Not Very Long-Awaited

I am finally over my flu. Today was the first day that I felt 100%. So to celebrate...I went to work! Life as an adult, gotta love it. Ella and I spend a few hours in the office catching up on stuff, then we came home, mopped the kitchen floor, watched an excellent episode of "The Sopranos," and decided to finally post about my vacation before I forget I ever left.

This vacation was more episodic than narrative in nature. The entire point of it was to do a whole bunch of nothing and I pretty much accomplished that goal. In between the doing nothing sessions, this is some of what happened.

1. I picked cherries from a cherry tree in a garden. My sister's host family had the most amazing garden which housed this huge cherry tree. Whenever they are feeling thirsty, the housekeeper, Josefina, climbs the cherry tree and picks the fruit to make homemade juice. I wanted to help, so I got on a ladder and started picking...instead, I ended up just freaking the family out. Once they got me off the ladder, they pacified me by letting me stand on the garden furniture and pick the cherries I could reach. What's even sadder...I was assisted by Dona Negra, my sister's host grandmother. Dona...also called Senor, she's that badass...took a hook and pulled down branches so I could reach them.

2. I'm all done with my long-term "friend with benefits." He came along with me during this trip. It was and continues to be all good. We dated for a couple of months over a year ago. Things ended amicably and we still had a bunch of chemistry. My traveling companion, or TP, and I were aware of what this trip was about...neither of us had any misconceptions. We had a blast together...in every sense...but I think it was what I needed to finally get him out of my system. There's a reason why we're aren't together, and sex is no longer enough to maintain an ambiguous relationship. It took over a year, but I'm finally at peace with my TP and I being just friends. Life as an adult, gotta love it. I don't have any pictures to go with this episode, but this is me taking a picture of him taking a picture of me.

3. Saturday night was a wild and crazy night. My sister and her friend met us at the beach in Cabarete earlier that day. Several bottles of Dominican rum were consumed, lots of cigarettes were smoked, and we saw the sun come up on Sunday morning. There was one ugly episode...which helped me come to the conclusion above...but overall it was a blast. My sister met a very good-looking guy who ended up assisting TP and I in another matter which I can't talk about online because I might get arrested. To the left is a picture I call, DR Sunrise Through Drunken, High, Smoking Haze.

4. My TP and I rented a scooter for twenty bucks and did some exploring. It was cool to see another part of the Dominican Republic. Small towns that don't cater to tourists, lush green valleys that are only populated by cows and horses. Though I was only in the DR for a short time, I feel like I got a well-rounded view of the island...the North Coast at least.

5. We ate a restaurant called Jose O'Shay's. I'm not kidding. See the picture for proof.
6. I highly recommend our hotel, Hotel Casa Blanca. We stayed in the Beach House, which is also the house of the owner. It took 30 seconds to walk from the room to the beach. You've already seen the view. The room was simple but clean, with a big, very comfortable bed. The second best feature is its location. It's at the end of "downtown" Cabarete, so it's only a quick trot to the bars, restaurants and shops, but it's far enough away from the traffic to convince you that you have your own private beach. The first best feature is its price. It was cheap!

That's it. I came to some realizations regarding my relationship with my sister and my TP, both of which I'm thrilled about. I was able to truly relax. I wore flip-flops and no watch for five days...that about sums it up.