Stepping Out of the Boat

We began by surprising Rebbecca with this birthday event here at our apartment around 3 in afternoon. The teams were then set, Claire, Rebbecca, and I versus Kari, Sonya, and Danielle, a friend of ours that lives in our building but teaches at another school, and we jumped in a cab and began to strategize on the way down town. We were dropped off at the square in front of the first church in the new world, settled on a two hour time limit to do as many things on the list as we could, and away we went in two different directions.

The first place we decided to go was to Columbus Fort to take a picture of us riding on one of the cannons. After Claire convinced the ticket takers that we were only there for one photo, we got our picture and avoided paying the entrance fee. We then headed down the street towards the governor's house for a photo when we stopped to buy some ice cream (left), which was also on the list. From here we went to do a couple of the random items on our list before heading back to the more populated street, El Conde. We needed to get money out of an ATM which was 1 point and if we got mugged shortly there after we would receive a bonus of 4 points. So we staged the mugging (right) with a stranger who was also getting money out of the ATM and received our 4 bonus points. Then it was off to find a Colmado to buy a drink, look for a stray cat, find a tacky souvenir to buy, and drink a beer on the street out of a brown paper bag. Although we never found any stray cats we were able to buy that drink, find a tacky Dominican drum key chain, and have our drink out of brown paper bag. Luckily for us we found some empty beer bottles with brown paper bags and staged a realistic looking refreshment break.

We made our way back to the square, regained our bearings, and headed down El Conde looking for a bar called Bobos that we needed to buy a drink at. Well, we found the bar but unfortunately it was closed. Knowing that it was close to the finish line we decided to stop on the way back to see if it was open. This time we lucked out and not only received the point for buying a drink - the most expenstive waters we've ever had - but also received 3 bonus points because we got a waitress to sign a napkin for us. While in Bobos we noticed a fountain and decided to cross another item off our list by getting into it.

Walking down El Conde we were able to take care of a good chunk of things on our list. We found a working phone booth and called the other team. Then by calling our friend Roger and asking him if his refrigerator was running we got our bonus points for a crank call. Dancing in the street soon followed when Claire and I were able to find a side street that wasn't too busy. Becky then got us our bonus points by dancing the to Bachata music with a stranger. After our dances we stepped inside a small little casino where we needed to play a slot machine. With another streak of luck we gained 3 bonus points when the machine we played hit a couple 7's. We put in 15 pesos and won only 45 pesos, which is about a buck profit, but got our points and continued on our way.

Next was a stop to get our shoes shined. However, the bonus points were awarded only if we were able to shine the shoe-shiner's shoes. Here is a picture of a very confused shoe shining boy watching Claire and Rebbecca shine his shoes. We then went to buy an empanada and some peanut treats all while keeping an eye out for a photo opportunity with Ricky Martin. I should let our blog readers know that Ricky Martin is having a concert here next weekend, which we are all going to, and had posters all over town advertising the event. We found our empanada and got a picture with some of it stuck in our teeth and also found some peanut treats, but the Ricky Martin posters were nowhere to be found. To improvise, we ducked into a CD store, located a Ricky Martin CD, and not only got our picture taken with him but received bonus points for kissing him on the lips.

At the end of El Conde there is a park that we had our picture taken in front of along with the guard that stands out front. Rebbecca is trying to tickle the guard to get him to smile for the bonus point. It was here as well that we found a police officer to put his arms around the girls for another bonus.

With time running out we decided to skip El Mercado Modelo and head back to the square to take a picture with the Virgin Mary in the Cathedral, find the Larimar Museum, and buy something at the Hard Rock Cafe. Before making it back to the square we got our picture taken with some Tiano art. Around the square we found a couple who had just gotten a souvenir from the Hard Rock and took our picture with them instead of buying something ourselves. The last two stops consisted of a photo with the Virgin Mary and a shot outside the closed Larimar Museum. We didn't get every task checked off, like the Monastery, the Hospital of San Nicolas, looking at a hotel room, and a few other random items, but we did hit the majority. At the finish line we met up with the other team and headed off for dinner where we tallied the score.

After we were done sharing all of our pictures with each other, the scores were totaled and we were declared the winners by a landslide. We all had a great time doing something a little bit different around town, and now we have all the pictures to prove it.

WE WON!!