March 26-April 2, 2005, by Ryan Kidd

Departure: from Toronto Airport 3:20 PM March 26th. In under four hours arrived at Puerto Plata airport at 8:05 PM local time. A brief 30 minute bus ride brought us to the hotel where we checked in and caught the buffet for a late dinner after the meager airplane meal..

On Sunday we engaged in rest, meditation and reading, in addition to catching a few recorded sermons. It’s difficult to find an English speaking church let alone a Reformed Church.

Monday morning we hit the beach. Snorkeling on the beach we saw many colourful fish on the coral reef outside the resort. We then grabbed a windsurfer and tried our hand catching wind. Later in the day the wind picked up and I got the sport board out and was just flying along until the point where I could no longer hold onto the sail - my computer arms just don’t have the strength/stamina for this sport, and they didn’t have a harness on the free equipment (all inclusive with the resort package). Just down the coast a few kilometers is Cabarete, one of the premier sufing locations in the world.

On Tuesday we caught a "Jeep Safari" into the countryside to see some sights and meet some locals. The roads were really run down. But we got a good taste of local life, some of the industry, the mountains, etc. The children lined the sides of the streets shouting for candy. Our tour visited a mountain stream which formed waterfalls and deep pools which we were able to dive into. The streets in Puerto Plata were full of motorcycles and lawless drivers. While we generally leave at least 3 feet of clearance in Canada, they seem to consider 3 inches to be sufficient for accident avoidance. Most newer vehicles are equipped with kangaroo catchers, large aftermarket bumpers, which in this environment serve as motorcycle catchers.

Wednesday Jason took a sailboat trip to the bay of Sosua where they have good coral reefs. I read, rested, and took in a few audio lectures by Dr. Bahnsen on Theonomy and Christian Medical Ethics.

Thursday we took a cable car up the local mountain and saw the sights. The mountain rises about 1000 feet above the city. There’s a statue of Jesus on the mountain which the local people consider to be a good luck charm. There appears to be a lot of Roman Catholic superstition and nominal Christianity in the DR.

On Friday we got the day off to a good start with a round of tennis. After breakfast we took a public bus to the Sosua bay to take in the best of local snorkeling. The bus was crowded and we got a better feel for how to negotiate price with the money-shark locals. The fish were colourful, diverse and plentiful. There was lots of life on the reef. We met a friendly retired American couple on the beach who took care of our equipment while we were in the water. They offered to rent their condo 10min walk from the bay for $25USD per day.

On Saturday we took it easy, read a little, enjoyed the weather and the took advantage of the all-you-can-eat buffet for the last time. We bused to the airport at 6:00 PM for a 9:20 PM flight back to Toronto. But the flight was delayed 1.5 hours. We have a vague hope of getting home before 4:00 AM. We were disappointed further to have lost an hour due to daylight savings. It will be far too early to wake up for Morning worship at 10:00 AM!

Initially there were reports of stomach virus and related discomforts, but we found that the food was great and we ate everything served at the hotel buffet. On the safari, we even ate at a make-shift mountain restaurant without incident. Most of the locals were friendly and helpful. Most locals know very little English, so we got to exercise our newly discovered Spanish vocabulary (of about 20 words). Overall the trip was informative, relaxing, and enjoyable. We’re ready to get back to work now with renewed energy and purpose.