Jake imagined that his first solo international trip would be fairly uneventful. He figured that his flights would arrive on schedule and that he would arrive in Santo Domingo without incident and just in time for a nice pizza dinner. But it wouldn't be fair for his first overseas trip to be so boring and bereft of any bumps along the way. And sure enough, Jake’s first trip to Santo Domingo was quite the adventure.
The security check proceeded quite smoothly to his complete surprise. Jake was expecting to be strip-searched at least twice or maybe receive at least one thorough cavity search. Feeling very lucky indeed, Jake put on his jacket and shoes and raced right to the gate, eager to be among the first to arrive. But it wasn't until he was comfortably parked in his seat at the gate and browsing the web on his phone when he heard the first harbinger of bad news. The Delta officials at the booth announced that the plane was late in departing from Chicago and would arrive a half-hour late.
Jake figured that it was no big deal and that the pilot would surely make up the time in the air. Have you ever heard of a speed limit in the clouds? Thus, he simply shrugged his shoulders and plugged in his earphones. Two hours later, the plane finally arrived and was mercifully ready to board. The crowd of passengers already resembled an angry WWE crowd; Jake half-wished that they would start chanting “Bullshit” and tossing trash at the Delta staff.
My, was it a tiny plane! Jake could honestly feel it swerving slightly as each passenger climbed aboard. There wasn't even enough room in the overhead compartments for each carry-on bag. He had to hand over his handbag to the flight attendant so that she could place it under the pilot's seat. At least he didn’t have to ride in the pilot’s lap!
Every creak the tiny jet made could be easily felt and from the moment the jet ascended into the clouds, there was plenty of turbulence. Luckily, it was just an hour flight to New York and Jake spent the duration of the flight on the edge of his seat. He had never been on a roller coaster before, but he came pretty close that evening.
Several twirly-whirls later, Jake finally arrived at JFK Airport in New York City. As soon as the seatbelt sign switched off, everyone made a mad dash for the exit, presumably for the nearest bathroom. After a brief glance at the big board of gates for connecting flights, Jake grabbed an airport train to get to the gate for his connecting flight.
Whew JFK was gigantic! Jake practically sprinted the entire way after leaving the train and still arrived at his gate fifteen minutes before boarding time. Here, he got his first close-up view of Dominicans. There they were, a cheery group of folks all decked out in their Yankee caps, too tight black T-shirts and baggy jeans. Jake thought he was at Qwest Field in Seattle as every Dominican passenger was talking at least a decibel louder than your typical Washingtonian. They certainly seemed far happier and excited than anyone he had ever met in his hometown and for the first time in my life, he was even attracting several stares from the Dominican ladies. As soon as he took his seat to wait for the plane, Jake caught a young lady quite openly gawking at him. He was surprised to see that she didn't stop staring even after he caught her red-handed; she continued ogling him quite unashamedly and even nudged her mom, who started to smack her lips.
About a half hour before departure, an announcement declared yet another delay. Here, the passengers reflected his sentiments quite audibly with a boisterous cry of “Cono!” Jake wasn't quite sure what it meant but it sounded hilarious. He made a mental note to ask Yasmine the moment he saw her. Or at least broach the subject of Spanish cuss words over a slice of cheesecake in a regal little restaurant along the beach. This second flight delay was definitely having an effect on his common sense; Santo Domingo most likely served plantain cakes instead of cheesecakes.
Thankfully the delay wasn’t as long as the first one as they finally boarded the plane about an hour after the scheduled departure time of 7:00 pm. Jake was just thankful that the overhead compartments on this plane finally had room for his handbag.
He found himself sandwiched between a husband and his wife. He tried to get them to sit together so that he would get the aisle seat, but his attempts proved futile since they refused to talk to each other for the duration of the flight. Except for when the wife would silently force-feed her husband bits of her food, dropping crumbs all over Jake. Alas the downside of nabbing a cheap airline ticket!
The husband continued to ignore his wife and happily engage Jake in conversation throughout the flight. He explained that he and his wife were headed back to Santo Domingo after about a year to spend Christmas with their family back home. They had however left their money-grabbing kids back in the Bronx and appeared subsequently more stress-free.
Even the wife took a stab at engaging him in conversation when she asked to borrow a pen to fill out the immigration forms passed out by the flight attendants about an hour and a half into the flight. As a visitor to the Dominican Republic, he had to fill out two short forms and enter the address of his hotel in Santo Domingo. Oh and Jake never saw that pen again.
After the pilot finally announced that they were landing, Jake closed his eyes and tried to doze off. It was more so to avoid further questioning by the husband, who was especially eager to know why a gringo like him was so interested in his home country.
He couldn't have been asleep for more than a few minutes before he was jolted to consciousness by a boisterous round of applause. They had finally landed in Santo Domingo and everyone was cheering. Passengers were exchanging hive-fives, babies were crying and old ladies were reciting prayers and kissing their crucifixes. It was like the end to another New England Patriots Superbowl Victory.
Jake looked outside the window and even through the darkness, he could make out the grassy runway and the pine trees that stood a short distance away. He had arrived over two hours late and hoped the Jose the Driver was still waiting at the airport.
Just as he had feared, Jake was immediately greeted by a huge line at customs upon entering the airport. Another enormous line awaited him outside the Tourist Card stand. As a visitor to the Dominican Republic, he was required to dole out 10 dollars for a “Tourist Card,” which was basically a receipt for the transaction. The implicit tourist robbery had already begun.
He then joined the queue at customs and after tolerating a line that moved at a snail's pace, Jake finally encountered a customs official. The woman simply stared at him, stamped his passport a few times, took his fingerprints, stared at him some more before allowing him to proceed. Jake felt luckier than the couple behind him who were playing a game of Truth or Dare with their customs official.
With a slightly anxious feeling, he arrived at the baggage claim area to pick up his suitcase. He had heard of several horror stories regarding lost baggage at the Santo Domingo airport. Especially baggage purposely confiscated by airport officials who had emptied it of all essentials before declaring that it had been “lost in transit.”
Thankfully, he was able to locate his blue suitcase promptly and immediately starting jogging for the exit. Jake almost collided head-on with the airport official blocking his way.
“Abre tu malleta,” he declared promptly as he put on a pair of gloves.
If he wasn't already fluent in Spanish, Jake would have assumed that he was preparing to do a cavity search instead of checking his suitcase. He immediately opened his suitcase and stepped back to allow the official to complete his check. The official essentially removed the top layer of clothes from the suitcase, felt around the sides and finally walked away, leaving Jake to repack everything. What a douchebag.
Throwing his handbag over his shoulder and dragging his repacked roller suitcase behind him, Jake finally exited the baggage claim area and power walked towards the exit. As he walked through the double doors, he was immediately greeted by a huge crowd of people who were all there waiting for their friends and family to arrive.
Jake walked past the crowd, half expecting to see Yasmine emerging from the pack and running towards him with open arms, when he suddenly remembered that it was much too late at night for her to receive him from the airport. It was Jose the Driver who he sought right now. Exhausted, starving and very sleepy, all he wanted was for Jose to whisk him off to his hotel room. A big day awaited him tomorrow and Jake needed his beauty sleep.
But the taxi driver was nowhere to be found. Jake strode past the crowd and peeked at the taxi stand outside but there was no sign of this man. He had half a mind right now to pull out a fifty-dollar bill and wave it invitingly over his head in an attempt to lure the driver directly to him. Of course, that would have started an all-out riot at the airport and he just wanted to get to his hotel in one piece.
Jake pulled out his phone to call Jose when he suddenly realized that he didn't have an international plan. His phone was essentially useless right now. He even thought about grabbing a regular taxi driver to give him a ride to the hotel. However, he quickly realized that if the taxi drivers back home were crooks, the taxi drivers here would probably be dacoits. Jake would have to call Jose using a local phone.
He looked around and saw a guy pull out his phone and make a call. He waited until he finished to ask him nicely to use his phone to call Jose. The man looked him up and down and obliged instantly. Jake dialed Jose's number and waited until he heard his answering machine. He called him again but only got his machine.
The guy tapped him on his shoulder and asked for his phone back. As he turned to hand him back his phone, the guy extended his other hand. Since he had already given him back his phone, Jake turned to walk away, but the guy quickly reached over and tapped him again.
“You pay me now!” he stated rather matter-of-factly.
There were thieves everywhere in this place. Jake didn't have anything less than 50 dollars as he traveled with mostly big bills.
“I don't have any money,” Jake explained, “No tengo nada.”
“No problema,” he answered back, “Whatever you have, you give me!”
The nerve of this guy! As he started walking backwards, repeating “No tengo nada” over and over again, Jake suddenly experienced the sensation of walking into a wall for the second time that night. Only this time, he had walked right into Jose the Driver.
“Jake! How are you man!” Jose exclaimed happily as he exchanged a firm handshake, “You took forever. What happened bro?”
“I'm good,” Jake piped up, sensing the other guy's eyes on the back of his neck, “Ahh Jose, this guy wants money. I borrowed his phone to call you -”
But Jose just winked and in one sudden movement, he grabbed his suitcase and put his other arm around Jake’s shoulders as he quickly pulled him out of the airport.
His car was parked right outside the airport. Jose quickly opened his trunk, threw the suitcase inside, and opened the door for Jake to climb in at once. Without a moment's explanation, Jose revved up the engine and tore away from the airport.
“Jake my man, you have to be careful around here in Santo Domingo,” Jose explained with a look of concern, “That was a thief, you're lucky I was there man. Lots of thieves in the airport, especially this late at night. And speaking of late, weren't you supposed to get here like hours earlier or somethin'?”
Jake quickly explained that both of his flights from Washington DC and New York had been delayed which is why he got here at midnight instead of around 10 pm.
“It's past midnight man,” Jose explained, “It's 1 am here, we're an hour ahead.”
Oh right - there was no such thing as Daylight Savings Time in the rest of the world! While Santo Domingo was in the same time zone as Washington D.C., the east coast of the U.S. observed Daylight Savings Time in the winter and the rest of the countries in the eastern time zone kept to the normal time schedule. This explained why he actually arrived to Santo Domingo at 1 am instead of at midnight.
“Now speaking of thieves -” said Jose, as his voice trailed off when they arrived at a toll road just right outside the airport. Jose spent the next ten minutes arguing with the officials at the toll road, most likely because he felt they were overcharging him. They finally sped away with Jose sticking his head outside his window, shouting obscenities at the officials.
“Lousy Mexicans!” he exclaimed as he spat outside his window, “Not even their country and they're already lording all over the place. Almost as bad as the Haitians!”
At any other time Jake would have been thrilled to hear about the political landscape of Santo Domingo, in vivid, picturesque detail. But it was already past midnight and well past his bedtime and he still hadn't eaten dinner. He wanted nothing more than to get to his hotel room, kick off his shoes and dive right into bed and off to sleep.
Almost on cue, the car started sputtering before it gave a deep shudder and shut down completely.
“Come on you piece of shit, not tonight!” said Jose as he put the car into neutral and managed to maneuver it to a parking lot near the airport.
But the car looked like it had already decided that it was done for the night and didn't move any further.
“What's wrong?” Jake asked as Jose climbed out of the car, kicking his door in disgust.
“It always does this at the wrong time,” answered Jose and peering at the devastated look on Jake’s face, quickly added, “But all I need is a jumper cable to kick start it back to life. At least enough to get you to your hotel tonight.”
Jake looked around and saw the parking lot and the surrounding streets completely deserted. Jose saw the same thing and spent the next several minutes trying in vain to restart his car. Finally, several long anxious minutes later, another car pulled into the parking lot.
A crew of tough-looking guys pulled out of the car and started hollering very loudly. Jake felt his heart sink as he realized that a few of them looked like thugs from the Fast and the Furious.
“Ahhh I'll just go over and ask if one of them has a spare jumper cable,” Jose cheerfully blurted out, “Wait inside and keep your doors locked.”
With that, Jose turned away from the car and strode directly towards the other car. Jake was positively petrified as he rolled up my windows and waited with baited breath. He had no idea how this night would end but any scenario that didn't involve a bodybag was fine with him. As he watched Jose talk to the guys in the other car, he thought he heard wild coyotes howling in the distance. Or maybe it was a figment of his imagination. An answer came in the form of a pack of wild dogs that came strolling out of the distance and made a beeline directly for the only two cars in the lot.
Jake instinctively put his feet up in his seat before suddenly realizing that the car doors were locked shut. Two of the dogs stayed with the other car while the other two dogs walked over to Jose's car. As they walked past his door, Jake tried not to make eye contact with them. Usually he loved dogs. Just not wild dogs that resembled pitbulls and could possibly be carrying rabies.
But the dogs just sniffed around at the broken car and finally scampered away. He finally looked up and saw Jose walking over with another guy. Almost at once, the other guy applied his jumper cable, while Jose started up his car. After about the third try, the car finally started up again. Jose quickly waved to the other guy before closing his car door and speeding back to the highway again. Jake could feel his heart beating again and his fear finally dissipating as they finally left the airport behind them.
“Nothing to it man, happens all the time!” Jose proclaimed as he slapped Jake on the shoulder, “Don't worry, I'll get you to your hotel in no time.” And true to his word, Jose hit the accelerator and Jake grabbed the sides of his seat as the car roared down the highway.
“Yup I don't miss driving in the States one bit,” Jose hollered, “No speed limit here!”
“That's great!” Jake screamed before the rest of his voice was drowned out by the burning night air as the car whipped down the highway and across the bridge.
Jake counted at least 25 would-be accidents along the way. But Jose had the reflexes of a ninja as he adeptly swerved through lanes and around motorcyclists and pedestrians, pointing out each section of the city.
“There's Boca Chica beach!” he pointed out, “But you probably can't see much of it right now at night. Maybe I'll show you around tomorrow! You're lucky your hotel is in the nice, touristy part of town,” he continued, “Because there is a barrio over there. There used to be a lot of gang violence over there too. Over here, there used to be a lot of shops before they got burned down and don't even bother walking around that place at night.”
Jake could tell that he loved to talk about the rough parts of town, which he so briskly referred to as barrios. Even though barrio was the Spanish word for neighborhood, it basically meant the ghetto. Jose continued the geography lesson throughout the duration of the taxi ride but Jake was already dozing off into sweet dreams about tomorrow.
Not even 20 minutes after pulling out of the haunted parking lot, Jose finally cruised to a stop outside of Hotel Napolitano in Malecon, Santo Domingo. Jake bumped his head slightly as he climbed out of the car looking up at his hotel. A bright blue sign that bore the name “Hotel Napolitano” towered over the left side of a staircase that led directly to a pair of glass double doors. Even at this time of night, salsa music could be heard playing from somewhere inside as red, blue and green lights showered from an upper level of the hotel.
Jose helped to lug Jake’s suitcase to the double doors, where a security guard in a three-piece suit quickly opened the doors and allowed them inside. The main lobby was brightly lit and decked with a marble floor. Jake briskly walked over to the front desk where the hotel manager awaited him with a toothy grin.
“Welcome to Hotel Napolitano! I am the manager! Checking in? How many nights?” he inquired as he quickly eyed Jake up and down. Jake soundlessly showed him a copy of his reservation as the manager verified his information on his computer. Without even asking for an ID, the manager immediately asked him to pay for his six-night hotel stay.
Once payment was made with cash, the hotel manager nudged another clerk at the counter to hand over the card key with the WiFi password and accompany Jake upstairs to his room with his luggage. Jake shook hands with Jose and bid him good night before following the hotel clerk and the security guard upstairs to his room.
One tense elevator ride later, which consisted of the security guard and hotel clerk creepily eyeing him up and down the entire time, they finally arrived at his hotel room. The hotel clerk showed him how to open the door with the card key and with a quick swipe, Jake lumbered inside. The security guard helped him push his suitcase inside and then remained outside, staring at him expectantly. The hotel clerk pointed out the TV with free cable, the minibar, the double beds as well as the awesome window views of Malecon and the Caribbean Sea. Of course, it was nearly pitch black outside but the hotel clerk promised a magnificent view in the morning.
Jake thanked the two for their help and quickly closed the door before they had a chance to ask for a tip. Jose's warning about thieves was still fresh in his memory.
Without so much as a second glance at his luggage, Jake flung his jacket onto the opposite bed and collapsed into the bed next to the window. He was completely exhausted. A quick peek at his cell phone showed that it was already 2:30 am. Completely bereft of energy, Jake was already drifting off to sleep when he remembered that he hadn't eaten dinner.
Suddenly he spotted the mini bar in front of his bed. He attacked it voraciously and found a few chocolate bars, bags of potato chips, bottles of water, juice and even a beer called Presidente. He had already devoured a bag of potato chips and was about to start on his chocolate bar, when someone started banging on the door.
Jake was already fed up with the hotel's incessant friendliness as he leapt over the bed and ran to the door, fuming and ready to throw a punch. He threw open the door expecting to see the creepily awkward security guard and the hotel clerk, but instead found Jose.
“Jake my man!” Jose exclaimed, “Can you pay me right now?” Jake raised an eyebrow as he remembered that Jose the Driver charged $50 a day for his services. He had only been in the city for a few hours and he was still getting charged?
“Don't worry, you can pay me the $50 right now and I won't charge you for the rest of the day. Deal?” Jose quickly explained spotting the annoyed expression on Jake’s face. Incredibly exhausted, hungry, and sleepy, Jake obliged and forked over a fifty-dollar bill.
“Thanks Jake, I appreciate it man!” Jose cheerfully exclaimed as he pocketed the money, “Good night! And lock your door because of you know, thieves!”
As he closed the door, Jake thought it was pretty ironic of Jose to warn him about thieves when he was the biggest crook he had met here so far. He returned to his half-eaten bag of chips and began devouring his chocolate bar.
After his curt dinner, he quickly pulled off his clothes and put on a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. It was much too late to take a shower right now so he fell back in bed and pulled the covers up to his nose. He had the unmistakable feeling that he had forgotten to do something else. As his eyes fell on his cell phone, he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t told Yasmine that he had arrived!
Jake pulled up Whatsapp on his phone and shot her a quick message, informing her that he was finally in town. But before he could put away his phone, he saw another message from one of my least favorite people in the world: Joe Attah.
“Hey Jake, guess who's headed to Santo Domingo tomorrow! I'm flying in from BWI tomorrow morning with American. I should be there in the DR around 3 pm. Pick me up from the airport and save me a bed in your room. Thanks man!”
Jake felt his stomach drop as he dropped his phone on the nightstand and collapsed onto his bed. Joe Attah had officially called his bluff and would be here tomorrow. Worse of all, he would be staying in his room and sleeping in the other bed. He groaned as he imagined the nightmare that awaited him tomorrow.
Suddenly his phone chimed with another Whatsapp message. Jake looked across at the nightstand and saw that Yasmine had woken up and responded:
“Huyyyy que bueno vamos a vernos en la manana. Buenas noches!”
He smiled as he replaced his phone on the nightstand and lay back in bed, this time much happier and relieved. In a matter of a few hours, he would finally be meeting Yasmine for the first time ever. He could hardly sleep!
And just like that, any dreaded thoughts he had about the African Machiavelli quickly disappeared and were instantly replaced by feverish excitement for the big day tomorrow. When Jake would finally meet Yasmine and the first day of his new life would officially begin.
Chapter 1: First Peek (Part 1)
Chapter 1: First Peek (Part 2)
Chapter 1: First Peek (Part 3)
Until next time, keep acing life!