Aldo's Birthday Weekend

Our weekend began unofficially on Thursday evening. We were walking back after a long day with our friend Jordan and Aldo jokingly told him that it was his birthday. In actuality, his birthday was not until Saturday, but Jordan started telling everyone and pretty soon the whole block was under the impression that we had to celebrate.

We bought a bottle of rum and shared it with our friends into the early morning hours. Aldo was at the table talking about the ways of the world with the old-timers, and I spent my time in the street with the workers. I took 45 minutes to explain how big Texas was in comparison to the Domincan Republic. All the guys were arguing, so I told them San Antonio was the largest city and it has 28 million people in it haha. That is way off!

At the end of the night, Aldo called everyone around the table for a toast. He gave a speech about how important it is to work together to become a "United America," regardless of location on the two continents and in the surrounding seas. Together with the drinks and good company, the moment was nothing short of majestic. The guys gave Aldo a congratulatory speech and we split ways. In my opinion, that night sealed the deal to us becoming friends and members of their community.

Friday we had a little trouble getting up and Elvin brought us some soup. A quick clean-up and a stretch put us in good shape to catch a gua gua to La Romana, a town to the east of Guayacanes. We were going to tour Don Seijas' tobacco plant and spend time with Olga's extended family over the weekend. In La Romana we caught a motoconcho to the factory. A motoconcho is essentially a motorcycle that carries passengers. We both loaded up and survived the terrifying trip to the plant. We would have taken pictures, but we didn't want anyone to see how close we were sitting to each other...

A worker prepares the aged tobacco leaves to be rolled

At the factory we visited with Don Seijas and set off on a personalized tour. Tabacalera de Garcia is the largest hand-rolled cigar factory in the world, with over 4000 employees that work around the clock. They roll out up to 80,000 cigars a day and make brands such as Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo, Vega Fina, and other world-leaders. The tobacco is aged for at least 2 years before it is made into a cigar, and each completed stogey is cured for another 3 months before it is sent to market. The factory does everything by hand, including adding the labels and building the cigar boxes. A very informative tour!

Finishing touches being put on a cigar

The humidor, which holds thousands of aging cigars. It smelled divine

Jose's son Enrique picked us up and took us to Casa de Campo, an elite community equivalent to Beverly Hills. The "city inside the city" includes a private beach, a marina, a supermarket and movie theater, a police and fire station, and 5 golf courses. It is inhabited by Dominican royalty and such celebrities as Shakira, Enrique and Julio Iglesias, Vin Diesel, and Brad Pitt. Also in the facility is Altos de Chavon, a mock 16th century "city inside the city inside the city" that was built in the 70s as a birthday gift. We took a quick look then headed out.

After meeting up with Francisco, we once again returned to Altos de Chavon for an unexpected event. Jose Seijas was launching 3 of his very own signature cigars, something we wished we would have known. Everyone in attendance was dressed superbly, and we were hugging the outskirts in our shorts, matching T-shirts, and ferocious beards. We definitely did not fit in. Be on the lookout in the cigar market for Mi Dominicana, Vega Fina by Jose Seijas, and Jose Seijas Signature, 3 all-Dominican blends perfected by the master himself.

Us with Don Jose Seijas, one of the cigar world's best known aficionados. This is how we dressed for his cigar launch, he was in a nice Dominican suit. Embarrassing...

Saturday we journeyed with Francisco to a few different beaches along the South coast. Stopping by Bayahibe and La Romana, we made camp at Juan Dolio for an afternoon with Francisco's fiance and sister and brother-in-law. Back at the house we sat around and enjoyed some drinks and cigars to end up a relaxing birthday for Aldo.

Today was more Beteyah and a trip to Jumbo. Olga made tacos for dinner (of which I ate 11) and in place of a birthday cake she cooked up a delicious flan.

Aldo cutting into his flan as Olga looks on

Whew, that was a mouthful. Look for a post late next weekend, as we are headed back out into the field tomorrow. Wish us luck on our last full week of work. Thanks for checking in!

P.S.  Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes and to my parents especially. I love you Mom and Dad! You've done good!
-Aldo