^ Flatus knows what he's talking about, lol
Got back a few days ago, still feeling chill and mellow. Many times a trip or vacation can be quite exhausting, I'm still tired when I get back. But this was a lazy one, we snagged a cheap package deal and didn't spend much more than that. Not much adventuring, a lotta just being sloths in the sun, lol Ate like a fuckin king, drank red wine every night.
Happy to be back, ready to go again at making this thing called life sing the best I can. Life is good.
Going to the Dominican for 1 week
First day we get there it is RAINING. Dude says it rained all last week the whole week, but 'thinks it will clear up' because as a rule he explained no weather stays the same there for more than 1 week lol
He was right. We woke up the next morning tho this:
The hotel was an old Government building that had been renovated for tourism.
It was built on a huge CLIFFSIDE, which made views great but getting around tough (stairs everywhere, lol) At first I was like 'yeah these stairs will be awesome I'll run up n down em every day and stay in shape for BJJ!' ...but that soon wore off, lol
View of the town; SAMANA
More of the area around the hotel:
I kayaked out to the far island. There is nothing there, lol. Nice bridge but it goes nowhere :D
The POOL:
the kids would play here happily for hours... drinks as you please, sun + shade. I swam a lot too, also sketched people and read some books. I didn't touch electronics all week, and was in low gear the whole time. I didn't even have any bud, lol
He was right. We woke up the next morning tho this:
The hotel was an old Government building that had been renovated for tourism.
It was built on a huge CLIFFSIDE, which made views great but getting around tough (stairs everywhere, lol) At first I was like 'yeah these stairs will be awesome I'll run up n down em every day and stay in shape for BJJ!' ...but that soon wore off, lol
View of the town; SAMANA
More of the area around the hotel:
I kayaked out to the far island. There is nothing there, lol. Nice bridge but it goes nowhere :D
The POOL:
the kids would play here happily for hours... drinks as you please, sun + shade. I swam a lot too, also sketched people and read some books. I didn't touch electronics all week, and was in low gear the whole time. I didn't even have any bud, lol
We took a trip to Punta Cana and they stopped us at this park with animals etc Huge Iguanas/Dragon things, birds etc.
This is supposed to be an authentic totem-pole type carving from the indigenous peoples (pre-slavery/colonization). It is amazing that the people in the dominican are almost all black(descendants of slaves), though the true natives are more reddish-skinned yet you see none. And they all speak spanish, lol. The other half of the island, Haiti, are the same but they all speak french. Its a crazy history, I really tripped out a lot trying to consider how a place like DR became what it is.
There was a show however they gave that was a re-creation of the original peoples' ritual of taking hallucinogenic drugs to contact the gods. I had fun explaining it to my kids. My wife thinks I tell them too much. :D
They had a dolphin show there too and my son got picked to go up, the dolphins pushed him around on a body board and some other tricks. I still have trouble with these kind of shows, I don't like zoos/animal slavery but I went along to not fuck up the day for others
Then we went to a beach where you could snorkel around with sharks and stingrays etc. was pretty fun
here's some rare complimentary cleavage-shots of Mrs Masato for y'all:
This is supposed to be an authentic totem-pole type carving from the indigenous peoples (pre-slavery/colonization). It is amazing that the people in the dominican are almost all black(descendants of slaves), though the true natives are more reddish-skinned yet you see none. And they all speak spanish, lol. The other half of the island, Haiti, are the same but they all speak french. Its a crazy history, I really tripped out a lot trying to consider how a place like DR became what it is.
There was a show however they gave that was a re-creation of the original peoples' ritual of taking hallucinogenic drugs to contact the gods. I had fun explaining it to my kids. My wife thinks I tell them too much. :D
They had a dolphin show there too and my son got picked to go up, the dolphins pushed him around on a body board and some other tricks. I still have trouble with these kind of shows, I don't like zoos/animal slavery but I went along to not fuck up the day for others
Then we went to a beach where you could snorkel around with sharks and stingrays etc. was pretty fun
here's some rare complimentary cleavage-shots of Mrs Masato for y'all:
The best part of the trip for me was a 1/2 day trip to an Eco-Village with ZIPLINES.
Beautiful spot, this was the most enlightening experience of the week. Among an eco-treetop village where you could stay (an option I would seriously consider if I went again...), there was an wicked zipline course through the jungle mountains.
There were TWELVE ziplines, all going back and forth across the valley until you arrived at the village at the bottom. The first line was over 1000 feet high.
Was wild, and way better priced than the shit in Punta Cana. I would recommend this 100%:
kids going up to the first tower:
view from the top of the first tower:
To my surprise, Mrs Masato went first:
daughter going upside-down... you could do hands-free etc, was really fun. The guides there were doing all kinds of spins etc
my boy:
Beautiful spot, this was the most enlightening experience of the week. Among an eco-treetop village where you could stay (an option I would seriously consider if I went again...), there was an wicked zipline course through the jungle mountains.
There were TWELVE ziplines, all going back and forth across the valley until you arrived at the village at the bottom. The first line was over 1000 feet high.
Was wild, and way better priced than the shit in Punta Cana. I would recommend this 100%:
kids going up to the first tower:
view from the top of the first tower:
To my surprise, Mrs Masato went first:
daughter going upside-down... you could do hands-free etc, was really fun. The guides there were doing all kinds of spins etc
my boy:
Here are some shots of the eco-village at the bottom.
NO wifi :D :D :D awesome
Most everything is made with bamboo which they say grows back so fast that you can cut it without really damaging the forests. I don't know how much it is to stay in these huts (or how good the food is, lol)
NO wifi :D :D :D awesome
Most everything is made with bamboo which they say grows back so fast that you can cut it without really damaging the forests. I don't know how much it is to stay in these huts (or how good the food is, lol)
Then they took us to a local beach. We got a bit of rain but it was still warm and we swam just fine (I was sunburned anyway). I even caught a few bodysurfs
We got to try some local foods, I bought the stuff for a real MAMAJUANA there, looking forward to brewing it.
We got to try some local foods, I bought the stuff for a real MAMAJUANA there, looking forward to brewing it.
Of course I took a bunch of street-dogs for the comic I'm making... I'll post more of these later
Back at the hotel @ night:
Back at the hotel @ night:
My daughter took this picture of the moon coming home (look closely):
more plane pics. Flying is still super trippy to me, it hardly seems real when I try to comprehend it:
more plane pics. Flying is still super trippy to me, it hardly seems real when I try to comprehend it:
coming back into Toronto;
The most interesting part of the trip was talking with the guide who took us to the ziplines.
He told a story how his parents were from Samana, but moved to Florida in search of the 'American Dream'. They achieved it, he had a nice house in Miami, later lived in New York, was a rapper there for a while, saw some peeks into the industry, also studied to become a dental technician, could be earning good coin doing that in Miami or NY...
...but later in life he chose to move back to Samana! He bought an undeveloped piece of land and hooked up with the eco-village owner and is making a plan to build a house and a business where tourists can come and stay etc. He is building slowly, and knows the limits of the Dominican as a country but still takes pride in it and loves it and has chosen that lifestyle. And you know what? I totally believe that he is happy for it, he had a shine in his eye it was clear.
Really made me think, you know? People there build their houses slowly, sometimes over many years brick by brick as they ca afford. Then I came back to the all-inclusive full of us gluttonous westerners, lol thought of all the hotel workers who toil in the hot sun there for relatively very little pay... then came back home to my own reality in Canada which in itself suddenly also becomes weird.
Traveling, even for a short time, always really blows the doors off of one's perspectives, puts everything suddenly in a new light.
After that I found myself enjoying some yard-work and tending my house maintenance for the first time ever (I usually hate it). To take pride in caring for one's dwelling, no matter what or where, to be thankful for one's work, and to do it with honor and dignity, to take care of one's kids and family etc.. some simple things we so unfortunately need to be reminded of.
He told a story how his parents were from Samana, but moved to Florida in search of the 'American Dream'. They achieved it, he had a nice house in Miami, later lived in New York, was a rapper there for a while, saw some peeks into the industry, also studied to become a dental technician, could be earning good coin doing that in Miami or NY...
...but later in life he chose to move back to Samana! He bought an undeveloped piece of land and hooked up with the eco-village owner and is making a plan to build a house and a business where tourists can come and stay etc. He is building slowly, and knows the limits of the Dominican as a country but still takes pride in it and loves it and has chosen that lifestyle. And you know what? I totally believe that he is happy for it, he had a shine in his eye it was clear.
Really made me think, you know? People there build their houses slowly, sometimes over many years brick by brick as they ca afford. Then I came back to the all-inclusive full of us gluttonous westerners, lol thought of all the hotel workers who toil in the hot sun there for relatively very little pay... then came back home to my own reality in Canada which in itself suddenly also becomes weird.
Traveling, even for a short time, always really blows the doors off of one's perspectives, puts everything suddenly in a new light.
After that I found myself enjoying some yard-work and tending my house maintenance for the first time ever (I usually hate it). To take pride in caring for one's dwelling, no matter what or where, to be thankful for one's work, and to do it with honor and dignity, to take care of one's kids and family etc.. some simple things we so unfortunately need to be reminded of.
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