Lively Luperon

As I mentioned yesterday, there is a distinct change of pace here.  The first thing I notice is the music.  Music everywhere.  Latin beats and merengue fill the air from one store front to the next.  The main street is bustling with activity; women sweep their porches, men - huddled in groups - play excited games of dominos.  Women gather in gaggles toting their smiling, chubby babies by their arms, wiping the sweat off their brows with the backs of their hands...

Children shriek and scream as they run down the sidewalk to greet you with wide smiles.  Scooters and dirt bikes zig-zag down the street, their mufflers (or lack of?) grunting and spitting loudly.  Mangy dogs amble lazily down the road - giving little gruff barks every now and then to assert their aggression as they look over their shoulders...

Unlike in the islands where there were typically no more than a few little store fronts to choose from, the main street here is a yellow dirt road whose shoulders are crowded with ramshackle shops and cinderblock homes painted brightly.  Rooster calls sporadically join the cacophony of car horns, music and life...

Women periodically toss buckets of water into the road to limit the dust outside their doors, which are all open to the warm, tropical breeze.  The latin influence here is obvious.  Everyone sits outside their respective little plots in plastic lawn chairs, they settle into their own little spot of shade and watch the world go by.  It's lovely.

We love it here.

Love,
Brittany & Scott