Arrival in Santiago

Our Arrival in Santiago, Dominican Republic 

20 hours later, and still lugging that luggage around, although not for long anymore! It's one-thirty in the afternoon, and we have just come through customs at Santiago airport.

Our late night flight from Seattle, with a lay-over in Miami, went well. Fifteen minutes early in arriving, no missing suitcases, and no hassle with the DR customs (even though we had to fill out a stack of small 'I-don't really-know-what-they-keep-them-for' documents). Best of all: a beautiful blue sky and sunshine welcoming us. Mattais and Kaelie were model travellers; even the stewardesses complimented them for being so well behaved.

 The principal of Santiago Christian School, Dr. Wayne Lynch, was waiting for us, together with Hilario, one of the school bus drivers. Much to our delight, the housing team of Santiago Christian School (hereafter SCS), had decided to bring us straight to our apartment upon arrival. We were curious what our new home would look like. After living out of a suitcase for so many weeks, we were more than ready for a place to call home. Looking out from the windows of the school bus, the first sights of Santiago flashed by us as we headed to Villa Olga, the suburb where most of the SCS teachers live, and also where our home is located. Along the Autopista (the main highway) we saw colourful bill-boards of all sorts and sizes with a new language, luxurious bright Caribbean homes, half-finished and dirty shacks, swarms of motorbikes and mopeds, and street vendors with juicy island fruits that made our mouths water.

After a fifteen minute bus ride, having zig-zagged through a maze of short streets in the suburb of Villa Olga, we arrived at our 'residencial'. Our first reaction: What a beautiful place! It was even nicer than we had imagined and expected. Contemporary, welcoming and clean-looking. Sonia, the staff housing coordinator, was waiting for us at the door. She beamed when she saw the 'Wow!' on our faces.
Javier, our apartment 'watchee' (concierge) immediately showed his helpfulness in carrying our suitcases up to the fourth floor. Those suitcases.... we were going to pack those things away for good now!
We opened the door of our new home, and stepped into a bright, partly furnished living room, with a balcony to the front side of the apartment. A spacious dining room and kitchen, tiled floors throughout the house, lots of windows, ceiling fans in the bedrooms... All in all, very nice and comfortable.
It had been a long day, and we all crashed early that first night. Kaelie, who normally reads a stack of books before she falls asleep, didn't even make it past the first page this time. She was asleep in minutes, her open 'bookie' flat on her face. Mattais was glad with the fan in his room. He fell asleep with the fan maxed out on 5, being tired of travels and a warm Santiago afternoon.

 Down our 'calle' (street)

View from our balcony towards the west.