Postcards from Cabarete, Part I
Well y'all, I am on day 2.5 of vacation, and even though it has been raining all day and will likely continue to rain until Friday, I'm still mega grateful to not be in the sub-zero temperatures of NYC, shivering my ass off and looking sorrowfully at my painfully pale & chapped skin.
Saturday
I left my house at 4am after about an hour of sleep for Zoe's, where Zoe and Naima were waiting for me. We sleepily made our way out of the house and got incredible bagels on our way to Newark. The airport was insanely crowded at 7 in the morning, with lines that made me think we would very likely miss our plane. Luckily, we were ushered to a slightly shorter line where we checked in with no problem.
The plane ride was pleasant enough and relatively short, although Naima and I rolled our eyes at the older white ladies sitting next to us who were *shocked* that the customs forms were in Spanish first and English second. "Do they know what country they're visiting?" said Naima, eyes rolling.
As soon as we walked off the plane, a burst of warm air and sun hit us, and we were all instantly cheered. Two women in silver sequined outfits welcomed us to the Dominican Republic as we exited the plane, and a man took our picture with them. A minute later, a cheerful band of older men played music for us and the other exiting passengers as we walked by. Naima was slightly worried about going through customs because she had brought some tea with her and we were unsure of whether or not it was considered an agricultural product and therefore not allowed in the country, but it turns out we were worried for nothing.
First, they directed us to the tourist line, where we were ordered to buy a $10 "tourist card" for no discernible reason. But then, to our delight, we were offered complimentary rum and cokes at a makeshift bar set up right next to the tourist card booth. Even more humorous, the customs officers didn't even look at my customs sheet before waving me through. By that time, Naima had lost her customs paper altogether, but they said, "Eh, don't worry about it" and sent her on through too. Easiest border crossing ever!
We exited the airport into the heat and began changing our shoes and rolling up our pants. I started sweating, which felt like a bit of a miracle. There was much squealing from all of us about how happy we were to be on vaycay.
The driver loaded up our bags in the van, and we stopped at a local grocery on the way home, buying what seemed like a shitload of groceries for us to use over the next few days.
When we pulled up to our villa, it was stunning. The grounds here are beautifully kept, and our villa itself is nothing short of magnificent. The pictures we saw online don't even do it justice. When the property manager walked us into the space, I said, "Wait, is this the lobby?" It's really really beautiful here - there are three giant bedrooms, three and a half baths, a gigantic living area with beautiful picture windows, and a full kitchen with a bar. Oh hell yeah.
The pool is also two steps away from the villa. After the property manager left, Miasia ran around the house screaming with joy.
As an aside, when we were planning this vacation, I certainly had many moments of feeling conflicted about being yet another wealthy American tourist in a country with huge class disparities, especially between visitors and native folks, but I also know that since that all 5 of us are outsiders, the idea of a more "authentic" experience isn't a realistic expectation to have had either. And while we do know folks back home either from the DR or with close family ties here, we definitely didn't know anyone that would have been interested in putting up 5 loud and often semi-naked fat femmes for 8 days. There are always tricky dynamics to navigate as a tourist from the U.S., as someone who has a lot of wealth in comparison to the folks living in the host country, and as a person of color, and it's no different here. But regardless of the complicated dynamics, it would be a crime not to enjoy our beautiful surroundings and the wonderful place that we've chosen to visit.
Anyway, as soon as the groceries were put away, we all jumped into our bathing suits and nearly ran down to the beach to catch the last few hours of sun.
The beach, of course, is just lovely. The water is a delightful aqua blue, and it's nearly deserted, which meant that we practically got the whole area to ourselves. I celebrated by jumping up and down numerous times and immediately hopped into the ocean.
After swimming until it got dark, we retired back to the villa where Naima made us a delicious dinner of mango salmon with tostones. As soon as dinner was finished, we all pretty much went straight to bed because we were all so thoroughly exhausted from getting practically no sleep the night before. I slept like a fucking log.
Sunday
Yesterday was the perfect beach day. It was in the mid-80s and sunny, which meant that we sat our fat asses on the sand and swam from the time we woke up until the sun went down.
I asked Tania to put some heavy duty sunscreen on my tattoos, which she did a bit haphazardly, which also means that I now have a hilariously splotchy tan line since I got burnt just about everywhere else.
Just as it turned to dusk, it started to sprinkle, so we went inside. Once it began to pour, we shut off all the lights and watched the rain storm from inside.
We cooked a yummy dinner of baked chicken with garlic, lime, and soy (TVP for Miasia) and coconut beans and rice. I baked a cake and we played games and watched movies until late. There might have also been some rum drinks involved. After all, we do have a full bar here.
Monday (Today)
Unfortunately, when we got up, it was raining, and it hasn't really stopped since. As a matter of fact, it looks like it's going to rain for the next 3 days. But, we all agreed that sitting in a rainy paradise is much preferable to sitting at our desks while it's freezing cold. Today was a very low key day of reading, movie watching, card playing, a bit more grocery shopping, and drinking. We also bought an incredible looking whole 9 pound mahi mahi fish for a mere $27. A gentleman knocked on our door this morning and offered us lobster, red snapper, and mahi mahi for like $3.50 a pound. We were going to grill it, but since it's still raining, I think we'll go for sauteeing with some butter, lime, salt & pepper. YUM.
In the works for the rest of the week if it continues to rain: renting a car and do a little driving around the country. I was thinking we could visit Santo Domingo, and there are also underground cave tours offered that obviously don't require nice weather. It looks like we'll get a couple more beach days on Friday and Saturday, but of course we're crossing our fingers that the weather channel is wrong. When the weather is nice, we all want to go snorkeling and take a little trip to the mangroves (in addition to more time laying on the beach, of course).
Either way, I'm really really glad to be here. Spending time with four of my nearest and dearest is incredibly restorative, and rain or not, this is an absolutely perfect beginning to a new year.
Saturday
I left my house at 4am after about an hour of sleep for Zoe's, where Zoe and Naima were waiting for me. We sleepily made our way out of the house and got incredible bagels on our way to Newark. The airport was insanely crowded at 7 in the morning, with lines that made me think we would very likely miss our plane. Luckily, we were ushered to a slightly shorter line where we checked in with no problem.
The plane ride was pleasant enough and relatively short, although Naima and I rolled our eyes at the older white ladies sitting next to us who were *shocked* that the customs forms were in Spanish first and English second. "Do they know what country they're visiting?" said Naima, eyes rolling.
As soon as we walked off the plane, a burst of warm air and sun hit us, and we were all instantly cheered. Two women in silver sequined outfits welcomed us to the Dominican Republic as we exited the plane, and a man took our picture with them. A minute later, a cheerful band of older men played music for us and the other exiting passengers as we walked by. Naima was slightly worried about going through customs because she had brought some tea with her and we were unsure of whether or not it was considered an agricultural product and therefore not allowed in the country, but it turns out we were worried for nothing.
First, they directed us to the tourist line, where we were ordered to buy a $10 "tourist card" for no discernible reason. But then, to our delight, we were offered complimentary rum and cokes at a makeshift bar set up right next to the tourist card booth. Even more humorous, the customs officers didn't even look at my customs sheet before waving me through. By that time, Naima had lost her customs paper altogether, but they said, "Eh, don't worry about it" and sent her on through too. Easiest border crossing ever!
We exited the airport into the heat and began changing our shoes and rolling up our pants. I started sweating, which felt like a bit of a miracle. There was much squealing from all of us about how happy we were to be on vaycay.
The driver loaded up our bags in the van, and we stopped at a local grocery on the way home, buying what seemed like a shitload of groceries for us to use over the next few days.
When we pulled up to our villa, it was stunning. The grounds here are beautifully kept, and our villa itself is nothing short of magnificent. The pictures we saw online don't even do it justice. When the property manager walked us into the space, I said, "Wait, is this the lobby?" It's really really beautiful here - there are three giant bedrooms, three and a half baths, a gigantic living area with beautiful picture windows, and a full kitchen with a bar. Oh hell yeah.
The pool is also two steps away from the villa. After the property manager left, Miasia ran around the house screaming with joy.
As an aside, when we were planning this vacation, I certainly had many moments of feeling conflicted about being yet another wealthy American tourist in a country with huge class disparities, especially between visitors and native folks, but I also know that since that all 5 of us are outsiders, the idea of a more "authentic" experience isn't a realistic expectation to have had either. And while we do know folks back home either from the DR or with close family ties here, we definitely didn't know anyone that would have been interested in putting up 5 loud and often semi-naked fat femmes for 8 days. There are always tricky dynamics to navigate as a tourist from the U.S., as someone who has a lot of wealth in comparison to the folks living in the host country, and as a person of color, and it's no different here. But regardless of the complicated dynamics, it would be a crime not to enjoy our beautiful surroundings and the wonderful place that we've chosen to visit.
Anyway, as soon as the groceries were put away, we all jumped into our bathing suits and nearly ran down to the beach to catch the last few hours of sun.
The beach, of course, is just lovely. The water is a delightful aqua blue, and it's nearly deserted, which meant that we practically got the whole area to ourselves. I celebrated by jumping up and down numerous times and immediately hopped into the ocean.
After swimming until it got dark, we retired back to the villa where Naima made us a delicious dinner of mango salmon with tostones. As soon as dinner was finished, we all pretty much went straight to bed because we were all so thoroughly exhausted from getting practically no sleep the night before. I slept like a fucking log.
Sunday
Yesterday was the perfect beach day. It was in the mid-80s and sunny, which meant that we sat our fat asses on the sand and swam from the time we woke up until the sun went down.
I asked Tania to put some heavy duty sunscreen on my tattoos, which she did a bit haphazardly, which also means that I now have a hilariously splotchy tan line since I got burnt just about everywhere else.
Just as it turned to dusk, it started to sprinkle, so we went inside. Once it began to pour, we shut off all the lights and watched the rain storm from inside.
We cooked a yummy dinner of baked chicken with garlic, lime, and soy (TVP for Miasia) and coconut beans and rice. I baked a cake and we played games and watched movies until late. There might have also been some rum drinks involved. After all, we do have a full bar here.
Monday (Today)
Unfortunately, when we got up, it was raining, and it hasn't really stopped since. As a matter of fact, it looks like it's going to rain for the next 3 days. But, we all agreed that sitting in a rainy paradise is much preferable to sitting at our desks while it's freezing cold. Today was a very low key day of reading, movie watching, card playing, a bit more grocery shopping, and drinking. We also bought an incredible looking whole 9 pound mahi mahi fish for a mere $27. A gentleman knocked on our door this morning and offered us lobster, red snapper, and mahi mahi for like $3.50 a pound. We were going to grill it, but since it's still raining, I think we'll go for sauteeing with some butter, lime, salt & pepper. YUM.
In the works for the rest of the week if it continues to rain: renting a car and do a little driving around the country. I was thinking we could visit Santo Domingo, and there are also underground cave tours offered that obviously don't require nice weather. It looks like we'll get a couple more beach days on Friday and Saturday, but of course we're crossing our fingers that the weather channel is wrong. When the weather is nice, we all want to go snorkeling and take a little trip to the mangroves (in addition to more time laying on the beach, of course).
Either way, I'm really really glad to be here. Spending time with four of my nearest and dearest is incredibly restorative, and rain or not, this is an absolutely perfect beginning to a new year.