Economics With A Face

At one we met up with Jose and he took us on the hike. I had questioned whether we really needed him in the morning thinking it was an easy trail to follow. As it turns out we would have been totally lost without him. When we finally emerged from the jungle at the end of the hike near the hotel, I was so turned around I thought we were getting close to the other side of the island.

During the hike we saw large parrots, bats, howler monkeys, and white-faced capuchin monkeys. It was well worth it. Back at the hotel Jose was our waiter for lunch and I gave him a good tip to thank him. He was also an amazing student. He had started to learn English, practically on his own, six months ago and was already nearly fluent. Every time he heard a phrase he didn’t know he wrote it down in a booklet he carried in his pocket which he would study every night. It was impressive.

We were packed and waiting on the side of the road with our luggage at 4:00 but the bus never came. We were told it probably broke down and there would be another one at 5:30 but it never came either. Some howler monkeys entertained us in the huge trees across the road. Everytime a bus would roar by (in the opposite direction from where we wanted to go) the howlers would let out their deep growns in response. At 5:45 we flagged down a pickup full of people in the back. I asked how much it would be to Altagracia, but the guy in the back just started to grab the bags and told me not to worry about it. I asked the driver again, not wanting to get charged more than we had on us once we arrived, but he said he was heading that way already and it would be free of charge. He dropped us off 20 minutes later at the edge of town.

We walked another 2km to the port, most of it with a 17 year old named Diego who worked for a hotel in Altagracia. Another nice kid and another diligent English student.

We thought everything was going to plan when we arrived at the port but when we went to buy tickets we were informed by the ladies behind the counter that ticket sales stopped at 6:00pm and we were 20 minutes too late. I asked if there was any possible way that we could buy a ticket as missing this boat meant that we would have to wait another 3 days on the island and we were already low on cash. There was no way one of the women replied and turned her back to me and sat down. Rules were rules and they couldn’t or didn’t want to see beyond them. I was dumbfounded feeling like I was dealing with DMV employees, quite a difference from the bus service we had encountered throughout Central America where bus operators begged you to get on their bus as it was pulling out of the station.

After I offered to pay more for the ticket which got another resounding no from the lady who had turned her back on me, Em started in explaining how the buses were not running and we had been walking for some time just to get to here 20 minutes late. To my surprise the she looked around and saw us both dripping with sweat. “These poor kids” she said “they’ve been walking with their bags since Altagracia. Alright we’ll sell you the tickets.” I was shocked but happy.

Soon we were on the boat on the top level. We paid a bit more for the upper level which had air-conditioning, but needless to say the air-conditioning broke two minutes after we were inside. The boat departed around 8:00 and I made my way out on the deck to just sit and watch a lighting storm for the first 2 hours of the ride as I unwound. Em after writing in her journal eventually joined me but just as she came outside it began to rain. Back inside the boat I found room to lie down under one of the benches and Em found a place next to me under the table. We made a few stops during the 8 hour journey through the night. At 3 in the morning I woke up to the sound of 10 year olds selling hot coffee and tortillas and queso fresco signaling we were docked. These kids have an unbelievable work ethic. Unable to sleep I made my way out on the deck to watch crews unload cargo such as bananas before we departed.