OK, here goes.
In La Romana I stayed at a small family hotel called Hotel Frano. Frano and his wife, Marie, were wonderful. While staying with them I managed to get a severe case of food poisoning or other bacterial infection of the digestive system. Never did figure out where I got it. The tap water there is totally unsafe, even for the locals, so it could have come from showering and accidentally getting water in my mouth. I don't like to think about it. Anyway, I was in agonizing pain and after about an hour of things getting worse by the minute (vomitting and the other - the big D) I struggled downstairs to ask Marie if she could go to the pharmacy and get some relief for me. She suggested that she should drive me to the hospital emergency. Apparently I was several shades of green/yellow/blue with big black circles and bags under my eyes.
So a short drive and we were at the emergency. The doctor, a very capable woman who spoke no english, recognized the systems immediately (kidney pain, cramping, every digestive organ threatening to burst into flame) and had a nurse start an IV so she could pump in drugs. An hour or so later I was feeling much better, the pain was subsiding and I was extremely drowsy. The doctor had pumped in B1, B2, B12, muscle relaxants and antibacterial drugs. She gave me a prescription for an antibacterial liquid and handed me a packette of 10 muscle relaxant pain killers. Marie picked me up and we returned to the hotel where I went to bed and slept for 24 hours. Frano called me about 10:00 that evening to check on me and make sure I was OK. They were like having dear old friends around to watch over me.
My last night in LaRomana I took myself out for a nice dinner out at Don Quihote Restaurant which is in a couple of Europen tourist guidebooks as the best kitchen in LaRomana. It was a lovely restaurant, good service and all but the food was uninspired, the rice was plain white rice and the veggies overcooked (probably to kill bacteria). But the biggest disappointment was the fish... it was undercooked dolphinfish that tasted "fishy" in a garlic sauce that was not very good (the garlic tasted green) so I did not eat it. I sent it back and the cook did a grilled seabass for me which was much better. The waiter brought me a second glass of wine "on the house". The bill had no charge for my desert either (a saving of 80pesos on the 370peso bill).
When I left La Romana I was scheduled on the 9:55am flight to San Juan and told to be at the airport no later than 7:55 which I was. When I got there they told me I'd have to wait until 9:00 to check in... Yes, I protested and a good thing too. The manager came out to check me in only to find the flight had been cancelled. He offered me a free taxi ride to Punta Cana to catch the 10:15 flight from there to San Juan. An American Air employee also bumped wanted to share the taxi which I was happy to do. She was a young woman from Hawaii who came with 3 other friends just for the weekend on the beach... it rained all weekend.
We arrived at Punta Cana Airport at 9:50. The flight manager ran us through check-in and had security send a person down to check our luggage. The bimbo took her time to slowly and carefully pull all my luggage apart before it could be checked. I could not believe that such a busy international airport has not got luggage Xray equipment. Said bimbo also lost my luggage lock keys. When I got to my digs in Barbados I had to break into my luggage. We ran passed all the line-ups with the flight manager leading the way, handed our boarding passes to the stewards and got on the plane. We were almost last on but only because we raced ahead of a few old folks moving slowly. The plane was lifting off the runway less than 10 minutes later. Phew!!
Arrived in San Juan where I had lunch during the 2 hour wait. When I went to the check-in desk at the gate I was told all was running on time. About 15 minutes later an announcement was made that due to heavy weather on the island we were dropping passengers at the weight of the plane had to be reduced and they were looking for volunteers to take $350 and a later flight. No way Jose says I. I was on that flight.
I am leaving Barbados heading for 2 days and 3 nights in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Gotta run, my taxi is here.
Posted by gailene at April 28, 2003 11:01 AM