More Dominican Tid-Bits

I'll say it again...oh so hard to express in words just how cool it was to be in the tropics, donning a bathing suit and swimming in the ocean in the middle of January. For me. Toronto was exotic, so being so close to the equater was a thrill. Here are some more pix and notes...


Rob, Dave and I took a day long tour of the country side the day following the wedding. The first stop was a HUGE sugar cane field...I mean it was ginormous! We drove through it for almost an hour...acres and acres of sugar cane...they let us sample raw sugar cane as Sandro, our guide, explained the history, cultivation and economic relavance of the sugar cane industry...quite interesting. After eating the sugar cane, Sandro then went on to discuss the production of Rum, during which we consumed a large portion of said liquid form of sugar cane...it was 9:30 in the morning and I had a serious buzz going on...


That's Sandro riding the back of the truck with a few local children who had hitched a ride in the hopes of getting some candy. There were kids at every speed bump...the truck had to slow down at these spots, so they would hang out there so the tourist would throw candy to them.


Our next stop was the Cigar Museum where we were given a shot of Mamajuana, an absolutely mouth watering combination of dried, cured roots and herbs steeped in a mixture of rum, red wine and honey. We drank A LOT of Mamajuana on this vacation...they call it the Dominican Viagra...hummmm.

Pictured above is a typical Dominican butcher shop. We passed through a lot of small villages and towns during our tour and these were everywhere. Sandro said that a lot of tourists are grossed out by the meat just hanging there...they eat it every day and he said if we ate it it would not make us sick...it was all in our heads...would you risk it?


...same butcher shop...one pig, two heads...'nuff said...


On the way to a typical country farm, we saw some AMAZING scenery. The ride was long, rough, dusty and hot and I LOVED every minute of it! What a beautiful country. Passing through some of the villages was difficult...a lot of these people are so poor it would break your heart. I got stabbed with pangs of guilt as Johnny Rottens voice echoed in my head..."You shouldn't holiday in other people's misery"...


I wanted to scoop up all the children and take them home with me...

On this note, I will sign off. Time to return to reality and get shit done. More to come soon so stay tuned folks!