Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic
Put the pizza down. Step away from the buffet. And no one will be hurt.
Seriously.
I must stop having a late night snack because I’m having the most messed up, trippy, dreams. My favorite is where I’m street luge-ing (yes me, street luge-ing) down the streets of Paris (of course) when I discover a school full of perfect little children. They are clones being grown so their organs can be harvested. So it’s like a mix of X-games and X Files. All to a kickin dance track that is probably echoing in my subconscious from the party I left the night before. On the other hand, if the dreams are this good, maybe that piece of pepperoni isn’t such a bad thing. ;-)
It’s another early get up for me. Try 730AM. And I hit the gym again. My routine on these cruises become fairly routine. ;-) Breakfast, shower, change, and then I did some work in my room as we pulled into Casa de Campo.
Hmm, not sure what to say. It’s a gigantic pier that they’ve built to attract the cruise ships, but I think the main tourism draw is the golfing. Apparently there are tons of beach/golf resorts around here. And instead of doing the beach or snorkel thing, I’m thinking, this is my first time in the Dominican Republic (and damn it I don
’t get a passport stamp for it!) so maybe I should do something cultural. See the country a bit.
So I sign up for a tour to a nearby town called Higuey which is famous for its basilica. So I’m like, I’m in. Now the downer is that they ask everyone to cover their knees and shoulders. So no shorts and tank tops. And I only brought one pair of pants, my jeans. So that’s what I’m wearing. But apparently they didn’t tell everyone that and most of the guys (I think 20 of us) are wearing shorts and T-shirts. And no it didn’t make a difference. What they didn’t tell us, and which was a serious downer is that Higuey is like a 45 minute drive. In a hot, crowded bus. Not fun. But with my tour bus narcolepsy, I was zoned for most of it. Which is hard to believe considering Clemente (our tour guide) was talking VERY LOUDLY! I di
d remember passing through fields and fields of sugar cane and also some sad little villages where all of the roofs were made of corrugated tin. Kind of sad really. We get to Higuey and it’s a dusty little town that could be anywhere in the Caribbean. Pretty non-descript. Which makes it funny when you see the monstrosity that is the Basilica that the town is famous for.
It’s huge, it’s ugly, and it’s made entirely of cement. Apparently some French architect designed this in a competition that he “won.” Ugh. We stop for some photos and to check out the basilica. It’s the middle of the day and there are a few people there. In the altar area there is a famous painting of “Our Lady of High Grace” that is very famous and revered by the local population. Apparently after it was painted it was sent to Rome to be blessed by the Pope. And there is a little walkway for you to go up and see it closely. We all get in line and I notice that people are putting their hands up to touch the glass frame around the painting like they are praying to it which I find weird. It seems kind of like idolatry to my. But one of the recovering Catholics in my group explains that saints are intercessors who people pray to so that the saint will intercede on their behalf with God. And I think I’ve heard that before.
Afterwards, we go to the old church which is actually quite beautiful, if a lot smaller. As we walk around, there is a group of church women who are praying and it takes me a minute to figure out that they are doing Stations of the Cross. Very cool. Of course it’s all in Spanish, so I don’t recognize any of it. But I can figure out some of the little station paintings and what they say. The old church is very damaged and I guess they are trying to restore it. It was so pretty, but definitely in some need of help.
After Higuey, we head to the small fishing village of Bayahibe. Which it seems its only claim to fame is that is where
the tourists come to catch a boat to go to Saona Island which is a natural park and supposed to be very pretty. I’m not sure why we went there. We weren’t going to Saona Island and there wasn’t anything to do there. I did walk around to take some photos. Is this not a great picture of me. Love it. It’s my Diesel picture. Diesel Jeans. Diesel Shirt. And if the clothese make me look like that, then they are worth every penny. Anyways, I wandered a bit until I started to get hassled by a child begging and that’s when I was like, I’m over this place. Time to get back to the boat.
Today’s T-dance is the Classic Disco tea dance
and it’s a very popular. But it’s definitely not my favorite. The music is only so-so and the fashions are horrible. And yet gay men still find a way to turn hideous fashion into something that looks sexy. I did have a good time even if I didn’t know hardly any of the music. Half the fun of these dances are to look at the outrageous costumes and to take a few pics of hot men. So voila!
After the dance, I grabbed something to eat and then
prepared for the night’s entertainment. But I started to feel a little bit sick and I think the sun and maybe the alcohol was a bit too much as I ended up missing Ms. Richfield 1981 (love her!) and went to bed. I wanted to stay up for the Brazil party, but I was just a goner.
Seriously.
I must stop having a late night snack because I’m having the most messed up, trippy, dreams. My favorite is where I’m street luge-ing (yes me, street luge-ing) down the streets of Paris (of course) when I discover a school full of perfect little children. They are clones being grown so their organs can be harvested. So it’s like a mix of X-games and X Files. All to a kickin dance track that is probably echoing in my subconscious from the party I left the night before. On the other hand, if the dreams are this good, maybe that piece of pepperoni isn’t such a bad thing. ;-)
It’s another early get up for me. Try 730AM. And I hit the gym again. My routine on these cruises become fairly routine. ;-) Breakfast, shower, change, and then I did some work in my room as we pulled into Casa de Campo.
Hmm, not sure what to say. It’s a gigantic pier that they’ve built to attract the cruise ships, but I think the main tourism draw is the golfing. Apparently there are tons of beach/golf resorts around here. And instead of doing the beach or snorkel thing, I’m thinking, this is my first time in the Dominican Republic (and damn it I don
’t get a passport stamp for it!) so maybe I should do something cultural. See the country a bit.So I sign up for a tour to a nearby town called Higuey which is famous for its basilica. So I’m like, I’m in. Now the downer is that they ask everyone to cover their knees and shoulders. So no shorts and tank tops. And I only brought one pair of pants, my jeans. So that’s what I’m wearing. But apparently they didn’t tell everyone that and most of the guys (I think 20 of us) are wearing shorts and T-shirts. And no it didn’t make a difference. What they didn’t tell us, and which was a serious downer is that Higuey is like a 45 minute drive. In a hot, crowded bus. Not fun. But with my tour bus narcolepsy, I was zoned for most of it. Which is hard to believe considering Clemente (our tour guide) was talking VERY LOUDLY! I di
d remember passing through fields and fields of sugar cane and also some sad little villages where all of the roofs were made of corrugated tin. Kind of sad really. We get to Higuey and it’s a dusty little town that could be anywhere in the Caribbean. Pretty non-descript. Which makes it funny when you see the monstrosity that is the Basilica that the town is famous for.It’s huge, it’s ugly, and it’s made entirely of cement. Apparently some French architect designed this in a competition that he “won.” Ugh. We stop for some photos and to check out the basilica. It’s the middle of the day and there are a few people there. In the altar area there is a famous painting of “Our Lady of High Grace” that is very famous and revered by the local population. Apparently after it was painted it was sent to Rome to be blessed by the Pope. And there is a little walkway for you to go up and see it closely. We all get in line and I notice that people are putting their hands up to touch the glass frame around the painting like they are praying to it which I find weird. It seems kind of like idolatry to my. But one of the recovering Catholics in my group explains that saints are intercessors who people pray to so that the saint will intercede on their behalf with God. And I think I’ve heard that before.
Afterwards, we go to the old church which is actually quite beautiful, if a lot smaller. As we walk around, there is a group of church women who are praying and it takes me a minute to figure out that they are doing Stations of the Cross. Very cool. Of course it’s all in Spanish, so I don’t recognize any of it. But I can figure out some of the little station paintings and what they say. The old church is very damaged and I guess they are trying to restore it. It was so pretty, but definitely in some need of help.
After Higuey, we head to the small fishing village of Bayahibe. Which it seems its only claim to fame is that is where
the tourists come to catch a boat to go to Saona Island which is a natural park and supposed to be very pretty. I’m not sure why we went there. We weren’t going to Saona Island and there wasn’t anything to do there. I did walk around to take some photos. Is this not a great picture of me. Love it. It’s my Diesel picture. Diesel Jeans. Diesel Shirt. And if the clothese make me look like that, then they are worth every penny. Anyways, I wandered a bit until I started to get hassled by a child begging and that’s when I was like, I’m over this place. Time to get back to the boat.Today’s T-dance is the Classic Disco tea dance
and it’s a very popular. But it’s definitely not my favorite. The music is only so-so and the fashions are horrible. And yet gay men still find a way to turn hideous fashion into something that looks sexy. I did have a good time even if I didn’t know hardly any of the music. Half the fun of these dances are to look at the outrageous costumes and to take a few pics of hot men. So voila!After the dance, I grabbed something to eat and then
prepared for the night’s entertainment. But I started to feel a little bit sick and I think the sun and maybe the alcohol was a bit too much as I ended up missing Ms. Richfield 1981 (love her!) and went to bed. I wanted to stay up for the Brazil party, but I was just a goner.