Were all gonna die

Today was one of those days that took 5 years off of my life. I rented a car in Puerto Plata so that I could bring my son to the airport at 1 pm. I figured that I would drive him around and show him the surounding area. Holy crap. I had never actually driven here before. I always took taxis or had a driver. The drivers on this island would scare the crap out of any New york city taxi drive and makes Mexicos taxi divers look like nuns. I got picked up by the rental company and driven to the rental place. The torrential rains from the night before had the entire city messed up. There was mud on the streets from rivers that over flowed and some streets had become rivers from the heavy rains. On the way back to Ocean world to pick up Kyle and my son. I actually got stuck behind a donkey pulling a produce cart. I am guessing that half of the vehicles on the road are scooters and motor cycles.  Many of the motor cycles are taxis. It is nothing to see a driver and his passenger straddled be hind him with a 4 foot long propane cylender under her arm. Or better yet, the guy that had a 8 foot mop handle strapped to the handle bars and one atatched to the seat. The stick stuck out 3 feet to either side and he had 49 loaves of bread hanging from the sticks as he navigated the pot holes, traffic and mud at 50 mph. They pay no attention to rules of the road. My son said it best. "The stop signs and lines on the road are more like guidelines than law." It is nothing to see 4 motor cycles coming at you on the wrong side of the road while being passed by a bus on your left and a truck on your right on a two lane road "With oncoming traffic"......   We did drive all over Puerto Plata. I have never seen kyle so white knuckled in my life. I would say " maybe we should turn down this street to the left to see what down there." He would respond" Uh are you sure thats a good idea, the main road is to the right." shortly followed by " were all gonna die".  Yep we saw some pretty interesting parts of the town. Lets just say it ooozed with culture! After 17 near accidents and kyle having to change his pants twice, we got back on the highway and drove to Sasua. I wanted to get Patrick some local food with a local flare. Sasua is just east of the airport. We found the beach food shacks right on the water. It is VERY rustic and you would never eat at any of these places if you were in the states. But the veiw was fantastic and we found a cool spot to have some beers and lunch. Patrick looked at the menu and ordered the Hamburger. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! LOL Well at least the veiw was good. The beach was fantastic. It had thick sand and the surrounding were lush and tropical. It is one of those places that you "long" to be at".
I spoke to the boss on the way back after dropping Patrick at the Airport and we decided that there are no fish biting up near Puerto Plata so we are going to continue south to Casa De Campo tomorrow. Kyle and I spent the afternoon preparing the boat for the trip.
I do have to say a few nice words about Nelson the deisel mechanic from Galati Yacht sales. A few nights ago when we were anchored out off of Grand Turk, I did an engineroom check and looked over my girls ( the engines) and saw that I may have an issue. Now when one is sitting anchored out 100 miles in any direction from a mechanic and it is 9  at night, who can you call??? Nelson! The Blue Heaven is not a Galati sold boat and they have never done service on this boat. But I dialed up Nelson and he answered as he always does, no matter when I have ever called. He talked me thru what was going on and never gave a thought to saying call me at a better time. Nelson you are a class act just as Galati yachts sales has always been. Now I am not telling all of you to call him at midnight. His cell number is not for sale and I keep it dear to me. I never would abuse the privilage that he has bestowed upon me. But I know he has always been there and is top notch. Thanks Nel. I owe ya a bottle!
I wrote the preceding last night. But was unable to post as the wifi was erratic. I am up early and have a long day of travel ahead of me. I am going for a run to get a bit of energy burned before I settle into the helm chair for the next 9 hours. Next report will be from Casa de campo.