We (Mr. Sweden and I) visited my country in Feb and it was basically what I expected and more. Mr. Sweden got to experience the AI life and the local life.
At SDQ
I was very impressed with how well things worked there. The only thing that didn't work fine was that Mr. Sweden got the wrong migration form on the AF plane but that's not the airport personnel's fault. He queued to buy his tourist card, then we filled in the necessary forms and we got our passport checked. There was a lot of people on that flight from Paris but by the time we finished with the forms there was no one. The passport guy asked me for a "regalito" and I gave him 50 pesos. They always do it to me and sort of won't give me back my passport if I don't give them something, and since my passport is more important than a few pesos...I know they shouldn't do that but that's the Dominican way. They've never asked Mr. Sweden for money tho. After that we got our luggage and moved on to my parents' house.
The AI experience
My sister and her hubby booked 2 rooms at the GBP Cayacoa in Samaná for all 4 of us. The road from SFM and forward was baaaaaaaaad at some points due to diverse road and water works and we got lost while looking for the hotel due to the lack of signs on the road (like the Wyndham hotels have). My in-law drove in a jeepeta but I guess the jetlag was worse than I thought because all Mr. Sweden and I did was have dinner and go to sleep.
The room was impeccably clean and we got 2 t-shirts and a small Brugal rum bottle as welcome gift. We also got to drink from the minibar without paying for it, and they'd fill it up every day (but the maid didn't and we found out too late to do something about it). The room was big and more than we expected due to some bad reviews on the internet.
The next day we had breakfast and went on a whale watching tour with a stop in Cayo Levantado. It was very nice and exciting to see those creatures so close...I don't know, it felt so good to be part of it. And then Cayo Levantado. WOW! Such beauty within my own country. I definitely made a mental note of doing more internal tourism.
We came back to SD without more than a sore back due to the road conditions hehe.
The non AI experience
Mr. Sweden got to live the local life as much as we live it. We're medium class people with a house on Zona Oriental, no luxuries other than owning the property, our car, having enough to eat, etc. He got to see our carros públicos, motoconchos and buses from our porch (because the street I live in is taken as a shortcut when there's traffic jams on the main avenue) and he couldn't help but laugh the first days because what he saw is not allowed to be on traffic here in organized Sweden. I have to say that once I set a foot on the arrival hall I became "Dominican" in the sense that I didn't see how people drive there until he told me about it hehe.
He's been in SD before and visited the Old Town so this time we went to Los 3 ojos, the botanical garden, the zoo and Megacentro. What a disappointment the zoo was, in the sense of how much better it was when I was a kid. They charged him 170 pesos (5 dollars) and us (my dad, mom and me) 150 pesos altogether. The zoo looks so run down and abandoned, with few animals, and the train tour was too quick. The guide would say "to the left you can see (animal)" and by the time you were done trying to take a picture or see the animal in question we were already leaving that particular area. The place was dirty and it's a shame because it's one of the few places where you can bring in your own food and water and spend the day with your family. There were a lot of families taking it easy and a lot of kids wanting to learn more about the animals...
The botanical garden on the other hand is as excellent as I remembered it. And cheaper too. We got our own train (along with a few other tourists) and before departure they asked the tourists their nationality so that they can do the guide in another language. They did the tour in Spanish and English so Mr. Sweden learnt something (I hope hehe). He got a little bit of attention when we passed by the statue of Dr. Erik Leonard Ekman, a Swede that cataloged plants in the late 1920s.
Like the gentleman he is, he paid for almost all taxi trips and entrance fees when he got out with us. Taxi? I hear you say. Well, my mom insisted we (all of us) took taxis everywhere due to the high crime...I didn't think it was necessary but if that's all she asked from us then who am I to say or do otherwise? She doesn't ask for much so why look for an argument unnecessarily?
Mr. Sweden and his fans
Some days Mr. Sweden would sit out on our porch to read. One day, while I was at the salón, he was sitting out and reading with my mom. A woman was passing by and saw him, and said "¡Qué hombre más buen mozo!" (what a handsome man!). My mom told her "Él no habla español" (he doesn't speak Spanish) and the woman replied "¿Y qué? Yo no hablo inglés" (so? I don't speak English). Hehehehe, poor thing he didn't know what was going on until I came back and translated to him. Now he knows why I used to nag him to learn Spanish
Again, at SDQ
At the airport he got to fill in the same migration form he filled in on arrival, and I had to fill in the embarkation form (again). Can someone explain why? Also, have they stopped collecting the departure tax? Because neither of us paid it on leaving. We had our 20 dollars each just in case but we never got to pay for it. Also, Mr. Sweden overstayed his (14-day) tourist card with 3 days and they didn't charge him either. I remember never been asked to pay the departure tax, even once I asked the clerk "what, I don't have to pay the tax?" and she said "no". Mr. Sweden thinks he wasn't asked for the dollars or the fine because he was with me (what kind of power do I have there lol) but we saved some money that we'll use for something else.
All in all we enjoyed our trip and we can't wait to come back.
Feb 2008 - we came, we saw, we enjoyed
(that's the best I could come to "embarrassed").
