La Republica Dominicana

I arrive in Philadelphia at 6am and have almost 4 hours to kill before I continue to the Dominican Republic. Plenty of time to head downtown for sightseeing and breakfast! When leaving Philadelphia, an immigration officer asks me where I live. I tell her I don't really live anywhere at the moment, which is the truth. She studies my passport. "You've been to some interesting places." She comes to the page where I've managed to get the Iranian and Iraqi visa next to each other. "Why don't you step over here for a while, Sir."

I arrive in the Dominican Republic at around 2pm. Unfortunately, I land in Punta Cana, about as far away from Haiti as possible on this island. I am supposed to be in Haiti tomorrow, but have no idea how to get there. (I deliberately didn't prepare in order to make things more interesting.) I exit the airport and find a guagua (local bus) which takes me to a bus station where I find a bus for Santo Domingo, the capital. The bus takes 3-4 hours during which I make friends with the bus driver. In the capital, he takes me to the hotel where he's staying, then we meet with his friend the taxi driver and the three of us go out to eat, they give me a short tour of the city and tell me how to go to Haiti. Great! They're very hospitable, although one difference between them and all the Iranian people I've met recently is that they're happy to see me pay for things :)

Philadelphia.

I have breakfast here.

Airport in Punta Cana.

Street in Dominican Republic.

La Republica Dominicana

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic