Our weekend started for us early, again, and we found ourselves in Santo Domingo late Thursday evening. As we stated in our last post, Friday was a holiday for the working class. The holiday celebrates el Dia de la Mercedes which is the patron saint of the Dominican Republic. Religious services are held on this day throughout the country and homage is also paid by creating alters complete with flowers and portraits of the saint.
We spent the day indoors watching movies with Cristian and ordering in food. The weather has not cooperated at all this festive weekend. In fact, it has been raining for nearly three days straight on-and-off. The effects of the rain can be seen throughout the city by the large accumulations of water that make roads unpassable. The city streets are also empty but one can still see the clusters of people gathered around the neighborhood colmado.
On Saturday, we made another trip to the nuevo mercado where we did some shopping and Aldo bought an awesome fedora. As we walked through the mercado's streets and endless stands, Sayer spotted a stand dedicated to mamajuana. After receiving some insight from the vendor, Sayer purchased a stash for processing. The rain caught up to us again and after walking for what seemed like 30 kilometers, we made it home and dried off. That evening caught up with our host family and we out for some drinks with Cristian at an exclusive bar.
Paul, our host sister's husband, took us to the "pulga"(flea market) on Sunday. This rag-tag gathering of vendors sets up under the Ave. Luperon overpass to sell just about anything. Items include: pirated DVDs, computers, clothes, food, shoes, gaming systems and anything in between. As we left, a fight broke out that was instigated by an accusation of theft and Paul urged us to run to avoid being hit by hammers or glass bottles. I'm not sure what exactly transpired but we wasted no time getting out of there and to the safety of a colmade for a refreshing Bohemia Pilsner.
As we prepare to leave this country, we are grateful for all the new friends and hospitality. We will be packing and finalizing our affairs this week. The next leg of our trip will take us to Spain, where we hope to arrive on Thursday after a 10-hour flight.
Please stay posted.
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