República Dominicana: Day One

Saturday February 16, 2008

Real Time with Bill Maher is on HBO Friday nights from 11:00pm-12:00am, and even though there will be an EARLY wake-up Saturday for the trip, I can't miss it. Right? And of course after the show, the energy is high and the adrenaline is pumping so there is no somnolence. The plan in the morning is that our group of 40 is divided into 2 subgroups: one flying out of Raleigh, and one out of Charlotte. I am in the Charlotte group.

5:00am, the alarm goes off. We are to meet at a church in Lewisville, on the other side of Winston-Salem, and then caravan down at 6:30am. Now mind you, I think this is crap, as we live off of I-85 and can get to the Charlotte airport in a smidge over an hour. But that's OK, I'm a newbie so I'll go with the flow and meet in Lewisville.

11:30am, our flight departs on a teeny American Eagle puddle-jumper that has one seat, the aisle, then two seats. I cannot stand tall in the aisle. I am cramped. We fly to Miami.

Our last meal in the states consists of pizza and beer in Miami. U.S.of.A. macro Budweiser swill. Time to make our way to the gate for a 4:00pm departure for Santo Domingo. All is well, and everyone gets on board. Let's go!

Um, we need fuel. So we wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, a fuel truck is found from its hiding place and by 6:00pm we're in the air. Two hours to find some gas. It's a harbinger of things to come as we acclimate to "Dominican time".

Immigration in Santo Domingo is easy, and my passport's visa stamp virginity is taken away. So now it's time to get our luggage. So we wait. And wait. And wait. Apparently the luggage compartment door is jammed and they cannot open it. Sigh. Finally we get our luggage: one personal suitcase, and one soon-to-be-donated suitcase packed to the 50-pound limit with medical supplies, drugs, baseballs, toys, etc. On to customs and we slide right through.

We meet the Raleigh group outside the airport by our bus and stop for pizza and Presidente beer. It's nice to catch up with everyone and rejoice that there are no more meetings, no more planning sessions, no more emails. We are all in the Dominican Republic and ready to go.

We board the bus; our luggage is dangerously stacked and tarped down with bungee cords onto a Daihatsu pick-up truck; and off we go on a 4-hour drive to our home for 9 days: Barahona, DR.

2:30am (1:30am Greensboro time) we arrive at the Hotel Costa Larimar in Barahona. We consequently pass out in our beds. Day One of travel is finally over.