Police Stories and Crazy Happenings

Hi All. I had to laugh at the comment made on yesterday's blog - apparently, as long as I can look good on the beach, I don't need to worry about knowing how to surf? OK then, there were a couple of crazy happenings yesterday to report. Crazy Happening #1: Cosmo witnessed a police ordeal on his park walk yesterday! Police ended an hour-long chase of an ex-con driving his SUV right at Cossie's park during his afternoon walk with the neighbor! Check it out at: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=2848875 Apparently, the police made Cossie and nieghbor jump in one of their cars to get them out of the park since it all happened right in front of them and the guy had a gun he'd been holding his ex-wife at gunpoint with. I wondered if Cossie, after riding in a police car, has been wanting to join the crime-fighting force as a police K-9. I'm still waiting for a response from neighbor on it. Crazy Happening #2: If you are family, please do not read Crazy Happening #2. While waiting for my gua-gua yesterday, I met a 23-year old, father of three, Dominicano also heading to Puerto Plata via gua-gua. We exited at the same location, and he asked if I'd like to accompany him to the hospital to look at the babies in the nursery. I said 'sure', having no huge plans in P.P, and the hospital located just accross the street. We walked around the hospital and looked at the different rooms with patients crammed inside, and saw the Pediatric room where there were lots of sick tiny children with little I.V.'s in their arm. Pobrecitos -they were adorable. We both agreed that it was educational for me to see what Dominican hospitals are like, and fun to see the tiny little babies newly born with their tired mommies. We then took a motoconcho to another hospital but couldn't have a look inside - they were much tighter on the security there. I ate some lunch, we walked around town a bit, and then headed back to the first hospital, where my new friend was put on a list to see a lady in an office which read "Mujeres", meaning 'Women'. There were also signs reading "Hombres", "Familias" etc. so I wasn't really sure why we were waiting for him to enter the Women's office. While waiting, I decided that I was ready to go back to Cabarete, and he said that was ok, but wanted to ride back together if I didn't mind waiting. I said 'sure' I'd wait, since he had gone to great lengths to find me a bathroom when the hospital bathrooms were too discusting to use - he payed a motoconcho to drive me a few doors down to use the bathroom in a restaraunt while waiting for the doctor. On the way back to Cabarete, I noted 21 people crammed into our gua-gua, which is designed to comfortably hold seven or eight. My new young friend and I were squeezed into the very back corner with me next to the window. This was not a problem for me, as I've packed into hundreds of overly crowded subways, trains, and buses during my travels where I had to cram in tighter than yesterday's ride, and I was happy to have a window seat. I was alarmed however, when we were stopped by the police during a routine roadside check, and they asked where we were coming from and going to. At first I thought they were talking to me, being the sole Gringa in the bunch, but as my friend continued to answer for me (us, him?), another policeman came over to the window I was sitting next to, and I could both see and hear that he meant business and was definitely talking to my friend and not to me. They asked him to get out of the gua-gua and step to the opposite side from where I was sitting. From what I could see, they called over another policeman and continued to question him even further. As I was trying to squeeze a peek at what was going on outside, the gua-gua started driving away with everyone staring at me while I was still trying to see what was happening to my young friend out the back window. No one said anything when I looked curiously at them, they only gave me not-so-nice looks, and I figured that as a foreigner, I'd better not ask the obvious, or I'd probably be guilty by association. We continued to zoom away and I got out at the same stop as we entered, only this time alone and concerned. Having made plans with his tour operator friend to take me up the mountain at 10 am this morning to see the waterfall and forest, when no one showed up to meet me, I was glad that I didn't insist on getting out of the gua-gua to wait for, or unknowingly try to defend my new friend who may have been arrested. What a crazy day! The good news is that I had a great time out surfing this morning. I had fun, and the waves had mellowed out a ton over the past couple of days so I didn't get rolled too hard and even caught a few. Woo hoo!