More DR Happenings

Let me just start off by saying that we saw this really cool lizard by the pool. He puffed up his beard bubble apparatus (yes, the technical term) when I got close to him. He probably thought I was trying to impede on his territory. Anyway...

As Lexi mentioned in a previous post, we went to the Dominican Republic a while back. With the way things worked out, it just made sense for us to take a vacation while our stuff traveled from Ithaca to Chicago. The DR is a great place--beautiful beaches, reasonable prices, and all the virgin pina coladas you can drink (or non-virgin, for that matter).


We stayed at an all-inclusive resort just outside of Puerto Plata (this is not a picture of our hotel). We took a "city tour" that took us downtown to see the sites there. We saw an amber museum. The place where they mined the amber in Jurassic Park is set in the DR. We also toured a factory where they make rum (it was already a part of the tour). We didn't drink any, but I was amazed by the manufacturing processes. Compared to the sanitation at ConAgra facilities, that factory was absolutely filthy, so it was interesting to see the difference in health standards.

OK, so now you're still wondering what on earth this picture above has to do with anything. Well, on our city tour, our tour guide dropped us off downtown by the town cathedral and told us to take a few minutes to check things out. Immediately after, we were met by a man in a shirt that stated he was an official tour guide. He told us things about the church and the surrounding area. He then proceeded to take us through the streets and showed us a few shops. That was where we took this picture. We could tell he was getting a kickback from the store owners for bringing gringo tourists to the stores, but we weren't shocked. About 20 minutes later, the driver from our tour came cruising down the street, honking his horn and screaming. He jumped out and ordered us back in the car. He then proceeded to tell us that the guys in the yellow tour guide shirts are notorious for absconding with tourists and stealing their money and cameras. Needless to say, we were happy to still have our camera and money intact. Moral of the story: don't talk to people in yellow shirts :).

We found this monkey in a cage. I tried to get his attention and he almost took my hand off. I was more than a little surprised.


Enough said...