La Romana!

Tuesday – La Romana, DR

First... Happy Birthday to my sister! What more could you ask for on your birthday – sunshine, the Caribbean and the beach! 

 

We were late docking, even though we arrived early, since we had a cargo ship in our way. It was already a hot hot day (32ºC/89ºF with 88% humidity) and breezy. I am having a bad hair cruise. I shower in the morning and blow dry my hair, and it looks nice. Then I walk out into that above mentioned climate and SPROOOING! Instant red afro. My very own l'il orphan Annie hairdo. Sigh. Add salt air to that, and even a brush can't do anything with it. I might as well give up. Never mind... it's a small price to pay.

Slathered on my sunscreen and left the ship for the parking lot. Cruise ships have just started coming to La Romana, and a shore excursion is strongly recommended for here. When you get off the ship, you are in the middle of nowhere. Literally. I had narrowed my shore excursions down to 2 or 3, and finally decided to go see the Taino Indian caves. Cathie headed off on a different excursion (to a reconstructed village and a riverboat cruise), and Davie and the birthday girl booked a day at a nearby resort/beach.

And did I mention it was hot? Even the tour guide, Eduardo, said the heat and humidity just started 3 days ago, and was a bad sign for the summer to come. We left the parking lot and went to “downtown” and stopped at the local city centre park to peruse handicrafts... Oh my! The sales pressure was crazy... I haven't been called “Baby” or “Sweetheart” so many times in my life! Every seller there was smooth talking and persistent. You had to laugh. I ended up buying a figurine carved from petrified wood from the most persistent of the persistent sellers, Jesus. He started off quoting a price so crazy that I just laughed and walked off. By the time we did the haggle dance, I got it for a third of his asking price, plus a necklace and 2 tiny carved turtles thrown in. I still overpaid, and we both knew it, but that's the game. And in this country of overwhelming poverty, where the average salary is $7 a day, I didn't mind paying a little more without resorting to outright charity. (And with gasoline nearly $7 a gallon, that salary doesn't go far!!)

There are sebenty-leben-gazillion motorcycles in the Dominican Republic. They speed, they zoom in and out of traffic, they go on either side of the street, in either direction, they never wear helmets (despite the fact that it is law), and they carry multiple people. The record we saw was six.... yes, 6 people on one motorcycle. They're crazy!!

So we drove about 40 minutes out of town, through unbelievably lush countryside (they can grow anything here!), dodging trucks and motorcycles, until we arrived at the caves. These caves are massive- they extend for some 800+ meters, although only a bit more than 200m are open to the public. The original peoples, the Taino, used these caves for rituals – probably burials. It was cool (19ºC/66ºF) and damp and slippery down there. There were 140 steps all together we had to navigate, but not all at once. The ceilings were very high, and the walls flickered with hidden lights, simulating torchlight. The ancient paintings on the walls told stories of their gods of death and rebirth. (They believed in reincarnation, and beheaded the dead to let the spirit escape. The chief was permitted multiple wives, but only his favourite was buried .... alive...with him when he died. Uh huh....) The stalactites formed fanciful shapes – dragon's heads, hummingbirds, bears and men. The roots of trees from the above world penetrated the roof of the cave and dangled everywhere, like wild jungle vines. No photographs were permitted, so I have none to share.

At the end, we rose to the surface in an elevator. It would have been nice to warn us. A small metal box, encased in solid rock, with no air, and sauna-like temperatures, crammed full of people, slowly rising through the walls. Ugh! I would have cheerfully backtracked through the cave and all 140 steps again to avoid that!

We then walked through a lovely jungle-like park (saw some huge iguanas) and headed back to the bus for the return trip. I headed back to the ship, grabbed some lunch, and then a well-earned nap.

Cathie arrived back shortly after I did. She had a fabulous excursion. We met up with Leslie and Davie at supper. Leslie arrived at supper positively glowing. Could have been birthday happiness, but I think it was the heat shimmer coming off her skin. She and Davie were several shades darker than when I saw them just before we docked this morning. I could almost feel the heat coming off them across the table, but she'll be brown by tomorrow, the brat. I gave her birthday greetings from her son, a card from her daughter, and one from me, and we had another nice meal. Then off to the Victoriana to watch a Motown show, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Foodies :

Breakfast : same old, same old!

Lunch : Indian (a bit of everything... so here's a picture)

Supper : Spicy Thai chicken soup, Seafood newburg, tropical fruit plate

Cat peeps :

From my niece and catsitter extraordinaire:

Kitties are all great and definitely enjoying being spoiled rotten by mommy #2. Astrophe is awesome and has officially decided that her and I can be friends ( she slept under the covers with me last night!!! :) ) Dexter is still behaving, so be prepared for kitty armageddon when you come home!! Hahaha. Kizzy and Milo have become really close and play all day and night, chasing each other like Indy 500 constantly. Nika enjoys being left alone to sleep on my warm bed all day and Mia comes looking for snuggles all the time :)

It's a long way south to Curacao – we arrive tomorrow around 2pm.