I’m in Santiago. The full name of the city is Santiago de los Caballeros I took a cab to get to the station. Actually that was a funny experience. So I stopped a cab and asked “How much?” He told me something like 500 pesos… I told him my price of 200 and he accepted my offer immediately! His reaction gave me alert and I realized that he initially wanted 150, not 500 :))) After that small discovery I asked him for 100 and he still was OK with the price :) During my ride I heard some annoying sounds from the audio, so I asked him if he had some regular music. The driver was very angry with me and told something like “Dude! That’s Gospel being read! They are the words of God!” I started to listen to the words and even try to understand, but that was impossible. Actually, it felt like the preacher was casting out demons from himself :)
Also during my ride I found out the fundamentals of the local driving style :). The rules are very simple. Priority of traffic has two rules:
1) who has a vehicle bigger than yours (scary)
2) who has a vehicle more damaged than yours :))) (that guy has less to lose than you do)

The ride from Santo took several hours. I was enjoying the views of the country. I realized that there are some mountains that appeared to be far from the place. As soon as we got Santiago I left the gua-gua and took motogoncha which dropped me at my hotel. I was initially offered to take a room in basement without any windows. However I upgraded for $5 and got a room with an exit to large terrace and a view on a scrapyard :)
Santiago is the capital of merengue. This is national Dominican music. The city is so-so. The receptionist warned me not to go outside the hotel in evenings “porque hay mucho bandoleros” (many bandits). I didn’t pay much attention to those words because by that time I was looking as a local inhabitant :). In particular:

a) I am tanned;

b) Instead of dashing aside I say “Que tu quieres?” (What do you want?) with Dominican accent when “useful stuff” street seller approaches me. I made great progress in my Spanish :)

Situation in a restaurant:

Week #1.

- Me want eat. Very much. These words are backed by the mimics and gestures of a human being who haven’t eaten for a week :)

Week #2.

- Senora, do you have food? I need food!

Now.

- Good morning. Can I have a lunch here? Could you please give me a menu. Thank you.

So, my journey is still on...

P.S. Gua-gua is a bus, motoconcha is a moto-taxi :)