Saturday - Arrival Home

We awoke at five-thirty, loaded our bags on the school bus, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then were off on a four and a half hour bus ride. We went a different route than we came -- more highway but longer. The trip featured two types of traffic jams -- cows in the country, and standstill traffic of people and cars and scooters in downtown Santo Domingo.

A number of people on the trip were having GI problems and we had to make one unscheduled rest stop so people could run to the bathroom. I was lucky -- other than a brief episode one night, I came off fine. At the scheduled rest stop I finally got my tostones - fried green plantain -- and they were very good. The airport and customs at San Juan were all a pain, but we made it through fine. I always get stopped and searched. I think it has to do with my passport photo where I have long hair and a big mustache and look like a drug Lord. This time on my MP3 player I had Arlo Guthrie's "Coming into Los Angeles" playing. (Coming into Los Angeleez, Bringing in a couple of keys...Don't touch my bags if you please, Mr. Customs, man."

I read the Da Vinci Code on the plane. It kept me turning the pages, but I was never really engaged. When we landed home at 9:40 P.M. I still had twenty pages to go, but no real desire to finish. After picking up our bags, we said quick good-byes, and then went our seperate ways. Everyone was very tired. I crashed as soon as I got home.

Good to be home, but still, I'd love to go back soon.