⟁: The story about a tropical island

Just came back from the Dominicana and I've learned many things there. Again, just like I did the other time, I must salute G. Always DHV, nothing more to say old friend!

To give you an idea of how many memory sticks we had to smuggle to record this footage; we have 1313 pictures and 259 movies… and we were there 14 days tops! I guess one hundred pictures a day keeps the doctor away? In order to put this post together I therefore must selectively highlight some highlights of the trip. But how to highlight an entire trip? This entire time was fully used. The power of now, chapter 3 ;).

To start, the Dominican Republic is not like any other country I've ever been to. I have nothing to compare it with. República Dominicana is unique. Sextourists with yellow teeth everywhere, Gangsters getting shot in Sosúa, 7 people in the guagua to Cabarete to get my hair braided, hustlers on the beach trying to sell you the iPhone or Blackberry, Motoconchos take you to where the magic happens… and magic is what happens when vacation happens. Coconut juice on the playa, feeding fish, smoking Dominicanas or marihuanas in the cities. The cops are on your side. They are paid to protect the tourists. It's a small city.

Checking out some waterfalls or going to the jungles? Options are a great thing to have, especially when you negotiate about prices. Whether it's a salesman or a hustler, everyone wants as much of the peso as possible. I have learned how to be sharp during this vacation. You need to watch your back and I'm not saying that to scare you. D.R. is dangerous as well. We got in a very heated fight with conartist V. We were in unfamiliar territory and I don't want to go into the depths of my adrenalin boost at the time, but all I can say is that he threatened to shoot me. It was strange for me to hear this phrase. A guy looks deep in my eyes and says he will shoot me. When he spoke the words, I was shocked, frozen and hot in the same time. Never had anyone ever said something like that to me. In that moment I instinctively felt that I needed to kill him one second before he would kill me. I looked in his eyes. I was so fucking SHARP! An incredible feeling. This was it. Is my time now? It gave me an energy boost unlike anything else. If he would make one wrong move, I would take him. I know how to do it. And he knew it too. He saw it. Our eyes were fighting, or foreseeing the fight. Luckily the fight never took physical form, because what's the point of fighting against the bullet of a gun?

Maybe I am blessed, maybe I am not. Would it matter? What matters is playing bat & ball @ the playa, at the jungle and at the ATM. Did I not mention we played the game at the airport? And that the airport security was not happy with that? Yes, rum 75%, rolling all day, every day. ASD or DHV, which one best describes this vacation? It is indeed hard to tell, especially if you have no clue of what I speak. It's irrelevant. It's how it is. Meeting new people all the time and I love all the new people we've met. I will not forget you, because you are in my facebook and there even is a small but possible chance that you're reading this right now ;). Como estas! Si, mi hablar Espanola un pocito agora hah?! Quanto peso amigo? Chao.

Whether it's drinking fresh coffee in the mountains of Puerto Plata -and by fresh I don't mean Starbucks-, or drinking cold Dasani in a stripclub at Pedro Clisante; always stay sharp. Poverty lures around the corner since the local economy runs on criminal activities. Not to downplay D.R., not at all. Matter of fact, I have great respect for the citizens of D.R. When I earlier said that we made friends, we made friends.

The great advantage of crossing the boarders is that you get to learn new ways of life, new gestures, new habits, new cultural perspectives and new eye-openers. I recommend everyone to travel as much as possible or at least 2 times a year. You learn a lot about yourself and about others. You become more of what you are.

I can go on if I want, but why surpass the moment if the time is now? This always remains the story about a tropical island.

Cerveza ∆ Schiphol Airport

12 hours later; Baco ∆ Alejo Martinez

New location

New braids

∆ Playa Sosua

Sooner or later the sun goes down

And the night comes up

According to the pyramid, the human animal cannot continue to function without breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion. These physiological needs are basic requirements for human survival, so let's keep it basic.

They call me Aquaman

∆ Cabarete

Since he came down from the trees, man has faced the problem of survival, not as an individual but as a member of a social group. His continued existence is testimony to the fact that he has succeeded in solving the problem; but the continued existence of want and misery, even in the richest of nations, is evidence that his solution has been, at best, a partial one. Yet man is not to be too severely censured for his failure to achieve a paradise on earth. It is hard to wring a livelihood from the surface of this planet. It staggers the imagination to think of endless efforts that must have been expended in the first domestication of animals or in the discovery of planting seed.