I have never been more thankful for the traffic laws in the United States than I am now. The drivers here are CRAZY! The motocoches (motorcycles) are everywhere and they weave in and out of traffic like they own the place. The lines on the road are just suggestions, and so are the stop lights. Stop signs are Go signs, and pedestrians cross whenever they feel like it. Speed limit is optional, and usually not even posted. I originally thought that we would just be able to take Grandpa’s car out and about wherever we wanted to go, but I definitely do not think that now. We will just take it easy and let grandpa take us places.
We slept in good this morning making up a little for the whole night of lost sleep. But we were up and about by 9 am. I made eggs and toast for breakfast for Kevin and I, and we watched CNN all morning with Grandpa (CNN is the only channel that he watches…Poor Anna only gets to watch her Spanish shows when Grandpa takes a nap…Even then he barely allows it).
First stop today was Forteleza San Felipe. This is the only piece of history left in Puerto Plata that is from the 16th century. We walked around the fort and took a few pictures, however we spent a good portion of our time just up the path at the look out tower and another building with an unknown purpose.
Fortalez San Felipe
The look out tower above was pretty cool looking. I was a little bit nervous to attempt to climb it, but Kevin convinced me. He went first and I followed. I only made it up about half of it and I had to stop. I went to put my hand on the handrail and it was rusting out… I hightailed it out of there. Kevin made it about 3/4 of the way up and he came back down saying that half the handrail was missing up there. No thank you! But he got some pretty awesome pictures from up as high as he was.
The next picture is of the random building we explored for quite a while. Each doorway was in the center, which gave a really cool effect with the camera. We went all the way to the last window to take a picture, and it turned out pretty neat. It’s kinda small loading into this, but the real size is cool.
We then walked along the ocean right by the fort. Water is absolutely gorgeous. It’s no wonder that Christopher Columbus stuck around here. Grandpa and Anna picked us up and brought us to the actual beach for lunch and more walking on the beach. I ordered a chicken sandwich (which had chicken and onions and peppers and who knows what else on it) and I would like you to know, Mom, that I ATE it! You should be proud! Hahahaha. It was actually pretty good.
Unfortunately while we were at the beach it started raining pretty good, so we headed on home. Kevin and I relaxed on one of the balconies for hours. Anna cooked dinner, and then we headed off to one of the street bars on the beach. Kevin tried el Presidente, and I had some fruit juice mixture (non-alcoholic of course). Although I did try grandpa’s Cuba Libre (aka Rum and Coke) and about gagged. Gross! It was pretty there though. Right on the beach, and the airport is behind. So we just sat and watched the airplanes land, and listened to music. I can definitely understand how someone could get used to doing this every night…
