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Thread: Road trip to Maimon

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    Road trip to Maimon

    Just got back from a weeks vacation. After getting back from my trip in April, I decided to take my kids for a trip. Yes, it was different, but it was great.

    On Saturday, after my favorita extended her stay for a day, she was due to catch the bus home. We hit the pool early in the morning. At one point, she says to me "I've met your kids, when are you gonna come to my home and meet my daughter". Normally, I would have put it off. But, after reading TGUNZZ report, and wanting to show my kids the "real" DR and try to get them to appreciate what they have, I said "lets do it today. Instead of you taking the bus, we will take you home and grab a hotel there."

    Now, so everybody knows (WSJ), there are no chica pics. Almost 90% of my pics have my kids face, and then more have my favorita's pics. So this is just a little information. Being busy with the kids, I forgot to take a lot of pics.


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    After we left Sosua, we headed to Puerto Plata. By the time we made it through town, I was questioning my decision (having her at the condo was a big break for me. Since she can't go out in town, she was more than accommodating with me going out. I got 3 hours sleep both Thursday and Friday night!).

    We hit traffic in Santiago, and I was wondering to myself "what the fuck did I get myself into?"!!!!

    After getting through Santiago and getting close to Maimon, I seen something I've never seen before. As we were driving along the four lane highway, a cop was waving people over. Then she said "there's an accident". What I seen ahead blew me away.

    First, I seen this.



    Then, after all the traffic was directed into two lanes, we seen this across the highway.










    A Coke truck had turned over. What we seen were the scavangers who were picking over the left overs. The cops were stopping traffic when they were trying to cross the highway.

    The way it was explained to me was...."if a Coke truck turns over, everybody has Coke gratis. If a banana truck turns over, everyone has bananas gratis. If a chicken truck turns over, everyone has chickens gratis. If a pig truck turns over..." I interupt and say "yeah yeah, everyone has pigs gratis!" She looks at me like I'm stupid and says "No, pigs are really expensive. The cops will arrest you if you try to take a pig!!"



    Gotta give her that one!


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by TNT72 View Post
    After we left Sosua, we headed to Puerto Plata.

    We hit traffic in Santiago,

    After getting through Santiago and getting close to Maimon,
    Out of curiosity, did you leave Sosua and take the mountain road to Santiago and up to Maimon? Unless there was a reason to go to Santiago first it would have been much easier and quicker to drive from Sosua through Puerto Plata and hit Maimon 15 minutes or so just west of PP.

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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by TNT72 View Post
    Coke truck had turned over. What we seen were the scavangers who were picking over the left overs. The cops were stopping traffic when they were trying to cross the highway.

    The way it was explained to me was...."if a Coke truck turns over, everybody has Coke gratis. If a banana truck turns over, everyone has bananas gratis. If a chicken truck turns over, everyone has chickens gratis. If a pig truck turns over..." I interupt and say "yeah yeah, everyone has pigs gratis!" She looks at me like I'm stupid and says "No, pigs are really expensive. The cops will arrest you if you try to take a pig!!"



    Gotta give her that one!
    ...remind me NEVER to take a fill in the blank test in the DR...

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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by Rubicon View Post
    Out of curiosity, did you leave Sosua and take the mountain road to Santiago and up to Maimon? Unless there was a reason to go to Santiago first it would have been much easier and quicker to drive from Sosua through Puerto Plata and hit Maimon 15 minutes or so just west of PP.
    This was the first time I've taken a trip like this, while driving. It was recommended to me to keep it simple and go through Santiago via Puerto Plata.


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Just a side note. When we were in Santiago, we stopped for lunch. The kids wanted some "normal" food. We skipped Burger King and McDonalds, but I gave in for Fridays when all of them wanted it.

    I'm not a big fan of Fridays, I think their food is average at best and this location was no different. But, I just about shit when the bill for the four of us was right at $2500 pesos!!


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    After we got off the main highway, we were driving along a river. I decided to stop so we could stretch our legs and take a closer look.









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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by Rubicon View Post
    Out of curiosity, did you leave Sosua and take the mountain road to Santiago and up to Maimon? Unless there was a reason to go to Santiago first it would have been much easier and quicker to drive from Sosua through Puerto Plata and hit Maimon 15 minutes or so just west of PP.

    Now I see what you mean. This town was called Maimon, but it wasn't outside of Puerto Plata. It was about 20 minutes past Bonao, off the main highway.


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Higuey out Maimon in

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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by TNT72 View Post
    Now I see what you mean. This town was called Maimon, but it wasn't outside of Puerto Plata. It was about 20 minutes past Bonao, off the main highway.
    It is a tiny village between Bonao and Villa Altagracia. about 25 miles from Santo Domingo.


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by Rubicon View Post
    Out of curiosity, did you leave Sosua and take the mountain road to Santiago and up to Maimon? Unless there was a reason to go to Santiago first it would have been much easier and quicker to drive from Sosua through Puerto Plata and hit Maimon 15 minutes or so just west of PP.
    I was thinking the same thing as you. The town with all the little seafood spots.. If you blink you will miss it. Looks likes there is another one. Cant wait to read the rest TNT! Especailly your kids take on it all.
    You do You, I'm gonna Do Me!!

    "Don't tell me what a man says, don't tell me what a man knows, tell me where he's traveled?"

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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by tgunzbxxx View Post
    Looks likes there is another one.
    I just answered that. But it is strange that TNT and I have both met chicas from a place that is too small to appear on Google (unless it is the same chica!).

    I think the answer must be that the place has another and official name. Maybe they gave it a new name to avoid confusion, but the locals still call it Maimon (causing more confusion!). That goes on a lot in the DR, especially with street names.

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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by weyland View Post
    I just answered that. But it is strange that TNT and I have both met chicas from a place that is too small to appear on Google (unless it is the same chica!).

    I think the answer must be that the place has another and official name. Maybe they gave it a new name to avoid confusion, but the locals still call it Maimon (causing more confusion!). That goes on a lot in the DR, especially with street names.
    Here is what she has listed as her hometown on FB.

    Maimón, Monsenor Nouel, Dominican Republic


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Quote Originally Posted by TNT72 View Post
    Here is what she has listed as her hometown on FB.

    Maimón, Monsenor Nouel, Dominican Republic
    OK, now I got it. Wikipedia says urban population of 14,000 plus so it is not the place I am thinking of which would be more like 140. That must be yet another one. Lots of Dominican towns are named after the original Spanish Colonial landlords. Maimon is a common Jewish/Spanish surname so there could be quite a few of them.

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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    So since TGUNZZ asked about it, I'll give my kids take on it as I go through. Was planning on leaving it out, thinking guys really wouldn't care.

    As we pulled off the highway, and before we stopped at the river, I got pissed. Here we were surrounded by beautiful mountains and scenery, and for the whole trip, all they did was argue about who got what game, or argue over who was watching what movie on their DVDs. I was as pissed at myself as at them. At that point, I took all electronics away. I didn't want them to spend the entire trip watching monitors. They weren't very happy to say the least.

    As we pulled into Maimon, we stopped first at the nice hotel. It looked like a tourist place, very nice. Not what I was looking for to be honest. Luckily, they were sold out. So we headed to the family's spot. Typical Dominican spot. Old, but well taken care of house. Definitely not a shack. Met the family and the daughter.

    After meeting the family, we headed to my friends house. It was newer and nicer. (I have to remember to not get to into detail, with the WU and all!)

    After that, we headed out to find a hotel. We ended up at a hotel that doesn't have a name posted out front. I never would have known it was a hotel if she didn't tell me. It was basic, clean and had A/C. That's all I cared about.

    The view from the door.

    To the left, a single bed and the entrance to the bathroom. No door, not top to the bathroom.



    To the right, a double bed for the kids.



    It was 1000 pesos a night. I told her we would take it.

    At this point, my kids were tired of days in the sun and we just came off of a long drive. My daughter started crying. She said she didn't want to stay there. She wanted our nice condo back in Sosua. It was at this time that I had a talk with her about the difference between wants and needs. All we "needed" was a clean safe place, she "wanted" a nice, expensive condo. This talk would happen a few more times in the trip, and will continue for a long time before it sinks in.


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Another sidenote:

    Those that think driving in Sosua is trouble, DEFINITELY do not want to drive here! The roads were sooo narrow from the cars parking on the sides of the road. Weaving in and out. And at every crossroads there are no stop signs, but there are drains that slow you way down, for the water to drain. It is just controlled madness.

    Another thing, I was stared at constantly. It didn't bother me, but I knew everyone was trying to figure out who the gringo was and who was I with. It is a small town where everybody knows everybody.


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    Thanks for sharing this one. I am always a big fan of sidetrips elsewhere. I like how you broke that down to your daughter. In life it will eventually sink in.


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    After unloading the luggage, it was time to get some food. We went to a pizza place that had a playground (lets say a very unsafe teeter totter, and a swing set) that was setting on rocks. Of course, through the meal, all three kids ended up crying over one injury or another.

    The kids pizza and empanadas.


    My pork chop.



    We ended up having a medium pizza, 2 large empanadas, she and I each had pork chops with fries and salad, 2 or 3 Grandes, 3 fruit smoothies, 2 or 3 pops and 1 or 2 waters. The bill came to 1500 including tip!!! It's nice being outside of the tourist spot.
    Last edited by TNT72; 06-28-2013 at 10:49 AM.


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    Re: Road trip to Maimon

    After dinner, the kids and I headed to the hotel, and she went home.

    The next morning, we were going swimming. The plan was to swim for an hour or two, then get on the road. Of course, dealing with Dominicans, we weren't even ready to go until noon. The night before, her mom told me that we could go to her private club. I didn't know what to expect, because when we left Sosua, I thought we were going to Bonao, not Maimon. I accepted of course.

    We headed out, and there was nine of us total. When we got there, I knew we weren't leaving in a couple hours. She said we should stay at the pool for the day, and we could sleep there again. I talked with the kids, and they agreed. They liked the pool (and my son was crazy for all the chicas).

    I was not expecting this!









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    Re: Road trip to Maimon



    From before things got busy.



    In the back, you can also see the large kiddie pool. Later in the day, my son had chicas coming up to him left and right trying to talk to him. He was also getting some kisses from some 14 and 15 year olds. He was loving it!



    They also had a basketball court



    You can see behind the basketball court, a playground. I didn't get any pics of that.

    They are also building a hotel right there.



    It might be a while before it's finished!!


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