Farewell to the Dom Rep from Juan Dolio

April 20, 2014

9.43am

Last day in the Dominican Republic and the sky is super dark. We are at the beach, were thinking of going for a walk but I guess it’s better if we don’t walk too far, we should be ready to run back to the hotel if needed.

La bellissima micia con strabismo di Venere del Fior di Loto
The beautiful cat with strabismus of Venus at the Fior di Loto

We found a way to save on the transportation to the aiport, that is not mentioned on the Lonely Planet! We took a gua-gua towards Santo Domingo, until the crossroad; there you can get a moto-concho to the airport. A bit before that there are taxi, but we can save even those two euro as a motorbike is good enough for us. This way we can save almost 1.000 RDS, 20 euro. Or maybe more.

Mara Sandri of the Fior di Loto founded an NGO that manages a school in Pushkar, Rajasthan, where there’s the holy lake and the camels fair; it’s a school for poor or abused girls.

It started to rain and there’s no sign of the sun.

Baretto sulla spiaggia in Juan Dolio
Cute pub at Juan Dolio beach

7.03pm Last beer. In the afternoon it cleared out and people rushed to the beach to celebrate Easter. In half an hour restaurant Oreste should open. It was recommended by S. But we can’t spend more than 1.000 RDS because we don’t want to get more cash and/or exchange money before tomorrow.

Women and girls made braids for Easter. The President prohibited the use of motorbikes these 3 days of celebrations, because every year hundreds die because they drive when drunk.

The last Dominican beer is a bit hot unfortunately. They are cleaning up after today’s celebrations. The beer in this pub is 25RDS more than the Liquer Store nearby, but here you can listen to merengue music :).

There’s a group of Italians here. In the morning they meet for coffe at S’s, in the evening here, apparently. Two girls that were drinking with two Dominicans are now with two white man, white skin and hair. I was thinking that it must be hard here for men, if you want to talk to a woman you have to offer her something to drink; and you never know if she talks to you because she likes you or your money. S. told us that men with 500 euro of retirement here can live well: 100 euro for rent, 100 for food, 300 for women.

beach in juan dolio

April 21, 2014 10.57 am SDQ-LAS AMERICAS

Check-in done. So the transfer to the airport cost us 300 RDS, instead of the 900 we paid when we arrived or the 1500 a taxi would have cost from Juan Dolio.

Last night the spaghetti with fish and lobster at Oreste’s were delicious. And this morning last breakfast at S’s. What a guy! You could write a book with all the stories he has to tell.

I <3 Fior di Loto
I <3 Fior di Loto

Last night we talked a bit with Mara. She told us that her mom went back to Italy yesterday, from La Romana airport. in 1984 Mara wanted to go to India to volunteer in a leper colony. Her mom was living here and was married to a Dominican, and asked her to move here to help her on a project. So Mara got onto a life she didn’t really want. Her mom after a while got tired and went back to Italy, she stayed here. 30 years ago Juan Dolio was a fishermen village, without hotels, and it was very pretty. She wanted to open a school and a yoga center, but things didn’t turn out as she hoped. So here she is today at her super-welcoming hotel, where you meet the most interesting people, but during the Summer months (after Easter) she goes back to India to her girls. A lovely person this Mara. Why do I always meet the best Italians abroad?