So last weekend I definitely got a good surprise when I got taken to Hato Mayor because Sophia wanted to throw me a party for my birthday. It definitely fit into true Dominican form because plans were canceled or sketchy as all get out and then the trip itself was decided Saturday morning at about 9am...I hadn't even woken up yet...sweet. On Sunday, they took me out to this land that belonged to one of the ladies there...tons of oranges (although according to the kids there, the fruits weren't oranges, they were 'chinas' ...whatever, they are small oranges). We were told that we were going for a walk which turned out to be a hike with these kids through fields, up around the orange trees, mango trees, cacao trees, etc crossing rivers and ducking under barbed wire fences to keep out the animals. Can't keep us out...hehehe. They told us that we were going around the bottom of the mountain and would continue in a circle around the bottom and come back to where we were eating lunch. We got about 3/4 of the way there and Freddy, our guide...maybe 11 or 12 years old disappeared and we couldn't find him at all. We yelled for him for like 5 minutes...NADA. So...we took off back the way we came which took what seemed like forever. The entire walk was in the sun and we were sweating like crazy. All the little kids had taken off their shirts and Elizabeth and I kept saying that we wished we were guys so that we could do away with the shirts that were sticking to our backs. Of course, since we thought we were going for a short walk, we didn't take ANY water at all and drank...hmm...probably a gallon each in a 2 minute sitting. Well...anyway, lunch was ready. We sat around, ate pollo y arroz and cooled off. A few minutes later, everyone came back out singing Happy Birthday...in English. Good Spanish Immersion...hahaha. They had me a cake with a big candle in the middle with TONS of icing. Sweet! We ended up having to take off back for Santo Domingo partially because we still had things to do...but also because it started pouring down rain...haha. Turns out that the presidential party was having a convention in Santo Domingo and all of the buses on the road were full of people being bussed into the city for the convention. Welcome to outright craziness.

Ok, the political party pays to have people bussed into the city when conventions are happening where they pay for the buses for these people, pay each one of them a certain small fee for coming and pay for their food and beer during the convention. This time, they were having a parade around the entire city, there were guaguas (buses) everywhere in the city, and helicopters flying overhead. Of course you couldn't get through with anyone on the phone and good luck if you decided to go anywhere in the city because you would encounter absolute traffic jams no matter what street you were on. Perfect time to stay inside, sleep for awhile, and then watch a movie....without stepping foot outside. Kind of my perfect day anyway.