The Dominican Republic, Part Three: Getting Local With It

Part Three!

Huzzah!

One more post after this, and you will have experienced the Domincan Republic with us.

Minus the sun, the pina coladas, the salty ocean, etc etc.

You know, all the good stuff.

Since our manly men lived in the country for a few years, we were certain we were going to spend a large portion of our time outside of the resort.
We hit up a mall, grocery stores, side-of-the-street vendors, etc.

It was crazy nuts and crazy fun.

Shall we talk about the driving?

There are essentially no laws {that are enforced, anyway} when it comes to the roads.
They are all paved, thank heavens, but that is about it.

The stoplights only work part of the time {when they actually have power}, pedestrians cross whenever they want, cars drive down the wrong side of the road, and one lane suddenly turns into four if the Dominicans feel like it.

It was so anxiety-provoking, guys.

I could hardly handle it.

Luckily, the T-man is an excellent driver, and Brandon is an excellent navigator {regardless of whether Google Maps was actually working or not}.

 

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El Conde, lined with shops and merchants.

It was so hard to actually find, and, thanks to the local police who escorted us there, we {Kristen} almost died via crazy Dominican driver.

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We went to several corner-shops {called Colmados} to grab some of the boys' favorite goodies.
I think one of the best parts of this whole trip was seeing the local's reactions when these two scrawny American boys started talking with the local slang and Dominican spanish.

I think that earned us a little more respect out and about.

Kristen and I were also privileged to try all the weird, bizarre foods that the guys also love.

Guanabana {which is literally like snot-fruit}:

Typical Dominican meal.

Chicken and rice.

Not the most exciting food, but it was cheap and filling.

We ate lots of Dominican candy, local fruits, fresh coconuts, juices, etc.

I had the best mango in the entire world as well as the larges avacado I have ever laid eyes on.

Delish.

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As for some of the safer driving we saw {when I wasn't about to pass out from stress}...

This dude was standing on a bumper about an inch wide and basically had a toe tucked under a piece of the tailgate.

And that's it.

Seriously, there were FAMILIES on mopeds.

As in a mother and her four children + baby on ONE moped.

Nuts.

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As for our kids, we were lucky enough to Facetime once a day {mainly to make sure my mom didn't have any questions regarding the small boy in her possession}.

And a few emails with pictures made the nerves calm down, too :)

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And, last for this post, a quick trip to the temple.

Actually, not quick.

We got so lost.

And so stuck in traffic.

But, via another tender mercy, we made it!

We also got to chat with Tyrel's mission president for a few minutes, and the boys both ran into people they knew while they were serving 10+ years ago.

The temple was beautiful, and our session was perfect.

After we finished, we started our long drive back to the resort.
We stopped at a McDonalds to grab some food, which is like fancy cuisine down there.
They don't really have fast food down there, so we weren't sure what to grab at 10 pm at night.
Luckily we found some "American" food to fill us up.
The meal was so cheap, and it was the cleanest McDonalds I have ever seen in my life.
It was nutso.
And, yes.
The food tasted the same.
I knew you were wondering ;)