Samana

Samana is out of this world. We headed into town today to get a good look around. We were not displeased with what we saw. We enjoyed seeing a colorful food market and many other local shops. We fumbled into shop when one of my companions needed a bano pronto. I am so glad we happened to walk in. Yesterday I told my traveling companions that I wanted to purchase a piece of artwork while I was here. I explained to them that it was very unlikely that I would actually buy one because I had a very particular image in mind of what I wanted. While I was shifting through pieces of artwork in the shop while we were waiting I found exactly what I had been looking for.

I a lot of time looking around before I decided I wanted to try to purchase this painting. We starting talking and I knew this was going to be a lengthy conversation. My salesmen gave me and my friends all free bracelets halfway through our conversation and proceeded to offer me a shot. I had to refuse him several times for the alcohol until he gave up and went back to bartering. Finally, we decided on a price. My last request was to have a photo taken with the artist who was the man’s father, which was happily agreed upon.

After carefully wrapping my painting for the journey we sought out food. We enjoyed lunch at a local ‘Comedor’ which serves like a cafeteria and you cannot beat their prices!

We headed back to our hostel in a guagua which is about an hour ride each way. After arriving at our hostel we grabbed our swimsuits and went back out to enjoy some time at the beach. It was early evening so the beach was almost empty making it seem like we had reserved it. After a refreshing swim we walked the thirty minutes to the small town that sits above Samana. One of my friends was in search of dominos to bring back for her family. We found some in a small shop and she asked for my assistance in haggling. After a lot of talking, joking, and even dancing I got the price that she wanted. And… then she changed her mind. We decided it was time to walk back to our hostel. We have not actually made the walk back because someone has always given us a ride. It is a very steep walk that none of our neighbors wants us to go through. This time we were picked up by a taxi who said he would love to take us free of charge because it was heading in our direction anyway. His name was David and he was full of happiness. David even stopped his taxi when we saw a tortoise crossing the road. Hearing our reactions at the sight of the tortoise he hopped out of the taxi and caught him so we could get a closer look. Afterwards he helped the little guy cross the remainder of the road, and placed him safely over the fence.

David drove us past his house so we wouldn’t have to walk very far at all. After we thanked him we started to walk the last little trek to our home. At this point it was very dark and the final part of our path was very rocky. We passed a motorcycle who greeted us as we walked by. He then proceeded to shine the light from his motor and followed us to make sure we got to our place safely. There are so many wonderful people here. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.