Bill & Hope's Dominican Adventure January 2009: the sad departure

I think I've been procrastinating this post because it kind of finalizes the fact our trip is over.  The bride and groom have been shown their wedding pictures and are off celebrating in Saskatchewan this weekend with family who couldn't be in RD.    We've added pretty much everyone we travelled with to our Facebook friends, and have made dates for get-togethers already.  Not only did I gain a whole new family of Canadians, but of Dominicans.  Kind of an overwhelming week, really, and I have my name on the list for whenever the next seat-sale comes up so I can return.  

There's not really an accurate way to sum it up.  I've traveled enough to know that some places resonate with my soul and other don't.  I can take or leave Paris, but Seattle I'd visit a million times, Texas was fun but Italy was amazing.  RD, on the other hand, just feels like my other home.  And so, the best as I can tell, here's how the story ends, and hopefully begins.

The day after the wedding we were all blitzed, and took it easy at the resort.  J & T, who had come to Sosua and Peurto Plata with Jose on Day 5, had heard about a village beyond the resort, just past the beach where Eric and Darcie said their vows.  We only had a few hours to kill before getting on the plane, so we set off bright and early to get some last-minute souvenirs, then to wander off to the mystical village.  

By the time we had finished our tour with Jose I had fallen deeply in love with RD.  It was only solidified by our last day, when an entire village adopted us, showing us into their homes and their hearts.  It was this day that makes me want to learn Spanish and return, so that I can have real conversations with people, especially with the crazy lady who fed us rice from the palm of her hand and tried to teach me how to make it.  I had to decline because we had to catch our plane, dammit.  I will go back, with enough Spanish to ask her important questions like, how may children do you have, and what do you do when you aren't abducting whities and making them hungry with your yummy bottles of marinade?  I really can't put into words what happened this day.  I just accept it for what it was, and what it is, and what it will one day be.