Other Notes:

The Dominican Republic top three revenues are tourists, sugar cane, and tobacco.

Haitians work to sugar cane fields for very little income and live in homes that are maybe no better than tents.

Most roads are narrow 2 lane roads with many & frequent curves. This made passing an art form. Hence, that’s why the trips took as much time as they did. However, the trip to Santo Domingo, about 2/3 of the road was multiple lanes. They are constructing a multiple lanes road to Punta Cana. Driving though small towns the road winds though narrow streets where people & scooters seem to have the “right-a-way”. These towns & people make you appreciate the USA.

Saturday, 12-4-10

Our day started with breakfast at El Ingenio about 7 EST. We’ve had all our breakfasts and some lunches and evening meals there (a buffet restaurant), Jan went to pool area and I worked on this blog. Later we’ll pay the bill & check out before catching the bus (about 11 EST) for the 2 hour ride to the Punta Cana airport leaving the sunny mid 80’s temperature for the snow & temperatures in the 30’s. On the plane we’ll have final conversations & “Good Byes” with the vacationers, players, and staff. Back in Chicago, we got the our luggage before going through customs, called for the shuttle ride back to the motel. Our black CRV was now white with multiple inches of snow on it. We cleared the snow off the windows & headlights despite not having a scraper. At 2 AM EST it was “Home Sweet Home”.

Friday, 12-3-10

Before heading to breakfast, we got a phone call (about 7 EDT) from a fellow vacationer telling us that Ron Santo passed away. Every one of the Cubs vacationers & especially the 6 Cubs staff here & 3 players took the news hard. We had a taxi driver take us on a 4-hour round trip to Punta Cana & Jan got the second Hard Rock guitar pin. Upon returning to the resort, we had a snack at La Goleta Steak House and socialized with a family of 4 from Las Vegas. Later the Cubs vacationers were treated to a banquet with the Cubs players & staff. Champagne, wine, &/or drinks were available. The meal was buffet style with lobster, various sea foods, meats, chicken, and a large variety of other foods & deserts. Later a large cake was cut & served. Plenty of entertainment with a small band, singers, and dancers was good & enjoyable. We also had time to socialize & mingle with the players & staff.

Thursday, 12-2-10

After breakfast we started our excursion to Santo Domingo (the national capital) on an approximately 1-1/2 hour trip. Santo Domingo is considered to be the first city of the new world. The group did a walk down the Colonial Zone to visit monuments and museums. We were to eat at the Hard Café but instead ate at a quaint little restaurant on the second floor with steps that were steep & narrow. Shopping time was allowed in a couple areas; we found the Hard Café where Jan got her guitar pin. On the way back, we met up with six Cubs vacationers and eleven of us joined them to start our second excursion of the day to a Palcos Toros baseball games. The Toros won 6-0. Wellington Castillo & Jake Foxx (now playing the outfield instead of catching) played for the opposing Licey Tigers and neither did well offensively. The 17 of us plus our guide had fourth row seats behind home plate. Members of the Cubs staff sat to our right. The game was a tremendous fun experience with unbelievable noise & enthusiasm by the fans. Back at the resort eleven of got a snack at the Mexican restaurant and had good social. This was a good & tiring 19 hour day.

Wednesday, 12-1-10

We spent the morning at the beach relaxing & catching rays. Behind us was Sean Marshall with his future bride (12-11-10), his parents, and his twin brother Brian with spouse. All are very nice people. We saw more than we wanted to at the topless beach as we got mooned by a couple of guys changing their apparel. After lunch we spent time by the pool bar socializing with several members of the group.

Tuesday, 11-30-10

We spent the morning playing sand volleyball and other games at the beach with Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, & Koyie Hill with Billy Williams & his spouse present as well other family members of the players. Also present when we’re with the players are 5 Cubs staff members & some from Apple Vacations. We watched a movie and bummed out in the afternoon. Our evening meal was at La Geisha (the Japanese restaurant) with 6 other members of the group & others (best meal so far & very filling). I chatted with 2 ladies from New City (original from Russia). Later we spent at beach listening & dancing to a Dominican band. Boy, members of the band were in perpetual motion.

Monday, 11-29-10

We took about a 1-1/2 hour bus trip to Cubs academy in Boca Chica while watching 60 years of WGN coverage of the Cubs on the bus’s overhead video. Upon arriving we watched for a couple of innings as the Cubs hosted the Orioles. As our bus arrived we saw Reds (as the visiting team) walking to the White Sox academy. Other teams in another complex were the Yankees, Mets, Cleveland and others had academies in another complex. 25 Major League teams have academies within ½ hour of each other. We had lunch after the game. Jan ate with Aramis Ramirez & Carlos Marmol. We met & got autographs from Billy Williams, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, Koyie Hill, Alfoanzo Soriano, Sterling Castro, & Wellington Castillo (it was his broken bat that punctured Colvin chest). Colvin is reportedly completely healthy now. A few of started playing catch when Billy Williams joined in. He has a strong throw as he stung my gloved hand a couple of times & he wasn’t throwing hard. We then had batting practice with pitched balls (by a Cub coach behind a screen) while Billy Williams & Aramis Ramirez were watching & giving instructions and we fielded in the infield while others batted. Then we got pitching & catching instructions from Sean Marshall & Kahoe Hill before we got to pitch. Last we had outfield grounders & fly balls hit by an academy batting instructor. Our evening meal was at La Hacienda (a Mexican Restaurant). This was our least favorite restaurant although still very good.