Home from the DR

 January 7, 2022 Combermere

We had lots of fun with our grandchildren over Christmas going to the beach, swimming in our pool, building lego and doing artwork. Most days we would go for our morning walk after breakfast and then come back and play with the kids for an hour or so while Zack and Annie went for a beach walk. In the afternoons we'd usually all walk down to the beach for a couple of hours and then have happy hour by our pool.

Some evenings we'd go out for dinner and some we'd have dinner with the family at home. Every Wednesday and Saturday we'd have happy hour mojitos at our usual seaside table at the Urecano Restaurant followed by calamari and French fries. One evening there, we chatted with an Irish woman who had lived in Las Terrenas for 28 years. Once again, we heard how overdevelopment is killing this little beach town. It's true that there is condo construction everywhere and little improvement to the roads and infrastructure to handle all the development. This woman even quoted Joni Mitchell, saying "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot". It's still a nice place to be for a few more years but it will probably be more crowded and less pleasant in the future.

On Christmas Eve, Zack grilled steaks and we had a festive dinner by the pool. New Years Eve we did the same thing. Midnight at New Years Eve we were awakened by a massive display of fireworks along the beach. They do love their fireworks here.

On the afternoon of December 31st, within 72 hours of our departure, a technician from the laboratory in town came to our house and administered PCR tests for about $150 CDN each. We got the results a little over 24 hours later - thankfully negative. We needed the negative test result documents to be able to board our plane to Canada.

On Monday morning, January 3rd, we got packed to go to the airport while Annie, Zack, Maia and Noah packed to return to Santo Domingo. It was a sad parting for all of us but we'll see them next summer. At 10 am our taxi arrived and for $70 US, transported us to El Catey airport, about 1/2 hour from Las Terrenas. Even after Zack asked the driver to wear a mask, he dropped it below his chin a few minutes later. No tip for him.

When we got there, I discovered that I was supposed to have filled out the Dominican Republic e-ticket for leaving as well as for arriving in the country. It was a little difficult to figure out on my phone without the right access code and none of the airline workers knew much about it either. We weren't the only travellers having problems. Finally we found the code and the right guy to help us and we got it completed. Luckily there was hardly anyone in the small airport because it took an hour and a quarter to get checked in even though there was no line-up. The check-in people examined all our e-documents on my phone and, after counting on their fingers, finally accepted that our negative PCR tests had been done within 72 hours.

At border control, because we had overstayed our 30 day visa, we had to pay a departure tax of 2500 pesos each (about $50 CDN). We knew about that and were prepared. We had to go to 3 different border agents to get it done but eventually we were passed through.

Probably because of the surge of the omicron variant and the fact that only one flight was leaving at that time, there was lots of space in the airport lounge. Eventually our plane arrived and we boarded. The plane was about 3/4 full. Normally on a holiday Monday after New Years we'd expect it to be full but we're sure many people cancelled their holiday plans and just stayed home.

After passing through customs in Montreal, we had to register for a covid test. Fortunately, we had completed the ArriveCan app including the registration for Dynacare, who do the testing. That got us out of a long line of people who hadn't completed the online form ahead of time. With testing stickers stuck to our passports, we entered the baggage claim area. There were dozens of portable testing cubicles set up and staffed by nurses in white gowns, masks and face shields. It was like a scene from a science fiction movie. As the opportunity arose, we were directed into testing stations and nasal samples were taken. Then we were free to go.

It didn't take too long to find our post and catch the shuttle to our hotel, the Fairfield Inn. Once in our room, we ordered a burger and fries and settled in to get some sleep. The next morning we took the shuttle back to the airport and picked up our rental car. The drive home was uneventful and fortunately the weather was good and the roads were clear. We got home in the late afternoon and delivered the car back to Renfrew on Wednesday morning. We were thankful that Anita's sister Lisa and her husband Gerard had kept an eye on our house for us while we were away. Anita's sister Lori had left some food for us in our fridge so, other than returning the car, we were in quarantine until our negative airport test results were emailed to us on Thursday afternoon. Still, we won't be going anywhere except to shop for food until the pandemic settles down a bit.

We cancelled our reservations to Ecuador next week. It will cost us some money but we just don't feel comfortable travelling right now. It's time to embrace winter in Canada for a couple of months.

We had a great 11 week trip to the Dominican Republic. The whole trip cost us less than $14,000 CDN, which is more than we would have spent in Ecuador but still quite reasonable for what we experienced. Las Terrenas has beautiful beaches and lots of restaurants for all the expats who are flocking to it, including us. We'll probably go back next year while we have family in the country but we're not sure what we'll do after that. Still, it's a great place.