The Caribbean

I had this idea to travel on Amelia's Fall break. We had had a busy summer and we were feeling a need to relax and have some family time. I did not want to think too much or plan too much or worry about money and food and spending. I had been given advice by a friend to look at all-inclusive vacations.

I have read Jamacia Kincaid. I know I am a privileged, white lady traveling to a place with some hard history. I have resisted traveling to the Caribbean for that reason. But, I also wanted to see the clear waves, meet the people, learn more about the area.

I had read and love Julia Alvarez's book In the Time of the Butterflies about the Dominican Republic and the sisters who worked hard and were martyred to make their country better when it was under a terrible military dictatorship. The book is beautiful. I had also been intrigued by it and moved by the sisters' stories.

So when we found a resort on the Samana Peninsula of the DR, we checked it out. We found a resort and the price was good. I would not have to think about food, still could travel outside of the resort, and would be in a beautiful place next to the ocean.

Ernani scheudled the trip and the flights out. I got us a hotel in Chicago the night before our flight and the night of our return. It was near the airport and would shuttle us to the airport. We had a long day of flying ahead of us, and this was not the first time Amelia flew, but it was the first time she could remember it and react to what she saw out the window.

She loved it. Her first reaction to seeing Lake Michigan and the shoreline, where she swam in August, was "The world is so beautiful!" I find this, as her mother, a genius statement of course.

We flew out to NY and came in over the ocean, past the city, and to JFK. She was mesmerized and I got to see the world 30,000 feet above through her young, impressed eyes. What was so routine, flying, became new again. This is the magic of having a five-year-old.

We ran to our next flight, which did not arrive in Santo Domingo until almost midnight their time. So, we got in late and then had to meet our driver who was driving us 2 hours to our resort near Las Terrenas.

The drive in the dark was something we would do again in the light on the way back to the airport at the end of our trip. And we would understand then what we missed.

Santo Domingo was like most towns. Amelia was happy when she saw the palm trees and coconuts. "I love coconuts," she proclaimed. She does not remember much of Brasil, so we were happy to see her reactions to a new country where houses, greenery, and people were not like us.

We drove in the dark through tolls, with bright stars above us, lights of houses in the distance, and then through passes in the hills. As we curved around those hills, up and down, and through those passes, I thought of Arkansas. The rock in both places is the same, limestone. I felt the bus moving in the same way that cars and buses move as they go through the Ozarks.

The forest, however, was different. This one was palms and tropical trees. Men with military guns stood outside each toll section. The road was deserted and when we did drive up to another car slower than us, our driver passed without hesitation. Exhaustion meant accepting those things and putting our trust in a stranger.

The drive felt long, the kiddo slept, and we did get to our hotel. The lobby looked like the pictures and the night bird chirped loudly. We checked in and they drove us to our room. We went right to sleep. We got in about 2 am. So, we got up late and hungry and immediately went to the resort's cafeteria to have brunch.

After brunch, we were all eager to go to the beach. We stood at the edge of the island looking towards the Atlantic Ocean. The sky was clear blue, the water clear and warm, and we could see the arms of the peninsula around us. Coral reefs showed up as dark blue spots in the ocean and they were right in front of us.

We were here.