Here's what you're missing!

Well, here's what you've been missing out on here in the Dominican Republic:

Here's what I see every night! I've become the unofficial videographer and group manager. I get questions throughout every show from the people sitting around me. They all want to know where the guys are from, if they are single, how long they've been singing together, and why they haven't been on America's Got Talent! It's exciting to see people enjoy the show and rave to the guys about how wonderful they are. 

This is Bavaro. Once you get away from the beach and resorts, this is the city (apparently this is where a lot of drugs are exchanged). No tall buildings, no name-brand businesses (oh wait, there is a Texaco), and no tourists :) This is where we've started to go grocery shopping. It is about a 15-20 minute bus ride from our apartment to this area. We've made grocery shopping our Monday ritual and this week's trip was one for the record book! We waited for about 30 minutes for the bus and when it finally showed up, it was PACKED! People were literally hanging out the open door. We, of course, squeezed our way on. Since we had already waited a half hour, I wasn't about the risk waiting another half hour for the next bus to show up and have it be just as full! So, we got all close and personal with the friendly natives on the bus :) We had to get off the bus at each stop so the passengers needing to get off had space to push their way off the bus. Then we'd all cram back onto the bus for another round. The bus attendant/money collector would literally PUSH the passengers through up the small stairwell and down the aisle like trying to stuff a Thanksgiving turkey. It was a great adventure :)

Once we did our shopping, we loaded up our backpacks with our goodies and headed back to the bus stop about a 10-minute walk away. In true island style, it started raining as soon as we left the store. What was a light drizzle turned into a typical island downpour. We huddled under a nearby store awning until it let up. The bus ride back to the apartment was much less eventful than the trip there.

Other than going to the different resorts each night, this is what we do....walk on the beach! It's nice to get out and people watch--it's becoming one of my favorite things to do here! These are a couple of pictures I took yesterday during our stroll. (Note: I love my IPHONE! I found a cool app that lets me edit my pictures right on my phone, then I can upload them directly to my computer! Editing pictures is addicting, especially when I'm taking pictures of beautiful things already!)

And let me tell you, it never gets old waking up and looking out the window at the beach and the ocean. Just build me a Costco and a Target and I could stay here forever :P