i got the bug

The travel bug, that is. I finally unpacked my bags from Springfield, the Dominican and Christmas in KC and Columbia. Here I come Champaign, Omaha, Lincoln, Chicago, Las Vegas!

P.S. iTunes Latino brings happiness to my life. What brings it to yours?

cabarete

Cabarete, Dominican Republic - the kite surfing capital of the world.

foul

One highlight of the trip for me was going to Estadio Quisqueya to watch Licey baseball. Just like at Busch stadium, I bought some consessions and headed to my seat. With a slice of pizza and two bags of popcorn in my hands, a rambunctious squirt ran into me, knocking the pizza to the ground, face down. For less thant $2, I could have bought another slice. Instead, I ate the pizza. The lesson to be learned here is that the five-second rule applies in other countries as well.

About halfway through the game, the crowd erupted into a chant, “BELLIARD! BELLIARD!” That's when good ol' Ronnie Belliard stepped up to bat. It was like a little taste of home in the Dominican.

dominican flower power

left behind

Sometimes the things we leave behind help to tell the stories of our adventures. Take, for instance, the contents of the garbage can the morning we left the Dominican.

Lobster carcasses - Remnants of an amazing dinner. We paid about $40 for two "drinks of the house," three bottles of water, ravioli dumpling soup, rice, salad and three grilled lobsters soaked in a lemon butter.

Three AA batteries - Reminder that we were always one battery short on the trip. My camera takes four batteries. I brought seven rechargables and three normal AAs. Do the math. I spent my last few days cameraless. The one thing I forgot this trip was the battery charger.

Soggy orbit - Evidence of the humid and rainy climate. It rained every day we were there. We saw three rainbows. The rainbows in the Domincan are much larger and wider than their U.S. counterpart.

Sad sandals - Proof of our many walking adventures. Our second day in the country we probably walked at least six miles through the many plazas and neighborhoods of Santo Domingo (photos from this trek). The sandal (which I bought on a Caribbean Island about two years ago for 50 cents) broke as I was buying Dominican cigars. The cigar shop gave me wonderful packing tape to make repairs.

home

Home after ...

A 30-minute Dominican taxi ride through the mountains at 7:30 a.m. that included picking up a drunk French guy with a fresh gash in his head.

A 4-hour bus ride through the country, in which someone threw something at one of the bus windows while we were moving, shattering the window.

A 30-minute taxi ride from Santo Domingo to the airport in a station wagon, which some people in the country call a limousine.

A 3-hour plane ride to Atlanta sitting next to the crabbiest woman I ever met.
About the crying kids ... "Someone should sedate them."
"They are forming a conspiracy."
About the stewardess with the stewardess in earshot ... "What a ditz!"
About the movie Invincible ... "They obviously don't call holding."
About the alarm in the airport ... "What the HELL is that?"

A 1-hour walk through the airport in Atlanta to find out our plane was cancelled, get our hotel voucher and receive our "overnight kit" complete with an XL white, see-through T-shirt and some horrible tasting toothpaste.

A 30-minute wait for the airport shuttle to take us to the hotel.

A 2-minute looney jumping on the beds "we're in America" session.

A 1.5-hour flight to Cincinnati.

A 3.5-hour layover and lunch in Cincinnati.

A 1-hour flight to St. Louis in a baby plane.

A 1-hour wait for our luggage in the mess called "baggage claim" at Lambert.

A 30-minute ride to St. Charles to get my car from Meg's, wearing sandals, no jacket and a hat made out of palm leaves. *Not too appropriate for the weather

A 30-minute drive from St. Charles to home.

It was actually a fun and adventurous 48 hours of travel, but, boy, it's good to be home. :-)