Male Bonding

In order to break the monotony of the winter schedule here at school my friend Jason proposed that we ring in the summer by rounding up some the 'the boys', loading up our motorbikes and heading out to some desolate beach across the island.

In the two weeks that followed absolutely no improvements were made to this plan. No details taken care of, no itinerary made and no date to speak of. What there was, however, was a whole lot of boasting and man-style grunting about how great this was going to be and how masculine we were for desiring such a rugged adventure.

In a complicated afternoon of schedule changes and requests for days off our group of six finally nailed down the date of our departure.............................and two days later we were gone.


Since my friend Dan and I are the owners of a surf board we are forced to deem any trip to the coast a disappointment if we are not able to take our chances with a least a few waves while we are there. As a result the two of us started our adventure a little earlier with a detour to Playa Encuentro for a couple hours of surfing before we met up with the others. The feeling of racing through the mountains on a motorbike was exhilirating and we arrived at Encuentro, all smiles, in just under one hour and forty minutes. Not bad for a trip that can take up to five hours by bus.





After we had our fill of being tossed about by the waves we grabbed a quick bite to eat in Sosua and headed toward Puerto Plata and then on to La Isabela where our rendez-vous point was to be "that old church on that hill".
But before we made it out of Puerto Plata Dan pulled over and reported that something was horribly wrong with his bike. After we had shared a few moments of puzzled looks my keen mechanic's eye pointed out that his troubles may be due to the fact that there were no teeth left on his front sprocket. Now bike troubles may to be expected on bike trips but the way that they are remedied in the DR is always interesting and often entertaining.

With the help of a young Dominican man we were led to a small house on the outskirts of town where we waited for our mechanic to return home. When he arrived he wheeled Dan's bike through a narrow passage way to the back of his house where the "shop" was. Dan tried not to look discouraged but when the mechanic looked at the bike and simply said "I can't get parts for this" (in Spanish) his displeasure was obvious (see photo).
Three hours later after a few trips to a parts supplier, much broken conversation with the Dominican neighbours and a little nap in "the shop" the bike was fixed and we were off.
We rode for another hour before we had to stop again, this time for a flat tire on Dan's bike. To make him feel better my bike decided it wouldn't start when we tried to leace and forced me to purchase a new battery. However day one of our two day excursion ended well. We rolled in to our camping spot just as the sun set to see the rest of "the boys" coming out of the water laden with gear.Where Dan and I had decided to include surfing in our trip the others concluded that some scuba diving was a must and were forced to bring a truck with the amount of gear that they had along. In the picture you can see David with the inflatable vest, oxygen tank, mask and speargun; ready for the most macho form of fishing I have ever been a part of.




With no clouds in the sky and no bugs to pester us we simply threw down our sleeping bags in the sand and called it a night. The next morning we were up with the sun and it promised to be another beautiful day. I took this next picture from my bed on the beach as the sun came up.
After a quick camping breakfast and some playing in the water it was my turn to don the forty plus pounds of gear. Myself and two others who were not familiar or comfortable with remaining under water for long periods of time were led slowly into the deep water. As we were trying to figure out where each buckle and strap went we were given the quick do's and don't's of scuba and told to have a good time. When I asked if this meant we were now certified scuba divers the seasoned vet who was teaching us just smilied and handed me a large speargun. Feeling more safe than ever we plunged into the water and were fighting personal battles with elusive marine life for the next hour. The only mishap we encountered was when Dan reached into the coral to dislodge a spear and was bit by an eel. Upon reaching the surface he was much more concerned with what a great story this was going to be rather than with the amount of blood that he was losing so we concluded that he must be alright and continued the hunt.
The next few hours were spent lounging around our campsite talking about the ones that got away and boasting about the ones that didn't. All in all, we were very pleased with ourselves. We packed up our gear and mounted our bikes satisfied that the trip had lived up to it's hype.

A few other notables from our trip would have to include the interesting wildlife that we encountered . First there was the rare and elusive Dominican Beach Cow and then the nearly extinct Resort Donkey.









On a historical note, we found the Resort Donkey at a quaint little open-air resort in the town of La Isabela. It is situated on a hill over-looking the bay Where Columbus established his first permanent settlement. Sitting at the bottom of the bay are thirteen of Columbus' fifteen ships from his second voyage, sunk by a massive hurricane.

Whether or not I came back with a better understanding of who I am as a man, I had a whole lot of fun. I am ready to go again at a moment's notice, I just need to go out and buy myself a drum first.