Public Transport and Boca Chica

Hiii all-
Today was quite the experience for me. I woke up with a bit of a stomach ache, but by the afternoon, I was fine again. Last night Gertrudys completely disinfected my bedroom with bug repellent, so I am not sure if it worked yet. As of now, I probably still have between 25-30 mosquito bites. Fiona and I paid for our excursion today so it is final. We will be leaving at 6:30 on Sunday morning for a fun filled day of adventures. I cannot wait. As for the rest of the day, we decided to try out the public transportation (the Guaguas) and take a trip to a beach called Boca Chica. It took us 1 hour to get about 15 miles away because the busses stopped so much. We had to change busses twice and it was so confusing. While on the first bus, Fiona was given a phone number by our driver. He really liked him. Everywhere we go, people stare at us like they have never seen someone with white skin before. It really is annoying. The busses were really loud and crowded and they smelled terrible. Everything here smells terrible. I can't wait to get into fresh air again. Right after we arrived at Boca Chica (since it was the last stop of the trip) we needed a beer STAT. The weather was horrible. On the way, it rained the whole time. We were hoping for sun and a tan, but never got either.

While looking for somewhere to sit, we walked for about 10 minutes until we were approached by a man who pulled out two lawn chairs for us right next to the beach. He said that we were allowed to sit there and to let us know if we needed anything. The entire time we were sitting there, we were approached by vendor after vendor for different types of jewelry and food. We bought nothing because to be honest the food looked sketchy and the jewelry was ugly. (Sorry, just being honest). Anyway, about 30 minutes went by and the guy came back and asked if we wanted food or drink and we said no thank you. At this point, he did not seem to happy. He stomps away and comes back presenting us with a bill of 300 pesos for using the chairs. This is the best part of the story because it is the first time that I have seen Fiona blow up and freak out on someone during this trip. I am always letting swear words slip out while we are talking and I always feel bad because she seems like such a soft spoken girl, but no. Not this time. Fiona's Spanish is way better than mine, so this is when the talking (more or less yelling) began. I have never heard someone swear and talk/yell so fast in another language in my life. She tried explaining to him he never told us we had to pay in Spanish, and he didn't understand so she then tried English. This made him mad. He was causing a scene telling us that this is the Dominican Republic and if we want to survive here we better know Spanish. No English! He was making fun of where we were from and pulling other people into the fight. It was HORRIBLE. Finally a vendor who knew English approached us and we told him we did not have the money. We had just enough to take the public transit  back the Gazcue. We fought back and forth because of the language barrier for about 25 minutes, and finally he let us leave, after proceeding to tell us to come back tomorrow. Yeah right, never. Everyone and there mother were staring at us and giving us the "dumb American" look. It was probably the worst experience yet.

And then, the public transit back. It seemed faster, but maybe that was because the Dominican man sitting next to us realized that we spoke English and wanted to start practicing with us. He talked our ear off the entire hour. Asking questions, informing us of past Dominican olympians who participated in the Olympics, quoting Jim Carey movies, etc. etc. It was honestly really annoying. I am proud he was so passionate to learn English, but it was a little much after the day we had.

After arriving home, I was greeted by a full house (which is normal). Luissina's best friend Victor, who knows English, was eager to hear about our trip. He was really mad when he found out what happened. He let us know we did not overreact and if that happens again, he will get in his car and drive all the way to Boca Chica to settle things for us. He was embarrassed that we were treated that way. As for the rest of the night, Fiona and I will eat some dinner and head the the Acropolis which is a local Mall with bars and places to have drinks. We might meet her friends from Punta Cana there. Tomorrow, we will go out dancing with my host sisters and their friends. Starting tomorrow, the weekend will be a busy one. We have a ton of adventures ahead. I will be sure to inform you about them asap.

Sincerely,
Elle