Arriving in Santo Domingo

After being woken up with the words ”we have arrived to the Dominican Republic”, the first thing I did was to jump out of bed and run out of my cabin.

After being woken up with the words ”we have arrived to the Dominican Republic”, the first thing I did was to jump out of bed and run out of my cabin. I opened the heavy door with a nervous feeling deep down in my stomach, and thousand thoughts spinning around in my head. How is the last study harbor going to be? How will I react when I have to take my last steps on this country, and begin our last cruise on this trip? Are we going to manage all the studying, and at the same time explore all the corners of the country?

After pushing open the door I was greeted by the blinding sight of a flood filled with trash and a road crowded with cars. The air was humid and hot, and a smell of warmth and fried food reached my nose. After a quick line up and a song to our maintenance work responsible ”båsen” Karin and captain Hans, we sat down to eat pasta and tomato sauce in the big mess. Our old captain Torben stepped inside the blue door in the middle of the lunch, and was greeted by a big applaud and many smiles. We truly cherish the time we spent with Hans these past weeks, but everybody knows that were going to stop the boat a lot to have a swim now that Torben signs on.

Port watch and midship were headed out to discover the new and exciting country after the lunch. We are laying in a harbor filled with large ships, next to a quite heavy packed road. Even though it took some time passing the street, we made it over somehow alive. Who knew that so many cars could honk at the same time?

It only took a few steps up the stairs made of old rocks to realize that we are out of condition after two and a half months on a boat. We slowly walked past beautiful old buildings, cigarr stores and stores filled with souvenirs from top to bottom. We passed colorful paintings and different artworks, and now afterwards I have come to a realisation that about nineteen procent of my bag will be paintings, and to be honest they aren’t the most beautiful ones I have seen in my life.

We visited a chocolate store filled with tea, body lotions and all kinds of chocolate flavored stuff. After our visit at the chocolate factory in Grenada, the smell of chocolate have become one of the most pleasant smells in the whole world.

Paintings and chocolate wasn’t the only thing that was bought, we arrived to the boat with bags filled of fruits, different kinds of jewelry and more than one Hawaii shirt in colors you barely know exists. All my worries have been blown away after this day, and been replaced with chocolate and paintings.

Felicia, port watch