February 16, 2008
I am writing this little piece to give you an account of my travels through, in, and from the Dominican Republic. Those who know me, know I am crazy and love to make people laugh . . . so here we go.
My journey to the Dominican Republic started at 3:20am this morning, after finally falling asleep around 12:30am. I guess I should have just stayed up by that point, but Brian advised me I should have went to sleep earlier; thus, it was my own fault for being so drowsy in the morning. We had to depart for the airport at 4:00am, so I was hoping getting up earlier would give me enough time to go get some food from Waffle House. You know, get a good meal in my system for the long day of travel ahead of me. Well, not a good meal, but a meal that is high in fat that my body would have to try to burn all day because airport food is extremely expensive and makes you feel like you spent $8.00 for a pack of peanut butter crackers. I also wanted to take a shower and I ended up deciding between food and a shower. I choose shower because I cannot stand traveling unclean. I don't understand my need to be clean before I start traveling because if you really think about the large amount of germs and disease that float around in that sardine can in the sky, many of you probably would not travel anymore. Today, when I got on the plane and dropped my bag on the seat a cloud of dust flew up from the seat, which is some gross shat. All that dead skin and crap particles just flying up into the air, I wanted to hold my breath the entire flight. Then we would have an entirely different problem, is there a doctor on the plane this black man has suffocated himself.
Anyway, the first flight was successful. Not too many crying babies on the flight at 6am in the morning. What are parents doing flying their babies to Miami at 6am in the morning anyway? I mean they could not pick a better time when people are actually not trying to sleep on the plane. Maybe noon or something when the kid is supposed to take a nap anyway, but you know whatever. I somehow found a way to get to sleep; oh I remember how I got to sleep, because I had 1.7 hours of sleep before getting up at 3:20am. It was a good couple of hours of sleep though; the flight attendants woke me up for my serving of apple juice which I really appreciated.
The Miami airport is awful. I mean really awful. I am sitting here now writing this blog sitting next to the check-in desk because they do not have any electrical outlets throughout this place. I have my legs spread out blocking the hall trying to make the people feel bad that their airport sucks so much. Then I had a margarita with my lunch which was composed of chicken wings. I bought this margarita not knowing the cost, word to the wise, never purchase anything if the price is not listed. I did not realize that my margarita cost enough to fund a kid in a Third World Country for three months. Next time, I am just going to pass on the alcohol and give my money to the kid. Oh and on top of being ripped off for my margarita, our plane is delayed. Like Mary J. says I am going to be "Just Fine." Well, I do not know if I am going to fine if this dude does not find another black man sitting in the middle of the floor at which he can stare. Please do not get me arrested in the Miami airport. I am crazy as all get out. Oh and now the plane is delayed even further. We were supposed to fly out of this awful place at 12:30pm and now it is delayed until 3:10pm now. Also, there are two flights that are delayed at our gate so that is 400 passengers waiting in this cramped little corner located in one of the greatest places on earth. Good times, good times. At least I am claustrophobic; really claustrophobic I think I am about to pass out.
Pues (Spanish), we finally got on the aeroplane (Spanish) and that was an interesting experience. I think they gave us a model of the 747 that has been flying since 1980. This plane was really rundown and I am starting to wonder if they do that for all international flights, but I know better than that. I have flown to Austria before and that plane was brand spanking new; thus, we were discriminated against. Yes, I went there. Once, we got the hotel going through costumes was hilarious because we had to buy a tarjeta de tourista and you could not pay for in pesos, after I got all that money exchange in the US. I might as well have kept my dinero and not exchanged it. Anyway, as we were leaving costumes I felt like we were celebrities because we were surrounded on both sides by people looking for family and taxi drivers hoping they could take you to your hotel. 
We waited on the next group of our people to arrive. We were supposed to fly out at 12:30pm as you know, but because we were delayed we only had to wait on them for an hour and a half once we reached Santa Domingo. So just imagine if we got there on time and had to wait like six or seven hours for them, yikes!!!
We waited for the other group and had New York Style Pizza and I had my first experience with a Dominican. I wanted a bottle of water and I was with one of the white women on our trip and I left all my pesos with my backpack sitting on the grass outside the airport. So she proceeded to purchase my two bottles of water and as she reached down for the money the cashier checked me out. She then pointed to me and to the woman signifying the she thought we were a couple. I had to act quickly and explain that she was only a friend, solamente una amiga, solamente una amiga!!! Well, the rest of this day is composed of meeting the other group and jumping on the bus for a four hour ride to our hotel and finally arriving to the hotel by 2:30am their time, 1:30am our time.
