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I believe that in the days when we have been in the Dominican Republic we have discovered what happiness is; I believe that happiness is the moment when you feel a strong enthusiasm for life, when your eyes are filled with beauty and your soul forgets all kinds of problems. These sensations of the moment, you manage to relive every moment when you remember them, the same enthusiasm, the same sense of peace; yes, I think that’s happiness and I was really happy at that moment.
I do not deny that I am an anxious person, I always worry about many, too many things and this trip worried me for so many reasons: the travel hours, the hurricane period, the fame of the Dominican Republic. But when you wake up in the morning and a crystal clear sea glitters before your eyes you realize how stupid it is to worry and how little it takes to forget everything.
]When we got off the big Boeing Blu Panorama at La Romanaairport,the first thing that struck us was the afa, a “wall” of hot air that in our Italian August we do not even imagine. Then the tiny airport of La Romana,so small that the plane looked almost larger than the structure itself, yet very efficient, so many controls and suitcases very fast to pick up.
Arriving in the evening, it does not immediately make you realize the beauty that is enclosed in this great island but you can guess it; the first thing we’re tempted to do is get closer to the sea, the sand is floury, but the color we can’t see. The sea is calm and silent, shining illuminated by the moon covered from time to time by a few clouds. The palm trees are high but they don’t look so different at that time from those planted in our big cities.
]The next morning everything changes. The sun is very hot, there will be almost 40 degrees, although in the Dominican Republic it is not summer, in the distance you see the sea; the color is imprinted in my mind, but I really can’t give a name to it. maybe Caribbean blue? I don’t even know if it exists, but I’ve never seen a sea like this and a landscape that seems almost like a dream, it will seem throughout the journey even when the sky is overcast and gray
Every color here looks sharper, from the green of the vegetation to the colors of the fruit that, by the way, has a completely different flavor from ours: I love mango, papaya, passion fruit and melon, everyone becomes my precious allies for breakfast.
We are not far from the village of Bayahibe, a fishing village, where there is always a lot of music, in the streets, on boats, in taxies and in the square. Don’t be surprised if you hear, from time to time, some elderly humming or some guy hinting at caribbean dance steps.
The marina is full of small boats, especially spears that are used to take tourists hiking to nearby islands.
Among the palm trees and cottages, the views of the sea and the harbor are wonderful, they almost look painted.
Maybe at first we are afraid, it seems that everyone looks at us, they discourage us next to each other with motorcycles and mopeds, they look for excuses to make us pay 7 dollars a package of Marlboro and they ask us many questions, indeed they submerge us with questions so much that they intimidate us a little.
In the days we have spent, however, everything has become clear: Dominicans are very wary, especially with Italians who do not always behave like friends but mostly as colonizers. In truth most of those we have known are very nice, they have many things to tell (sometimes too many), they laugh in such an engaging way that you can not help but do it too; there are also some Dominicans who try to deceive you, the one who tries to intimidate you and the one who has the wrong day a little too often … but why should people on the other side of the world be so different from the people in the neighborhood? after all, the whole world is country.
We chose a very particular adjective, for our trip to the Dominican Republic: Dolce. We thought about it for a long time but in the end our choice fell on this;
Sweet is the water of the Caribbean Sea, never too salty, never too cold or too hot, never too agitated.
Dolce is the voice of the singers of the bachata or salsa that echo everywhere.
Sweet is the light at sunset.
Sweet is the taste of fruit, sugar cane, cocoa and coffee that are produced in the Dominican Republic.
Sweet is the smile of children from the villages who welcome you and take you by the hand.
Sweet. No other adjective could have described it better.
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