Already so Dominican...

So my plane took off and I had not one problem. My luggage was 50.0lbs and 52.0lbs...the nice luggage lady said I was in the buffer zone so I wouldn't have to pay an extra $50 for being overweight. (I wouldn't have paid, I would have just stuffed 2lbs of something into my carry-on.)

In any case, I get to Puerto Plata without problem. I knew it was too good to be true. I get stopped to have my big blue bag checked. It's full of medical supplies and medicines. They pull out my boxes of motrin and tylenol, then the vitamins. They look at the sharps box, but don't take it out. That hit me kind of funny. So I think I am good, they've checked, I've been honest, I should be on my way. Nope. They leave to get a doctor to come and look at all I have brought. They moved my bag over to a different line, which made me feel better since I think I was having a mild anxiety attack over thinking that they were going to take away all the donations AND I was holding up the line. (Just kidding, I was calm, cool and collected.) The doctor comes and gives the contents a once over. He asked me if I was a missionary, I said yes, He asked if I was a doctor, I said no. I clarified that I am a nurse. Then he asked where I was going. I told him the names of the villages. He simply states "oh yes, they need lots of help. Go ahead." AWESOME...back of my way with my 100lbs of luggage on a cart.

Cara and Camille are outside to greet me. Moises leaves to go grab the car. We are waiting and catching up, laughing at my previous trip and what the staff has done since. It had kinda been a while when Camille gets a call and apparently, our driver left the lights on and the battery is dead. We wait a few more minutes and then watch him roll down the hill towards us, but in the wrong direction. Someone jumps him, we load everything and head to the house. Not so fast, Speedy! The first stop sign we got to, the car stalls and won't start. Thankfully we are still in the airport and his coworker jumps us again. Then, in typical dominican style we almost took out two pedestrians and rear ended a truck on the way to the house. This is not because Moises is a bad driver...this is just how they drive.

We get to the house in one piece. The whole experience makes me laugh. This is the perfect start to how I thought this trip would go. It's going to be a funny month! I haven't even had dinner yet, this day could get even better.