The loud silence...

In front of my apartment

Do you know that - arriving in a new city where you don't know anyone and suddenly you have a lot of time for yourself and silence around you? A good and strong experience, again and again.

Well, silence is relative: I think the Dominican Republic is the loudest country I know. While I was sitting in a bar opposite the Monumento de los Héroes de la Restauración at noon, my table was vibrating from the bass of the music of the passing cars.

Monumento de los Héroes de la Restauración

The city with almost 600.000 inhabitants, which will be my home for the next five weeks, welcomed me friendly.

A nice apartment, a nice roommate, helpful Santiagoenses along the street and a city that is preparing for the carnival tonight.

masks for carnival

I went on a little discovery tour and admired great graffitis, went through gigantic supermarkets and even bought clothes hangers with my bumpy Spanish...

But I skip tcarnival tonight, because tomorrow at 6:45 am the staff bus picks me up and the work on the tobacco field will start.

¡hasta mañana!