okay news was that E and I were coming to Miches for the weekend.

I'm sure some of you are thinking, "oh, you must have been so excited to hear that!" Well, that was not my first reaction. I was a little put off by having to have an escort and the fact that the escort had been told before me about the plan. But, I talked with Wil about those things and he explained that he didn't want me to travel there alone. And, he explained why he wasn't coming to the capital. He was staying at the office so that some of the military workers could go home to see their families for the weekend.

I knew that it was going to be a different weekend than I had planned, but I was going to get to see Wil and Miches. And, E is a really nice friend to escort me places and help me.

I got more excited as Friday came and went. I finally got the landlady in to the apartment to look at the water, so that was a bit of a relief. But I felt a little funny leaving the apartment without water control if it did rain more.

I went to Miches anyway! Early Saturday morning I met E in La Duarte, the area where many of the bus stations are located. We found our way to the Miches bus station and were on the 8:15 bus. Around 8:45, Wil called to see where we were. I told him and he said he would see us later. Now, I knew that Wil was going to spend part of the weekend working. But Miches is at the beach, so I figured that E and I could spend time at the beach while Wil worked.

We arrived in Miches at about 11:45. We sat in the park across from the bus station. E said, "where is Wil?" I had called Wil as we approached Miches but he hadn't answered. E told me that Wil was supposed to meet us. We waited. I needed to find a toilet and I was getting pretty hungry. After about an hour, I suggested that we go find a restaurant. E agreed. We found a local eatery that served Dominican cuisine. We had a delicious lunch. And, I was able to use the restroom (a little sketchy, but I've been in much worse).


This is E sitting in the park.


This picture was taken in the park on Monday. On Saturday, the park was bustling with a culture festival. There were a lot of teenagers and younger children. There was a youth art show and a book seller.


Another view of the park. This is a special area for young children. You may notice SpongeBob, Tweetie, and Ariel painted on the wall.

After lunch, we returned to our spot in the park. E kept saying, "he's working, I know he's working, but where is he?" or "come on, Wil." I told E that Wil is usually late, but not this late. I called his phone several times. It would either ring and ring or it would be silent and then have a recorded message saying the number was out of service. I figured this was due to the poor phone reception wherever Wil was located.

We waited some more. I read some in my book. E seemed upset. I was a little worried at this point. After three hours total, we decided to go to a hotel/bar/restaurant that I knew from Wil and the guidebook. We took motoconchos there. I thought we could get drinks or something fun, but E ordered water, so I didn't want to be the lush.

We sat down on the patio overlooking the beach drinking our water. About 45 minutes later Wil called. He was on his way to us. Finally! He arrived a little while later. Wil apologized when he got to us, but was a little nonchalant about it. He had been on a boat with the folks from Columbia University collecting samples. When we got a moment alone back at his house, I told Wil how upset his friend had been and that he really should have called us before he went on the boat where there is no reception. I think he finally got it then.


This is Wil's home and office location. He lives here with four military police officers. There is a hired cook/housekeeper. Her name is Imperla; she lives a few houses down the block.

After Wil had some lunch (yes, it was like 4:30 or 5 by now), we headed back to the beach with appropriate attire and without our backpacks. It takes 25-35 minutes to walk from where Wil lives to town, through town, then to the beach.


On our way, we saw a drum line of two. They were cute kids. I think they were on their way to the culture festival in the park.

When we got to the beach, Wil and E took off their jeans so they could swim.

It was an amazing view of nearly deserted beach. There are miles and miles of coconut tree lined beach. This stretch is owned by the government here. There is really no development yet. Yay!! Wil wanted us to walk to where the bend in the beach is in the photo.

I'm not at all sure what I'm looking at. E is 6'4" tall, but I just can't figure it out...

We made it to where it looks like there was a bend in the beach. We weren't really at that part yet, but Wil wanted us to go there. He said, "okay, now we are going across the sand bridge." In the photo above you can see the 'sand bridge' going out into the ocean! I asked E if he could swim. He said, "a little." I told him that Wil doesn't know how to swim. We started walking out into the ocean. It was a cool, but strange feeling.

You can see that point that sticks out on the other side of this bay. The sand bridge where we started is to the left of this photo. The finish, on the other side of a river, is to the right of this photo.

One of the two rivers that Wil is a point person for drains into the ocean here. And, above is the other side of the sand bridge. Wil wanted us to get to the beach above right because the water is clearer there, since it is above the river drainage. We walked. Tentatively. Slowly. Cautiously. Wil made the turn toward the other part of the bridge. We followed. I was holding my camera up in case of a swim. Soon the water was up to Wil's waist and getting higher. We all decided to turn around. When we got back to shore, we left our cameras on the beach with Wil. E and I decided to try to cross the river. We went across that way and then followed the other side of the bridge. It was much further out into the ocean than we had walked the first time. But, we decided to try it another time and came back a little on the beach to play in the water. And play we did!

Wil found a Dominican Republic doo rag on the beach. He cleaned it up and tried it on.


Wil showing his muscles...


And being goofy!


And goofier!


I got in on the doo rag action as well. I thought this was an interesting photo. E took it for me.


And another pose with the doo rag!

E ran up to the beach after being in the water and laid down in the sand and rolled around. I have seen other people do that here on the beach. This is when he is making the run back to the water.

A group self-portrait. I think my arm shadow is a particularly nice addition!

Wil found some pretty pink shells. At first he found several that matched that would make a lovely earrings and necklace set. But, then he decided for face jewelry instead. This is what he came up with...

This one doesn't seem very useful to someone who wants to eat or kiss, I'm just sayin'

I cast a long shadow that day...


The beautiful, natural sand art. I love the beach!


The guys chatting and collecting seashells by the seashore.


A lovely sunset, not quite as dramatic as the one a couple of weeks ago, but still nice.

We walked back to Wil's place. E and I had some delicious left overs that Imperla had prepared for us earlier. It was a fried fish in a wonderful sauce (unfortunately I don't know what kind of sauce). Eventually we showered and got ready to go out for dinner. It was about 9 by this time. Miches is a small town (maybe 20,000), but I was surprised on a Saturday night how difficult it was to find a restaurant. We eventually found one that was still open. We also found a delicious mango juice on the way to the restaurant. I mentioned it in the other blog, but wow, it was so stinkin' gooooooooood!

After dinner we headed back to Wil's. We were all pretty tired. E took Wil's single bed, and Wil and I shared an inflatable single mattress on the floor in the same room. Now, I knew that we weren't going to be able to be intimate on this trip, but I didn't know we'd all be in the same room. And then, Wil and I slept on the wrong side of the twin mattress. I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. My one arm kept being in the way, falling asleep, cramping.

Sunday, Wil had to go check on one of the lagoons where he is the point person. Unfortunately, the person who has an SUV from Columbia U. was going to Santo Domingo. Wil went with one of the military police officers on a motorcycle. Wil was concerned about E and I going by motoconcho. The lagoon is several miles from Miches over rough road. So, even though he really wanted us to see the lagoon, we didn't make it that day.


I thought it was really awesome to have these water pumps around Miches. I saw two in the neighborhood where Wil lives. I asked this man if I could take his photo. He agreed. Then, I asked him if he wanted to see it. He told me that he didn't need to because he knew it was going to be good!

This is one of Imperla's (the housekeeper/cook) sons. He hung around a lot since his mom was there. He was more than happy to show how the water pump worked for the camera.


Wil getting ready to go to the lagoon. Yes, he is carrying the military officer's gun....
He is considering carrying a machete around Miches. I hope it doesn't come to that. But, I saw a few men carrying them.


Wil and Samuel on their way to the lagoon. The minister (Wil's boss) had the motorcycle brought to Miches for Wil. The only problem is that he is not tall enough for this large bike...


There they go! While they went to the lagoon, E and I went back to the beach!

I decided not to carry my camera that day to the beach, so I have no photos. But it was a great time. We found our way across the sand bridge. And, again it felt really strange to keep walking out into the ocean to then turn and go across to get to the other side. The water over there was clear and nice. On the way back I found a sand dollar, which I haven't done in years. E also found one, but the tide took it back before he could pick it up.

Then we ran into K, one of the Columbia U. interns whom I had met in Santo Domingo. She was running on the beach with their house dog. We talked for a few minutes. She wanted to hang out with us and do anything. As she said, she is pretty "bored and lonely." She also told us about the muggings that had been happening on that stretch of beach lately. Several U.S. Peace Corps volunteers had been mugged there and then some other U.S. interns. It made more sense why Wil didn't want me to be alone.


Wil did a little more work on Sunday afternoon. Then I proposed that we invite K to go on a walk with us up to a hotel that overlooks Miches. Wil and E agreed. We met K and started our hike. Everyone in the group was in for a big surprise. We walked up to the hotel in about 15 minutes! We all expected it to be much more of a walk.


It was a beautiful view of Miches!


And another!
This is from the other side of the hotel looking out over a different valley near Miches.


After our walk, we watched some volleyball in the street next to Wil's place, drank some coffee and visited. Later, we walked around the neighborhood to 4 different colmados (corner stores) to find what we wanted. We found it...sort of. Wil and E had to settle for fried green bananas instead of plantains (they thought the plantains were too expensive) and I didn't get a ripe avocado, but it worked out.

K had brought her laptop with several movies to watch. E chose E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. I don't think I had seen it since it came out in 1982, so I was excited. I remembered watching it in the theatre, before any of my companions were born! While we watched the movie in the bedroom (we moved in there so that we could hear the movie better without speakers), Imperla made spaghetti and fried green bananas. It was yummy!

One of the other Columbia U. people picked up K and the rest of us went to bed. Sunday night we figured out the sleeping situation better. Wil and I switched sides to the way we normally sleep and all was right with the world.

Monday was the day that E and I were coming back to the capital. We had agreed on Sunday to take the 2 p.m. bus to Santo Domingo, so that we could have time for the beach again while Wil went to work. By Monday, however, E had decided to accompany me to the beach but not go in the water as he had a sunburn (it looked like a tan to me) from the day before.

We went with Wil in the morning to an empanada stand and then said goodbye. It is always a little strange to shake hands with your fiance. We had said our own goodbye at the house, but it was still a little weird in the street. E and I found our way back to the beach.


E had my camera and took some photos. I believe I am that little black speck in the upper right of the water. As I often do, I made some new friends. Truly I was alone in the water for most of the time; no one else in the water for miles. Suddenly two twenty-somethings were in the water throwing around what I thought was a wine bottle. Then they took swigs from the bottle. They one came over the waves to greet me. He introduced himself and then his friend. We talked a little about Miches, the U.S., and Santo Domingo. Then I was offered a drink. Remember I thought it was wine, but it wasn't. It was a huge bottle of rum! At first I refused, but then I decided, what the heck. I took a swig. I guess it was more than they expected I could drink in one shot. The one guy went, "wow, you are strong!" And then we were friends. That's how you do it peeps!


This photo shows the clouds that were looming over us that day.


This is the other river where Wil is the point person. He has had to get people to move their animals farther back from the water to keep the river clean. Some locals use this as their water source.

Another view of the river headed out to the ocean.


I liked the colorful boats in this picture.


On our walk back to Wil's to change for the bus trip, we found this on the street in a garbage bucket. I don't know if you all know this about me, but I like to find treasures in the garbage can. This is a guallo, which is a tool used to shred coconut.


As you can see, this was hand made from an oil can. I so wish I would have taken it. I would have loved to have that art on my wall. Oh well...


This is not a great picture of the Hotel La Loma, which overlooks Miches. It is the hotel we walked to on Sunday night.


This was just a funny store front that we passed on our walk to Wil's. It is difficult to read in the picture, but its name is Lengeria Chick (like Chic Lingerie). I thought it was funny with the classy blonde pin-up girl...

As we were headed to the bus station on Monday, Wil called to meet us at the park. He eventually made it there, through a terrible cloudburst (remember those looming clouds?) with bottles of water for E and I. We had another brief goodbye. It was sweet of him to come down to the park.

E and I had an uneventful trip back to the capital. And, when I arrived home, the apartment was pretty dry. I have spent the last few days cleaning things, but I believe the flooding has passed....

The weekend in Miches turned out to be pretty 'good news' after all.