my journal

Ayeya’s 90th Birthday

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:45:59 -0400

As the title implies, my grandmother just turned 90, and of course, what a better excuse to take a couple of days off and meet with my family in my home country.

I ran from my everyday slavery, which by the way was driving me nuts, to a couple of days of fun with my family.

I took the plane on the 21st at night, got home and we went right away to congratulate my grandma. She was in bed praying and we interrupted her, but it was fun. She was happy; so were we.

After congratulating my grandma, guess what we did? WE WENT FOR MOFONGO!!!
Amelia, Eloy, Mom and I left the house to go to Adrian tropical and have a nice mofongo dinner. Check for the photos of my arrival's night here!

On the 22nd, which is actually my grandmother's birthday, we went out to fix my passport issues. We also did some shopping. Of course, in our shopping spree we got a delicious cake which we shared with my grandma at lunch time. We share lunch with Alili, a friend of her, Yokaira, Dominga and José Antonio (a cousin of my grandma). After lunch, we kept our shopping spree; though we didn't buy much.

On the 24th, Amelia, Yokaira and I woke up and ran to the mall to purchase some clothes for my grandma party. Of course, we got caught up and lost track of time. We were supposed to be back home by 4 o'clock, but traffic messed us up all.

Anyway, to make a long story short, we got home really late, mom was mad, and Amelia and I couldn't lie about it, so we told my mom the true... it was all Yokaira's fault. BTW, my unle Luis and aunt Nilda recently arrived from Puerto Rico to join us at the party and celebrate with my grandma.

We took a quick shower and made to church, were more than 100 people (friends and family) gathered to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday.

After mass, we shared a cake at church and then ran home, were we had a little private party for the family alone. It was so beautiful to see all of us get together to celebrate such a special occasion.

When it was all done, La Chinita came over and picked me up to go out for a cocktails, though she still claims that she doesn't drink. And that was the end of my third day.

Saturday arrived, and we were supposed to be early at Palenque, but... Gri decided to take revenge on my for all the time I was late to go to work. So after she got home, we all headed to Palenque, were Amelia and I tried to take some sun, not very successfully though.

We did ate a lot. We had "cebiche" empanadas, fried fish (red snappers), patacón pisao (plantain) and cake leftover from grandma's party. Then we made a quick visit to my Grandma Cristiana.

On the way back home, Gri kidnapped Rosa and I. We had to go with her to buy some assortments for her Snow White dress; yes, Snow white. Gri had a costume party that night, and Rosa and I had to watch her mutate to snow white.

Rosa and I then went each to his home to got changed to go out partying with Ed. Gri was supposed to join us, but guess what? She didn’t :P We had fun though. We went to the zombies’ park to have some beers and then to a disco, where we were all shy and didn't dance. ja ja ja aj aj.

So, that's how I ended my trip. I woke up on sunday the 26, finished packing and headed to the airport. BTW, Gri and Rosa came to say bye. That was sweet of them. They brought me brownies, which Yokaira, Amelia and Mom kept ja ja ja ja ja.

Bush Gardens

Sun, 27 May 2007 10:56:00 -0400

On saturday, May 27, my roommate (remco), his friend Yasniel, Jorge and I took the road to go to Bush Gardens. We left around 4 am, which by the way is a great hour to drive; not that I drive, but you could see how far you can get without speeding in such a little time.

Anyhow, we got there around 7 in the morning, we stopped in an all-american dinner to eat eggs and pancakes; it was delicious, and people were so well mannered.

After breakfast, we headed to the Hotel, were we dropped all our bags, and ran off to the Park. At the part we did almost all rides except for a few, but we were exhausted since we didn’t get much to sleep. Though I have to admit that the part was amazing, it was my first roller coaster, and sort of theme park. We got all wet, sweaty and there
were this estrange weird bug all over the place. That was a bit nasty though.

After the park, we went for lunch, and then to the hotel to get ready for the night. In this case, ready implied taking a nap . Later at night we went clubbing, we visited two clubs, don’t ask for names because I don’t remember, but one was amazingly fun, much better than Miami expensive fun.

See the photos so you’ll get a better idea ;)

Short Visit to Dominican Republic

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:52:13 -0500

On thursday 25, I arrived to Dominican Republic. This trip was to make up because I couldn’t make it during christmas... IT WAS TOO F*CK*NG EXPENSIVE.

Anyways, I had a great time with my family and friends.

During this trip I got to go to the dentist, enjoy my grandmas, my mom, my dad, and some of my friends. Since it was such a short trip, I didn’t announce it very much. My main goal was to be with my family.

We did do a trip to Palenque, where we had a great day. It reminded my of so many things. I have to admit that I miss my friends and family, and just being able to share such a short time made me sad. When I got back to Miami, I was so home sick that I was trying to find an excuse to go back to DR.

Check the photo gallery, where I placed some of the photos of this short trip.

My favorite is the snail’s photos... I’ll say they were the best posers ever :), or maybe it was because they are so slow... which make me think, maybe that’s why super models end up being not so smart... no need to move, just pose.

David’s Road Trip: 3.The Hamptons

Sun, 7 Aug 2005 13:56:59 -0400

On August 7 we were still at the Hamptons. The Hamptons refers specifically to the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on the east end of Long Island, New York. These townships occupy the south fork of Long Island, which is the east end of the South Shore. [1]

We had more of a relaxing day than anything else. We drove around town, explored different restaurants, different coffee shops and even made it to the movies.

I took some photos around the town, I was kind of impressed on how different from everything I have seen this it all is.

By the way, while we were at a Starbucks, a group of people were protesting in a very civilized way to end the war in Iraq. Check the photos.

1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamptons

David’s Road Trip: 2.Montauk Lighthouse

Sat, 6 Aug 2005 23:53:23 -0400

So, the next day (August 6, 2005) we took the road towards Montauk Point Lighthouse. In the way there I appreciate the beautiful houses with such lush vegetation. It was wonderful. The day was perfect, sunny and still not hot.

Anyways, the Montauk Point Lighthouse is located in Montauk Point State Park at the easternmost point of Long Island. It is the oldest lighthouse in New York. As a matter of fact, it is the first lighthouse in the New York State, and is the fourth-oldest active lighthouse in the US. [1]

For 89 years, the Lighthouse was another symbol of the New World seen as a welcoming beacon by immigrants sailing from Europe to New York. In 1886, the Statue of Liberty replaced both Montauk Point Lighthouse and Boston Harbor Lighthouse as a beacon of freedom. [2]

So we got there to the Lighthouse, and took photos all over. Of course, David was getting a bit annoyed with me taking photos, but I wanted to keep them as a reminder of the great time I was having.

We went into the tower, all the way up through a caracole stairs. The space was very tight, but intriguing of how would be the view from the top.
The tower is 110' 6" high. The current light, equivalent to 2,500,000 candle power, flashes every 5 seconds and can be seen a distance of 18 nautical miles (33 km)

Just across from the entrance to the tower, there was a big old lens. The room is called Oil Room because the oil for the lantern was stored here. An enclosed corridor connected the oil room to the keepers dwelling.

On the way to the top, we saw an old telephone hanging on the wall, not sure how old it is, but it was covered in plastic and it had a sign that said “Please don’t touch, Museum exhibit”.

On the top we saw the lens, but we weren’t allowed to go into the light room, so we took photos from a window below the light room, the view was amazing anyways.

It would be good to say that, on August 26, 1939, members of the slave ship AMISTAD used this lighthouse as a guide to drop anchor nearby Culloden Point and ashore at Montauk to get supplies.

After we got off the tower, we went to outside of the Lighthouse and found a Memorial for Montauk Fishermen; it have an inscription that reads "In remembrance of those lost at sea while fishing these waters". We also saw the Lighthouse keeper’s house which replaced the 1796 keepers dwelling in 1838; When the new double keepers dwelling was built in 1860, this building was converted into a barn.

Next to the house, there was a garden, which is part of the meadow, is the precise spot where Montauk's keepers have tilled the soil and harvested vegetables for over 200 years. [2]

Then we walked our way down to the beach where I took some shots of the Lighthouse. Take a look to my photo gallery for this day and enjoy.

1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Point_Lighthouse
2 - http://home.comcast.net/~debee2/NNNS/Montauk.html
3 - http://www.montauklighthouse.com/