today i'm in puerto plata. we left at 5am to drive here. went through santo domingo and then stopped in santiago.....another flat tire. taht makes four in less than a week. santiago's a cool looking city. i'm amazed at how different the cities are here. then we went to puerto plata, milagros' hometown. we did touristy stuff. went up a mountain....amazing stuff. wait until you see pictures. then we came over to sosoua. got a hotel and played on the beach. the hotel is amazing. not in normal terms but just in the fact that i haven't had running water for real in what seems like forever. milagros and i went into the shower turned on the hot water and started to scream in delight. it's amazing how exciting these things that used to be so commonplace become. that and tv in english......ahhhhh

that's been my day. again. weird contrasts, but i guess i'm finding life is full of those.