1. Day in the Dominican Republic

Flight 22:15 hrs

The longest flight for me of all time. 9 hours have been planned so far and I already have pressure not only in my ears, but also in my whole head.

Slept hmm...about 4 hours, but due to excitement, very energetic. Unfortunately, I overslept breakfast and therefore have a huge appetite.

Arrival 3:39 hrs

Arrived at the airport, we are sitting here with 10 girls and one young man, waiting for the transfer to pick us up in about 4.5 hours. What a miracle: (almost) all the girls are talking to their boyfriends with mixed emotions, sleeping, eating or chatting.

Some are already trying to withdraw some pesos for the first time from the ATM, whether it works is another question. Currently, we get about 57 pesos for one euro, so I withdrew some money for the first month.

Now the bus is coming after about 4 hours. The difference between the climate at the airport and the "outside world" is enormous. In the airport, everyone is wearing sweaters and scarves because of the air conditioning and they are still freezing, and outside the door, the warm humid air is hitting you.

The bus ride was pretty funny, as we all sat together in one car, drove to the Caribetours bus stop and then in Samana we were driven to the door again by car.

The arrival was greeted with a long staircase leading to the street of "Manhattan". (That's what the locals call the place because that's where the rich and beautiful people live)

So Anna and I went straight to our blue apartment and were informed by Sebastian about the anti-European features. Each of us has a room + fan!

After a short break, we met Annika (NGO management) + Sebastian and went to eat something to stop the hunger. A nice shop with a view of the water.

After a delicious meal, we went to explore the most important corners to do some shopping. Anna and I immediately attacked the fruit from the market and bought 2 mangoes, 2 papayas, a pineapple, and a banana for only 200 pesos (~4€).

When we arrived at the other supermarket, we bought the last important things to have something on the table for tonight and tomorrow morning. So off to the X, which drove up the mountain with all its might to take us to "Manhattan". It cost us 25 pesos (0.5€) each.

That's how it is with almost all means of transportation here. No matter where you want to go within your city, you pay 25 pesos per person. In our case, it is totally worth it when we go shopping for heavy things and have to go up the mountain to our apartments.

Of course, we had to buy drinking water, which is sold at a kiosk downstairs and contains 18L, hallelujah if we don't come back like Arnold after a year.