Monte Cristi and Santiago

With 2 day trips down with minimal drama, we decided it was time for our first overnight trip. It required a 4 hour air conditioned bus trip with several stops along the way. Monte Cristi was our destination. It is the home town of Mr. B’s father. It is where Mr. B spent many summers as a child up in the mango trees. Mr. B owns a home there. Our purpose was to check on the house and collect the rent for the last year. We also visited friends of the family. The town of Monte Cristi is small and resembles my birth town of Miami, Arizona. Some streets were paved, many were not. Old homes and people walking the streets and high sidewalks. We were picked up from the bus station by a friend Mr. Nicola that drove a little pickup truck. There was no time to be picky about our transportation and no time to fuss about safety, so in the 2 passenger pickup we went. 4 in the bed of the truck and 4 in the front. Mr. Nicola is an older man with a quiet personality. He sells seafood out of the back of his house- crab, fish, octopus and lambi (not sure what it is, but that is what they called it). There house was small yet cozy. Just like in the city there were no windows. They had chickens running around in the back yard that the girls enjoyed chasing. The humidity and heat did not take long to start wearing us all down and after we could not take it anymore, we checked ourselves into the only hotel we could find with air conditioning. The hotel also happened to be on the beach which was so refreshing. Monte Cristi is in the upper north west of the country and from our hotel room you could see the island of Cuba. We spent the rest of the day at the beach. That night was the first night that I can actually say that I was cold. The air conditioning worked a little too good, but how dare I complain! The next morning we packed up and went back to the bus station for our trip back to the city. On the way back we stopped in the town of Santiago. Santiago is where Senora A’s 99 year old sister lives. Without much time to waste in order to make it back to the city before dark, we only spent about 1 hour at her sister’s house. It was so awesome to meet her and her family. There were more than welcoming, as everyone has been along the way. Also like all the other homes we have visited, the moment we walk in the door, food and coffee starts coming out of the kitchen. You are not allowed to say ‘no’ to either one. Avocados are served like chips and salsa are served in AZ. I love avocados and can’t get enough of them here. There must have been over 20 people in the house that we were in and the whole house was about the size of my front room. There is not much in the home, but they have what they need. A table, a few chairs and beds. The floors and walls are concrete and once again, no windows. I was fascinated to see the only photo on their wall. It was a picture of Senora A’s father. I have the same exact photo hanging in my living room. For the first time in my Dominican travels there was a man, not a woman, doing all of the cooking and serving. He was most attentive and I wanted to scoop him up and put him in my pocket and bring him home. Hehe! Anyhow, I had a wonderful visit and really wished we had more time to stay, but we really needed to get going.
The break in the long bus trip was welcomed by all. The idea of only 2 more hours was much more bearable. For the most part my kiddos did well. There was more room on the bus going back allowing us to spread out a bit more, but I would have been foolish to think we could make it back without incident. Of course it was about the last hour that things went down hill. First there was a woman who started having contractions on the bus. She was traveling alone and was being helped by different people on the bus. She was clearly in a lot of pain and while pacing the narrow aisle she would stop to allow the contraction to pass. I started to get real nervous since I knew we had a while to go before the city. Since I consider myself an expert on the subject of child birth, I started to mentally prepare for what could happen and if I could be of assistance. After playing the game ”what would you do?” in my head for a few minutes and assessing all the assistance she was already receiving, I came to the conclusion that since I did not speak enough Spanish, I would be better off praying for a safe delivery and letting the other people help her. An ambulance was called to meet us at the next stop and I got my camcorder ready just in case the show started. Thankfully, we made it for her to get off and head to the hospital. Let’s just say the bus was mighty quiet during that whole time. With that excitement over my kids took their cue and started their show. With one screaming for more candy, another one needed to use the bathroom. As I shifted all of my belongings on my lap, she proceeded to tell me that she just pooped in her underwear (name withheld to prevent future embarrassment). Oh my gosh, what do I do now? We still had about 15 more minutes. With nowhere to go, she had no choice but to lean over on the seat, butt up until we got there. I felt so bad for her. With the beautiful aroma filling the air, I just sat there rubbing her back, telling her it was okay. She was so sad about it. Finally we arrived. We addressed the stinky situation and made our way back to our quarters in the city. We survived another outing!