DR - Day 1 - The arrival

July 19,

Saturday was our travel day from Cincinnati to the Dominican Republic. My friend Sandra and I decided to travel to Punta Cana, instead of to Santo Domingo, because that meant taking a direct flight. That left us with a two hour drive, which was totally doable.

We arrived in Punta Cana with no issues whatsoever. The flight was about three and a half hours,  and for the most part the kids entertained themselves. Once we arrived, the first immigration counter was actually just a counter to pay to be admitted in the country. $10 each - cash. It is a good thing I went to the ATM at the Cincinnati airport. Otherwise we would have had to go the ATM there, get the cash, and get in line all over again. 

One we actually made it to the immigration line, we discovered that the Delta crew had not handed out a complete set if immigration forms. We basically had custom forms, but no immigration ones. So the immigration people gave me one form. I then got to the counter and was told I actually needed one form per person, and begrudgingly gave me two more. I stepped to the side to fill them out - I was not about to wait in line all over again unless they made me - and when I was done filling them out I cut in front of somebody else as soon as the next immigration agent was available.

With the ATM crisis averted, and after getting out suitcases, we headed out to get our rental car. And THAT was the adventure.

Turns out we first needed to go to another terminal because the rental company did not have anybody staffing the counter at the terminal where we arrived. Not ideal, but welcome back to Latin America. We eventually made it to the other terminal - at least the car company ended up giving us a ride there - but only to discover that my friend's reservation was nowhere to be found. So for the next three hours we tried to get the rental car.  In the meantime, Sandra's parents had arrived from Santo Domingo and were waiting with us. The kids were tired and cranky - mostly Sofia and Matthew, who is only 4 years old. Sofia was hot and tired, and had nobody to play with. At least Bella and Cristina were entertaining themselves.

Eventually we got the car. Not the car my friend had asked for, but at least it was a car. And between her parent's car and ours, we all had a place to sit.

Since it was already so late, we stopped to eat at a charming open mall in Punta Cana, before getting in the highway. Across from the pizzeria where we ate there was a supermarket, so Sofia and I went to explore it. We bought some shampoo and conditioner, and I enjoyed checking out the fruits, to figure out what is completely new to me, and what fruits we used to have in Mexico. 

After dinner the little ones ran around for a little bit, which we thought was great because they would probably completely crash once they got in the car.  We also got them ice cream, because they asked for it and we thought they deserved it after the long day. Unfortunately Sofia started to get a stomach ache, which quite frankly I thought was product not of anything she had eaten that day, but rather product of the long day, and the nervousness of getting in the car for a couple hours without access to a bathroom - her constant worry.

Alas we got in the highway, and at least Sofia fell asleep rather quickly. Bella, on the other hand, was wide awake for a while. So in between talking and catching up, we kept telling her "no, we are not there yet". Other than that, the drive was pretty uneventful. I actually enjoyed it because if I didn't know any better, I would have thought I was in Mexico. The type of buildings, the big houses right next to the little ones, the fences all around, and the buildings someone started but never had money to finish were all signs that yes, we were no longer in the US and I was in a way "back home" for a little while.

At about 11:30 we finally made it to Sandra's house and put the kids to bed as quickly as we could - which really meant pass midnight. It took us a little while to get them to go down, since they were overtired and wired, but eventually the whole apartment went silent.