Today we arrived in the Dominican Republic at 7 am. We are in port at the northern part of the island. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island and its border runs north and south through the center part of the island.
We grabbed breakfast at the Lido and made our way down to deck A. Most of the time, deck A midship is used for passengers to exit when in port. Deck A is one below the main deck which is deck 1. This is as far as the passenger elevators go. The crew uses other elevators and stairs to get to the decks below.
Our tour van was waiting for us in port. This is a HAL excursion and the van contained about 10 other passengers.
Today we visit La Aurora cigar factory. The largest cigar facility in the Dominican Republic.
Our guide was sure to remind us that we needed a mask to get on the van. We were offered hand sanitizer as we boarded. Ridiculous. The Dominican Republic needs to upgrade so much of its infrastructure before it should worry about clean hands. This is not a very clean country.
The first thing we noticed when we sat down was the lack of seat belts. Hand sanitizer, masks, but no seat belts. Probably not a need for them. I’m sure our driver is well trained and a very safe driver. Of course he had his mask on and also had a seat belt.
Our guide told us it would be about an hour to the factory. The driver ignored all rules of the road. Speeding, and passing in a no passing zone were not a problem. Thankfully I was given the hand sanitizer. I feel so safe.
Along the way we noticed trash everywhere. Power lines came into buildings in the most hap-hazard fashion. Nothing about the lines appeared to be by design. This was government efficiency at its finest. When the government gets involved in anything, quality plummets. There is no one to complain to. There is no one in charge. It is an entity that has only one purpose. Feed itself.
We enjoyed an hour excursion admiring the beauty of the country that according to our guide provides free education, free health care. Free. Free. Free. Nothing about quality but it is free. I can see what free can do to a country. First thing that is eliminated. Free-dom. Freedom to choose. Freedom to complain.
We met our La Aurora guide, Eugene at the factory. This is more of a production facility as the cigars are all hand made. Free cigars were handed out before the tour began.
Eugene described the attitude needed to smoke a cigar. He showed us how to hold the cigar, how to put it in your mouth and demonstrated how to walk into a room with a cigar. Hilarious.
The Dominican Republic is noted for cigar production. The soil here is very favorable for the tobacco plant.
The production area was amazing. All of the work done by hand. We learned about how the leaves are harvested from different parts of the plant and labeled accordingly. These affect flavor and nicotine content. The leaves are aged for 4 years before they go in to production.
Workers are paid by amount of production. Inspectors keep the standards very high. Great tour. The tour ended in the cigar store. Some great bargains that I couldn’t pass on.
Lunch was part of the tour and we stopped at a restaurant on the way back. Good sampling of local foods. We spent about an hour here and started the journey back to the ship.
We stopped to see “touchdown” Jesus.
The ports that the cruise ships come to are all very nice and well maintained. Lots of souvenir shops, restaurants and bars. These are very different from the working ports that we have used on other cruises.
We arrived back about 3:30 pm and Tim and I enjoyed one of the free cigars that we were given. We chatted it up with a gent that was a Viet Nam veteran. He seemed to survive a lot better than other Vets I have met. This was a very difficult time for young men as they were being sent to die while politicians fought each other for political posturing. The protestors back then are now running the country. They have no problem with mandates on are drunk with emergency power.
Dinner at the Lido and then cards with the Dailey’s. Not much luck with euchre for us.
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