About an hour later, a missed stop, and 8 passengers less, I boarded another guagua (bus / passenger van) to Macoris - this one with less seats, same number of people, and no air conditioning. About another hour passed, and, just as we arrived to the town, I was dropped off near a park, of which a truck was just pulling around to head to Nagua … I needed to catch that truck! The chófer (bus driver) signaled the truck driver; there was no space inside, and a man was already sitting in the truck-bed outside, so I threw my luggage into the back and jumped into the truck. I got comfortable half-sitting on my suitcase and half on the wheel-hub.
It was one of the sunniest days since I've been here, and arguably the hottest … without my sunscreen handy (I didn't expect to be traveling outside of a vehicle), I knew I was about to get a bad sunburn - combine that beating sun with wind thrown past a truck moving at 60+ mph! Three more passengers jumped on-board into the back with us. While at first I thought my initial comfort would last the trip, I forgot how long a little over an hour can feel sitting in the back of a speeding truck with the Caribbean sun … fortunately the road was pretty well-paved!
We arrived in Nagua to a lot of traffic, but I hopped aboard another guagua, which still filled with people even after we had started moving; but, with the door shut, we traveled towards Cabrera. Nervous that I might miss my stop, fearing I would recognize it too late, I clarified with the passengers that the chófer would stop at Rancho Omar (the bottom of the hill were the campo lies), and the woman yelled to him to make sure he'd stop there. Upon arrival, I signaled a motoconcho (motorcycle taxi), sandwiched my suitcase between us, and we ascended the hill.
My papá was there to greet me - so excited to have me back. My mom came in as I entered the house, and she quickly embraced me in a tight hug. She began sobbing, unable to hold back the tears, so incredibly grateful to have me back … thanking God that He had sent me to replace the company of her son they lost to cancer just months earlier. I wasn't there to mourn with them at the time, so we took a moment there as she held me.
She quickly fried up some tostones and served a delicious lunch of rice, beans and chicken, of which I ate in our spot under the outside patio (earthen clay floor, corrugated metal roof), with Paloma (dog) and Musso (cat) sitting at my feet with eager eyes for food scraps and chickens running all around. We caught up in some conversation, and mamá showed my Paloma's three remaining puppies; two other had unfortunately disappeared and another was killed by a truck as it went to cross the road. I was so saddened to hear that news, but my heart soon became full of joy upon seeing the three cutest faces of Paloma's three little ones - just 14 days old.
I later went down to La Esquina (the corner where everyone hangs out) and caught up with friends outside one of my friend's feed mill, and then later moved to the house of another family where more were. I came back to a dinner of pan-pressed buttered bread, cheese made just down the hill, and my favorite drink - mango batida. My mamá makes the best stuff. We got my room set up with a fan, hung my mosquito net, and made my bed. The power has been out since I arrived, so we were still running on the battery-inverter.
Having taken my bucket-bath to cool me, I sit on my bed, protected from bugs in my mosquito net and the fan directly on me, writing this blog to post when I get access to internet. Hasta la próxima.