After crashing at my brother's place (who I am truly thankful) I have decided that to stay in Toronto alone and sobbing during Christmas and New Years would be an emotional suicide and as I expressed to my good friend Carlos "I much rather shovel sand than snow"
I rush once day after work to the travel agency close to my workplace and narrowed the options down to 2. New Orleans or The Dominican Republic, I had about 15 minutes to make up my mind and the sun, merengue and beaches won over the swamps, jazz and alligators. I am glad I made this decision.
In order to get a cheap (and I mean cheap) last minute deal my flight left on the 24 at 10pm arriving in Montreal at 11pm, this means I'd spend Christmas Eve alone in the Montreal airport just with my backpack, my ipod and a book until my flight leaves from Montreal to Punta Cana at 7am. Same deal for the return, it leaves Punta Cana on January 1st at 1:15 and goes to Montreal, then 1 hour transfer and Toronto at 7:45. I know people they hate to do transfers and stops and love to flight direct but in my case, my philosophy is why give any extra money to the airline company that you can use at your destination, so if stopping makes me save $500 so be it!
I arrange with my friend Carlos (who was flying on the 26 from Montreal) to meet there. His family was so kind to borrow a car and pick me up like royalty at the airport after a 2.5 hour drive from their town in San Pedro. Boy were they glad to see me. The jokes started right there when they forgot my name and they started yelling at me "Salvador, Salvador" instead of Sebastian...
Carlo's sister Jennie started driving, she was the only one from the whole greeting committee of 7 who came to pick me up and she didn't own a car so her driving skills were nearly as good as her intentions, so in the first "pee stop" I decided to ask politely if she was tired and she wanted me to take over the wheel for a while, she mentioned that I didn't know the roads which is true but at the same time I was so sure I could do a better job and she agreed. Well, the adventure started there. Nothing like driving in an unknown place to make you feel good, I was channeling my hero Charlie Boorman on one of the episodes of By Any Means while driving a 4x4 on the worst dirt roads I've been in my life.
I wish I have had a video camera to document a bit the driving. We stopped along the way to buy sweets and cheese and we took the wrong turn, which made a 2.5 hour drive turn into a 5 hour drive. But we never ran out of subjects to talk and laugh and we ended arriving at sunset.
The next day my friend Carlos arrived and what came after that was 8 days of fun and beaches I was so much in need to forget a bit what I was going through with the separation.
Things we did in San Pedro in a nutshell
- Went 2 days to a beach called Juan Dolio (where I got sunburnt like a Lobster)
- Went to a baseball game to see the local team kicked ass (9-2) Go Estrellas!
- Ate one of the best Paellas in a long long time
- Drink rhum and beer on the streets of San Pedro (which is not forbidden like in Canada)
- Dance Merengue and Perico Ripiao and confirming the fact that I wasn't made to dace Reggaeton
- Have an amazing week with a family who treated me like their own by spoiling me and making sure I was having a great time 24/7. It's so nice to travel to a new place and make new friends so fast.
I must add that I had to make use of my cooking skills and fulfill some request of Arepas (the typical Venezuelan dish) which became really popular among the locals who kept on inviting new people everyday to the house to try them and kept me in the kitchen long enough to at least feed 25 people.
It was a truly pleasure to cook for such nice people and to contribute to the New Year's feast with some gourmet Shrimp Empanadas with a Guasacaca dip that it would have made chef Gordon Ramsay suck his fingers..Bloody Hell mate!
The day of my return I learned something new (taught by my friend Carlos) I am normally used to sad goodbyes where everyone comes to hug you and kiss you, this time we woke up really early and although most of the people were awake, no one left the room. The explanation behind it, no one wanted to be sad by seeing me leave. They wanted to keep in their minds a last memory of dancing, eating, joking and not crying, hugging and waving goodbye to someone they dont know when they will see again. Totally understandable. Made me think that I wish I have had that knowledge when my relationship was ending so we could leave on a high note with good memories instead of bitterness and sadness. Lesson learned for the future.
Special Thanks to: Jennie, Mayra, Illa, Jesmauri, Rachel, Naomi, Tellerias, Cesarina and whoever name I am forgetting for a really special week that I'd never forget and it was the best formula to start the new year 2011 with the right foot and high hopes!!
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