Stepping Out of the Boat

Today is Wednesday - laundry day; however, at about 2:00, it started to rain, and it's been raining pretty much since then. Foiled again! Even though we didn't get to do laundry today, we really don't mind the rain because the temperature has cooled down quite a bit. We don't feel like we're sweating our brains out anymore! It's great. Perhaps we will have time to do the laundry during the weekend since we aren't going anywhere.

As for weekend plans, we were foiled again there as well. We were planning on trying to get to Juan Dolio, a beach that is somewhat close, to stay at a resort for the weekend. Well, no first class bus goes there, and a taxi ride is $75 round trip. We can't justify spending that much on our transportation for a short weekend trip. When we went before with our foreign counterparts, we all split the cab fare, and it was reasonable, but with just the two of us, it's a bit too much. Our hopes were not dashed after we found out how much a cab would cost because we read in our little travel guide that there is a second class bus that goes to Juan Dolio. It sounds quaint and wonderful in our travel book, but we asked some one who had actually taken that bus, and this is what she had to report:

In order to get to Juan Dolio by second class bus, you have to take a cab to this park somewhere in the city and stand in the place where the bus leaves for Juan Dolio. There are no signs and no bus stations - you just have to stand in the right place. Then, after you get on the bus, you have to try to sit near the bus driver because you have to shout when you want to get off. There are no scheduled stops - you just have to know exactly where you want to get off and shout when the time comes. The bus driver may not stop when you shout, though, according to our friend's experience, because the bus drivers generally stop where they want, not where you want. So, you will most likely end up walking down the highway trying to find the place you want to go. It's a whole different story if you have never been to the hotel you're trying to reach because you won't know when to shout at the driver or when to get off. That would have been the case with us.

When you want to go home at the end of the weekend, you have to take all of your stuff and stand on the side of the highway waving at all the buses that pass. The buses are not marked, so you have to wave down every bus that you see, ask if it goes to Santo Domingo, and get on if it does. This sounds pretty simple, but our friend said that often, the buses don't stop for you, and you have no idea why. If it starts raining, you're in deep doo.

In light of all that and the fact that we will have just taught school all week and will be wanting to avoid extra stress, we decided to wait until we can go as a large group again and take a taxi. We do plan on taking the "scary bus" (which we affectionately call the second class bus system) sometime during our stay here - jus not this weekend. Foiled again.

We are planning a relaxing weekend with some exploration (on foot) of the surrounding areas. We'll update you on that later. It's only Wednesday, and we're obsessing about the weekend. Hmmm....