Luperon, DR
19.54.025N
70.56.934W

Yesterday was spent doing various little projects that for some reason or other took the better part if the day. We ended the day searching for Dominican cigars for the guys (who don't smoke) and with dinner in Luperon at the Chicken Shack. I have to admit Luisa made a mean fried chicken. I was even willing to say that it was better than mine but Dale said no, as good, but not better. (I come from a long line of women than flat out know how to fry a chicken.)
Today, however, we hired a mini bus and ventured further a field to visit the city of Puerto Plata. On the trip into town I was struck by the incongruities of old and new side by side. Burros laden with wooden troughs (hollowed out tree trunks) of fruit sharing the road with cars and buses. Here and there we'd see a pony or donkey with wooden saddles and saddle blankets composed of bundles of straw.

There are a lot of small farms on this side of the island. Pigs, goats, chickens and cattle can be seen along with huge swaths of sugar cane fields. Looking up into the mountains you can see where small portions of land have been cleared along the sides for avocado and various citrus trees.

Puerto Plata was a larger city by far than Luperon, which is probably considered a small town. Here cars, small pick-up trucks, mini-buses, regular sized buses, and a bazillion motor bikes (all about the 150 size) vie for the same space in the road.

Our first stop was at the amber museum. The history of the museum building itself was more interesting to me. It was a 3 story home of a family who had made their fortunes in sugar during the 1800's and who often hosted elegant balls and parties. Unfortunately, they lost their fortune during the depression. The home was then used as a school before being abandoned and falling into disrepair. The Italian embassy next door purchased the building and created the amber museum.

If you've ever seen the movie Jurassic Park, you've seen the history of amber. It's the sap of a tree that captured and then encapsulated small insects, reptiles and nearby flora, thus preserving the imprisoned DNA of its victim. Millions and millions of years later, we're wearing it as jewelry, complete with lizards, spiders and termites. Some interesting things I did learn about amber is that, the real McCoy floats in salt water and turns blue under black light, whereas forgeries (including plastic) sink (this only works if the stone hasn't been set in metal already) and maintain their color.

We visited a small fort on the banks of the Puerto Plata harbor before heading off to the Brugal Rum Factory. Essentially, only the bottling factory is located in Puerto Plata. The distillery and barrel portions of the process are located elsewhere. However, each factory has samples of their rum available and, of course, you can purchase their product there. Which we did. One little item of interest that I noted. They are the 3rd largest rum producers in the world but 90% of their production is sold in the Dominican Republic to their own citizens and those who visit here.

We finished up the day by having lunch at a local restaurant and grocery shopping at a good sized grocery store. On the way home, Miguel, our driver, asked if Dale and Roger would see his daughter who was quite ill. It turned out that she had contracted Dengue Fever from a mosquito bite. Dale had treated this before in Puerto Rico and said that she had a milder form and that rest was about all she could do to recover as she had already passed the worst of it. Roger said that he was going to be more diligent about wearing his insect repellant. I haven't even worn any yet, so I figure by now, its already too late.

Thank heavens, tomorrow is a down day. As I've said before, fresh air and exercise will kill you.