Sunday, September 30, 2012

Come Fly With Me: Adios DR!

This is the last of the Dominican Republic part of our trip. I know there has been a lot of posts & photo's on this part of the trip. Kannie help it man. There's a lot to see!


Of course I would make everyone go check out the local aquarium.

Sorry Acuario Nacional, but ya'll are no competition for Two Oceans Aquarium.

Photo's do not do justice in showing just how MASSIVE this fish was.



PIRANHA!

Road trip to Punta Cana! This is the side of DR that has all the resorts, where all the celebs who visit the country go to stay.
Food pit-stop. Obvs.
Cheese &; bikkies.

Easy. Breezy. Beautiful.

Car troubles at the beach? Not the worst place in the world to be stranded.

Quick shopping stop.

Fire brigade.

The boat that came to fetch us to take us jet-skiing! Urg, Such fun.
One of the Fast & the Furious movies were filmed on this road.
SO. GOOD. FOOD.

There's a beautiful, rare mineral called Larimar that can only be found in DR.
Larimar
Souvenir, anyone?

They take the Hookah pipe's seriaaas.

Flavours I've never even heard of!

B.L.O.O.D.

Pizza in a cup.
IN. A. CUP.
ZOMG.
R1 = about RD $5

"DO YOU WANT SOME?!" - My cousin Georgina is highly entertaining when she's a bit tipsy.

My brother's pretty face.
Snapped this image of dust on my laptop. Boredom.

For Christmas, we all headed to my aunt & uncle's house in the small village called Constanza, where my mom is originally from.
My uncle runs a shop in Constanza
Check them cinnamon sticks!


We took a trip to see my granny's tiny old abandoned house. Even though no one no longer lives in the house (my gran travels between her kids in New Jersey, Miami, and DR), the property is pretty big so it is still used to grow and sell produce that my uncle manages and sends money to my gran.After completing his studies, my father had to return to SA to do his community service, leaving me and my mother behind as we waited for our visa's to come through. Because my mother had to work in the meantime, she couldn't take care of me, so she sent me to live with my Gran and my aunt & uncle in Constanza to look after me.
For the first year and a half of my life, this is the house that I lived in.
We didn't have the key, so like the true Cape Tonian Coloureds that we are, we broke in.
The front entrance
The kitchen
Check the hornet's nest in the top-right corner.

The backyard where my Gran used to keep pigs and chickens.

Coffee bean trees
My Gran used to make her own coffee using the beans grown in her backyard.
Grapefruit

Guavas and loquats
This was the 2nd time I had returned to that house. I was 5 years old the first time we went back, but I barely remember it. Strange how a  place seems so much bigger in our memories compared to reality.

My momma's!
About 6 months after our trip to DR, my Gran's old house had to be demolished because the hornet's nest had taken over completely, and termites had eaten the wood away. I'm so grateful that I had the chance to go back and see the old house one last time now when I'm at an age where I will remember the place.

Moments like these always remind me of how very easy it would have been for my life to be completely different.


It's a small town, so everyone knows everyone. We spent a large amount of the time there parading me around because essentially this is the village that raised the baby that was me.
People luuurve me there. So they fed me yuumeh foods like pastelitos! (Aka empenada)

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