Time for a Road Trip!

3/26/09 After a couple of days of intermittent showers we have a car and driver for a trip to Santiago with Tom, owner and builder of an amazing steel boat Essential Part. Oh and hes a good ole Yankee from NY, cruising the Caribbean.
Tom needs wood for his boat, and is able to negotiate a van and driver , so we meet at the marina and meet Eric and a van with lots of room to spread out. Our agenda is simple: a lumber yard, grocery store and Ohchoas, a large hardware store. The man who arranged this recommends lunch at Pez Dorado. Its luxury to have my own seat and I am glued to the view speeding past as we travel out of Luperon south to Santiago, the second largest city with a population of about 1.3 million.
But first we stop at a roadside market selling fresh cows cheese, as Eric did not get breakfast. We all sample it, its so fabulous I buy a ball of it, salty, and very light in texture like fresh mozzarella but definitely a cow product. I can go home now.
Bumpy roads we are used to, we pass and are passed by many motorbikes and cars. The landscape is full of banana groves, lush pastures with grazing cows, goats and horses, huge royal palms, clusters of huts and shacks all surrounded by mountains. We pass through Imbert, a small town and crossroads for motorconchos,buses,taxis, colorful with all the stands and roadside attractions.
As we pass up the mountain through a tunnel we enter the Cibao Valley which stretches from the northwest coast to the east coast ,over 125 miles of farmland. I had already had a bit too much emotion over the avocado groves, and hearing about the coffee and cocoa grown in the mountains, but this was several kleenexes for me to get past sugar cane, rice, tobacco, all so big and vibrant. Little to no pesticides are necessary here, and it sounds like chemical warfare to increase production has not reached this land.
Our first stop is Madeco Lumber, and here we are all given dark rich locally grown coffee, hot and sweet, on a silver tray , china espresso cups, while the workmen are busy cutting planing, loading lumber. Wow, this is some customer service. Its slow, but we get to the stacks of wood with the manager and after awhile , with Eric's translation wood is picked out. Now they begin the long process of calculating the sizes out of each board, and the cost. We wander around, look at wood, shop tools, all kinds of stuff. Another hour passes, they're still calculating. We are served fresh-squeezed orange juice in wine glasses and that silver tray is back. It is so sweet, its like Tang. I try not to think that some vodka would be nice, but I am still enjoying the coffee buzz. Goodbye Lowes and Home Depot, I will never go back!
Its all settled and the price is good and we are due back at 4 to pick it up. Off we go to PriceSmart, its a membership shopping experience and I feel like I am back at Costco! We pick up afew things on the list, giggle at the US and Dominican Brands, decline the hotdog for lunch(Rock's favorite lunch in Myrtle Beach!) and are off to Pez Dorado, after a stop for me to change money. Eric takes me to a farmacia, despite my request for a bank, and I am pleased with the exchange rate, and meet yet another Dominican who lived in Newark...if they've been to the US its always NY or NJ....Eric, too, lived in NYC and NJ... so anyway, we check some RX prices and are disappointed to find most of Rock's are more expensive than we want to pay, although far less expensive than US. Pez Dorado turns out to be a fancy older restaurant with lots of bad art from the 1950s, maroon-coated waiters who speak no english and a very pricey menu. Eric and Tom are smart and order chop suey and pork chow mein, while Rock and I are adventurous and have the unidentifiable seafood in a scallop shell(me) and fish cakes(Rock) I also try some inedible burnt lobster bisque. I enjoy the chinese choices muchly. We are all relieved to leave, I wanted regional authentic grub, but not more chicken and beans and salad.
We stop at and innercity grocery, with warnings to keep our money in a front pocket and off we go into a dirty crowded store, I find afew things, Eric gets us to try the corn pudding, we all pig out and eye the rice pudding, flan, they do love their sweets! Rock buys Lambi(conch) that is fresh and slimy. I dream about conch fritters at the Poop Deck in Nassau....
In a rush for time and Eric drops us off at Ochoas, the mega hardware store, and he and Tom go back to the lumber yard . Its a barn of a place but it is hard to find anything, and although the staff is helpful they no hablo engles and we are sent all over the place on snipe hunts. We manage to check out as Tom and Eric arrive, the wood is not with them, for pick up another day, but they did give Tom a refund after more calculating! I think they got more coffee too....
Santiago is a handsome city, full of tall buildings, universities, malls and stores, and small rugged neighborhoods, yet these people are the same as those living in huts in the countryside and they are of modest means and friendly. The traffic is fast and furious with cars, motorbikes, buses and taxis all ignoring lanes, using their horns for everything from hi how are you to move out of my way to make room, here I come. Its loud and jovial, and despite what looked like nanoinches between vehicles there were no accidents.
On the way out of town we buy papayas, pineapples by the armful from men walking into the street with all kinds of produce, and of course cell phone paraphernalia. Can't escape the ubiquitous cell phone and cell cards,cases.... I pile my seven papayas for 3$ at my feet , Rock is not happy knowing we will be eating alot of papaya before the week is over. I want bananas but not the whole tree, as they sell them, and Eric points out they are plantains, so in order to keep Rock's blood sugar from coma level I stop buying .
We have a quiet ride home, Eric is anxious to get home to his family. I am amazed at how easily he speeds us past the motorbikes, people walking along the road, people gathering at each others huts spilling into the road, slowing down for the invisible bumps and sleeping policemen in the dark.