Travel and Cigars

Hello there! Thanks again for the comments on my guestbook. It's so great to hear from so many of you! Allison- you still have a coachroach problem? You should really do something about that... Em, glad that you are reading! Your little guys are so cute! Mom, thanks for who you are and for inspiring me! Dad, I love you!

Okay, on to Tuesday- We had to get into town today and get off at a different stop from the guagua. Fortunately, my favorite 'cobrador' (person who hangs outside the guagua and takes your money and makes change from the outside of a rapidly moving vehicle) was in our guagua today and I had to shout from the backseat, "COBRADOR, NECESITAMOS CALLE ESPANA." It was awesome! My group lets me do much of the talking in these situations becuase I have the most Spanish in the group! We made it there okay, then we met the promotora and went to get in our NEXT guagua for the morning.

She was walking to the guagua stop with the four of us from my group, and they started fighting over who was going to get to take all of us to the neighborhood about 15 minutes away! They literally grabbed both her arms and were pulling her apart! It was all in fun, but a little frightening in any situation! So we jammed into this one guagua- and I had to ride in the front.

Now, let's talk about why I hate the front seat of the guagua. I shall make a list:
1. you can see everything that is going on
2. if you are right next to the driver and there are four of you up there, your options are: A. straddle the stick shift (no thank you) or B. stretch your left hip abductors like nobody's business with somebody sitting on your right hip.
3. when the driver does shift the vehicle, he puts his elbow into your ribcage to do so because there are too many people in the guagua.
4. you can see everything that is going on (I'd just rather not know sometimes)

We saw four children this morning, again we read radiographs by the sunlight (thank you for my Offutt rotation), and rode the guagua back into Santiago. We then got a taxi to the grocery store to get some lunch before our afternoon excursion. I had to ask how much the taxi was and then tell him where we were going. Then, I pulled a Jo Schafer and got to know the taxi driver. He lives in Santiago and his parents live here and he really likes the city. He even gave me his number for any taxi needs I might have!!! All in all, a great morning.

This afternoon we went to the cigar factory. Did you know that they dry tobacco leaves for 7 years before making cigars? We got some great pictures! I will post some later hopefully. I actually bought some cigars to bring back with me. First people to claim them in the guestbook get to try them. I even got some vanilla flavored cigars (straight from the Domincan Republic).
We also went to the museum in Santiago about the history of the DR. It was truly fascinating and it was incredible to see how artistically the entire museum was put together. I love the Latin Culture! For one exhibit, they illustrated the meshing of the Spanish culture (from Spain) and the African culture after African slaves were brought to the country. The artifacts from Spain were in glass cases with satin backdrops and the artifacts from the African heritage were behind wood with slats so you could see, symoblizing the shameful connotation behind the African ancestry here.

Truly beautiful! What an incredible day again! I have signed up for rafting and jeeping this weekend! With the jeep adventure, we go to a 35 foot waterfall and get to swim for some time. The rafting apparently includes class 5 rapids, so they make you sit inside of the raft. It should be a lot of fun!

Miss you all!
Love to you all!