08.37 It's morning at Hostel Villa Carolina in Puerto Plata. Christer and I are united again. We stepped out of our rooms. Christer has announced that the next room in the next city reportedly lacks AC but have TV. We might not be able to buy the bus tickets to Haiti at the office close to where we arrive today. The tickets are sold in a different part of the city. Should we wait for everything until tomorrow? This date (13th of July) has persecuted us with strange events during our travel years. Now it is time for breakfast.

09.42 New facts! There seems to be no problem with arranging tickets, departure and arrival papers and other stuff on the day of departure. Now we will pack our things before we take aim at the next and final stop on this part of Hispaniola.

10.20 There was a little waiting before our hostess finally showed up. We said that we wanted to check out. She replied that there was no panic with that. You can check out on departure. We announced that we intend to depart right now. Check-out took place and I almost forgot to leave my key. The walk to the Metro office at the bus station went smoothly. At the crossing point at the bus terminal, we were offered a ride by a moto taxi. How could he think that we needed a ride? Was not our goal clear, with backpacks on our backs and on the way to the buses across the street?

10.28 We sit down and take it easy in the heavenly cool air of the waiting room. It is cool here, pure paradise.

We are waiting for the bus at the cool waiting room at the Metro bus terminal.

10.56 Everyone is seated in the bus from the company Metro (http://metroserviciosturisticos.com). The luggage compartment has two sections. The one for people travelling to Santo Domingo is full of bags. The second for people travelling to Santiago has two backpacks, our backpacks. The others who will be travelling the short distance will probably just travel with hand luggage.

11.28 It's a nice comfortable journey through a fairly arid landscape. Various villages and green hills crossed.

12.00 It is less than 10 kilometers to go before we are in Santiago. We have first been driving on a highway, the country's main road (No. 1) and later on the much smaller road No. 5. What will happen before the next note? What has been done before we are in a new place?

12.21 Things sure have happened. I banged my head in a bus TV on my way of the bus. Now the taxi man is trying to figure out how and where he will drive us. It was quiet at the bus station. Only a few got off and only one taxi waited. It's the one we are in now. We have thus arrived to the Dominican Republic's second largest city, Santiago, officially named Santiago de los Caballeros, but neither we nor the locals see any point saying it.

12.40 We went, with the help of Christer, equipped with his best Spanish vocabulary and Google Maps on the mobile, to where we were going. The connection on the mobile phone was bad, gone but the map remained in memory since the last peek at the previous accommodation. Practical! Here at our new accommodation Via Emilia B&B (http://www.viaemiliasantiago.com) we stay in room 1. The area we live in has a power failure at the moment. Our Italian host Alessandro thinks and hopes to have power back before the World Cup final in football this afternoon. He has, if there is no power, promised to take us to a bar. He also wants to see the match. We have air conditioning and ceiling fan, thank you.

13.17 We have "moved in" in our new home. Via Emilia is actually a small Italian restaurant, a small tavern, which also rents out a few rooms.

13.39 It was not so far from the room to the lunch table. The food was served here at the restaurant. Opposite and across the street is a restaurant that offers vegetarian dishes and cold tea. That does not sound so appealing.

Via Emilia B&B, our home in Santiago.

Pasta education during lunch.

Peter is having an Italian lunch.

Gnocchi

14.07 We ordered two Café Americano after our lunch. The waitress came back and asked if we wanted espresso? No, we said, Café Americano. Café Africano? No Americano. Everything worked out. Is Africano extra black? The good news is that the power is back.

14.56 We are, with the help of Alessandro, ready to watch the game. Some adjustments were needed to be done on the new modern TV. It's almost time for the fourth straight World Cup final in football on our travels. It is also the fourth consecutive country and continent. Germany will soon play against Argentina.

15.30 The ball went right into the net behind the German goalkeeper. However the assistant referee flagged for offside. Argentina´s players are not happy and neither am I.

15.32 Thanks and good night! Now the power is gone again. The match disappeared and was replaced by a sweltering heat. I wonder how long it takes before the power is back?

15.56 Our great host has just driven us to a large shopping mall, Plaza Internacional. Here we first tried to get a seat near a large projection screen. We gave up and are now seated at the Café Santo Domingo and wait for the second half in the final. I do not know what the score is.

16.06 We hear the cheers from the screen part of the mall. Here it takes, 5-10 seconds before we see the goal attempt. There is a slight delay.

16.42 There was trouble with the payment. When we ordered our drinks I had to pay but Christer was asked to pay later. When Christer ordered a Coke after the coffee the staff didn’t understand that he just wanted to order one, not to pay for what I already paid for. Things were, after various discussions, sorted out and the staff apologized.

16.52 No goal in our mall. It is time to get a ride back to the accommodation. Alessandro promised to pick us up at 17.00. I hope the power is back.

17.05 The car showed up and Alessandro announced that there is no power yet. He seems to have a solution to our problem.

17.13 What a World Cup final, the first half at home, second-half in a café in a shopping mall and now we watch the extra time in the bar/bakery Francepan. Where will we see the potential penalties? It´s half time in the extra time and still no goals. I do not think we've seen a goal in regular time since 2002.

17.24 Argentina need to score if there will be any penalties. Germany just scored a goal. The scorer was Mario Götze.

17.36 World Cup is over for now. Germany won. We're not exactly happy but it's nice that the hunt for TV sets is over for this trip. Now we can put the World Cup behind us and devote ourselves exclusively to our travel adventure.

You need to drink the coffee slowly if it should last half a football game.

The score is still 0-0.

We changewd location and watched the extra time at Francepan.

17.45 We are back at the Via Emilia. Here it is still no power. We have either no water in the shower, faucet or toilet. There is something special about us and on 13th of July. Once again something negative happened on this day. Germany is World Champions and we are sweating in a hot room with no power and soon it will be dark.

18.35 Still no power and water. Now we will go out for a walk in the neighborhood.

19.06 We found the food store El Tesoro (they had power) and are now back after buying soft drinks to refresh ourselves with water to irrigate us with. It may be necessary for body washing and brushing. To get the light inside of us, I use a small flashlight that I bought before we left home.

19.13 I leaned backwards and said, "one should not be happy." In that moment the power came back. The water in the shower is still weak though.

21.56 Dinner is eaten. It's a luxurious to just walk out the room door and into the restaurant. I have also been given the address to the city's post office. It is more common to use some delivery agencies if you want to send mail here. A couple at the table next to ours may have been in some disagreement. The woman wept and went away. A little later he also went. He looked all but happy.

Monday 14th of July

08.30 It is as previously stated a difference between rooms with and rooms without air conditioning. It is also a difference between rooms with and without power. Fortunately, we have a noisy friend in the room, he makes the room cool and makes our sleep pleasant. Today is the last full day for us in the Dominican Republic.

09.09 Now we have ordered breakfast from our host Alessandro. He is really concerned about our well-being. Christer turned down the omelette and right away the host wanted to find another option. A car with a speaker is passing on the street on the roof. It is some kind of advertisement.

09.37 A man in blue carrying a bag appeared by the gate at the end of the breakfast. He rang the bell and Alessandro went there. The man in blue was a postman. He had a package to our host's wife. The package was from Singapore, contained a mobile case and had been sent the 19th of March this year.

10.19 It's time for another taxi. We found a taxi where the taxi drivers nest on our street and are now heading to the Caribe Tours bus station to buy tickets for Haiti. The office is in Las Colinas in the northern part of the city.

Avenida 27 de Febrero, Santiago.

Christer is crossing the street using a bridge.

Heading for Colinas Mall.

Someone is enjoying some luxury this Monday morning.

Colinas Mall, Santiago.

10.49 It was a long taxi trip but cheap. The advantage of visiting a city like Santiago that is not located by the sea is that tourism is moderate and no one decides to overcharge the tourists. After some searching, we found the office that sold the tickets, and now they will be printed.

11.10 Tickets are partly paid, US$25 today and the same amount is paid tomorrow. All of a sudden, we will have a lot of pesos. We were afraid that they would not be enough. Now we will cool down a bit inside a mall that we just entered, Colinas Mall (http://www.colinasmall.com.do). Before we came here, we took some photos from a footbridge nearby.

11.35 We have been walking around in the mall. We have searched a café. Not a single one has been found. However, we have seen nearly ten different hair salons. It was not what we were looking for.

12.17 We finally got our coffee. It was bought at Novo. We later tried to enter the supermarket Jumbo but our backpacks were not welcome. They should be left in storage. We couldn’t let that happen. Instead, we bought water at a pharmacy. I can not understand why it is impossible to bring small backpacks into stores. They could, if they are afraid of shoplifters, check the backpacks when the customers are leaving the store.

13.04 Outside the mall, we found a taxi that took us to the post office down the centre. There, I left five postcards, 35 peso/postcard. Now we are eager for some food. We have surrendered for fast food and big chains. There will be lunch at Pizza Hut. Speaking of fast food, it takes time to get the order here.

13.46 It took time before we could order, be served and get the bill. After that we went out to see more of Santiago. We are now "downtown" in the older parts of the city. The streets are narrower here. Recently we passed a church with three naves in metal placed in the park outside. Iglesia de la Altagracia is the name of the church. Could it have been a Columbus ship that was intended? One would think that given the fact that the park is called Parque Colón.

Peter can finally send his postcards. The post office has been located.

We are walking along Calle del Sol in the historic city center.

Lunch at Pizza Hut.

Iglesia de la Altagracia is found at Parque Colón.

Peter is trying an unknown dance.

Santiago´s famous monument, Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración de la Republica.

You use what you find, this time a taxi with German plates and a sleeping driver with no shoes or socks on.

14.09 We are, at the moment, sitting and resting below the monument to Monumento a los Heroes of Restoration de la Republica. There are large white pillars on a hill. We got here after defeating a steep uphill. The monument was built to remember the men who helped to chase the Spaniards out of the country in the 1860´s.

14.39 We walked past the monument and found a taxi with a German license plate in the front. In it sat a man with no shoes and a sock off. He put on his shoes and smoothly drove us home. Upon arrival, he gave us his card. His name is Juan, the company Lider and we can reach him at 8094996105 or 809-583-8383. Now we are in the room and do not intend to do anything at all for a while.

18.14 We kept our promise and have not done anything for a while and then we read some of our books. Now we will now go out for afternoon walk.

18.51 We are back home after having been shopping necessities for the bus trip tomorrow. We bought baguettes and juice in tetra. The juice will be poured into some empty plastic bottles.

20.47 We went out to eat at the home restaurant. At one of the tables Alessandro sat down eating. He has not opened the restaurant today, it is closed on Mondays. Instead, he had bought food at the neighbouring restaurant Don Emilio (http://www.donemilio.com.do). It looked good and we have now have gone the short distance there. We have just ordered.

21.32 Our food (grilled meat) finally came in, two or three minute’s later our cutlery arrived and after 5-10 minutes more the drinks. However the food was good despite the slightly strange service.

21.43 Home sweet home. We have packed nothing tonight. We will read about our next destination using the guide book and some information we brought with us.

Christer and a running man meet each other under a tree.

Exploring the neighbourhood.

Dinner at Don Emilio.

Tuesday 15th of July

08.17 It feels like it was a long time ago since we came to Santiago and yet it is only two days ago since we were in Puerto Plata. Now it's almost over here and something new is waiting.

09.54 At breakfast yesterday the mailman came on a visit. At breakfast today the vegetable man came. Our host was not happy with the tomatoes and a small discussion between the men followed. Now most of our belongings are packed and we are ready to leave a nice and cosy accommodation. It's not often you have an excellent and inexpensive Italian restaurant on the other side of the room door.

10.12 It went well to leave the accommodation and finding a taxi a little farther along our street. It was worse for the driver to start the taxi. Now some jumper cables got connected. OK, the car started. Now it's off.

10.39 We have again made it through the traffic and arrived at the Caribe Tours bus terminal in Las Colinas.

Quality breakfast at Via Emilia.

10.44 The second half of the bus ticket price is paid for and we have left our passports. We will get them back after the border. They have promised to take care of the administrative things. My attempts to exchange my remaining Dominican pesos at an exchange office here failed. I'll have to try again at some other location.

11.25 The backpacks are placed in the trunk of the bus. We have received a note each. They are notes with numbers corresponding to the numbers on the tags on the backpacks. Now that the tickets have been checked remains, waiting, departure and more waiting.

12.06 We have been served lunch in plastic boxes. It was rice and chicken. We also got something to drink. Additionally, we have filled in the departure papers. Other buses they arrive and depart. Are we waiting for something, someone? Are we waiting for the bus driver? A blind man is approaching the ticket office. Is it the driver?

12.24 We have not seen the blind man and he has not seen us. A passenger just boarded and soon we are on the way.

Somewhere in northern Santiago.

A complementery lunch was served.

Waiting for the departure.

12.36 We are finally on our way. Bye Santiago!

13.52 After 1,5 hour trip along the road No. 1, we are now in Montecristi. It's nice and cool inside the bus.

14.28 There has been a stop in the border town Dajabón on the Dominican side. A well-dressed man with a shirt, tie, tie pin, hat, best shoes and pants just knocked discreetly on the toilet door here in the bus. No one was there and he slid in.

14.47 Our passports were returned to us and we went out to leave them and departure papers to a person behind a counter. We did not get the passports back. I have exchanged my last Dominican Pesos to Gourdes, Haitian money. In French the border river between the two countries has an all but charming name, The Massacre River (Rivière Massacre) due to the fact that some Frenchmen were killed here in the 1700´s. In Spanish calls the river Rio Dajabón.

HAITI

15.07 We were registered and allowed to enter Haiti. It is the first country in the Caribbean we reached by land. Well, technically we are not in the country yet. We are still in the border area. Soon we have been in all countries in the world starting with H. Earlier on that list was Honduras.

15.18 Some Haitian boys circulate outside the bus. They are asking for money and food.

15.37 During the brief moment we´ve been in Haiti, we have seen a man who led a cattle in a rope, the animal became frightened by the bus and tried to bring itself and the man on the other end of the rope into the woods. Moreover, we have seen a goat on a leash, a pig and a topless guy. He rode on a donkey with two open bags of coal. There is a big difference between the two neighbouring countries. We have come to a different world. It reminds me of the contrast when we travelled from Paraguay to Brazil in 2010.

15.43 Christer has filmed our journey through the border town Ouanaminthe, a town that lives from the border trade.

Comfortable bus trip to Haiti.

Green landscapes in eastern Haiti.

16.33 After seeing worn villages, villages with identical houses, signs of development assistance projects and old American school buses we have now arrived in the chaotic Cap-Haïtien. It teems with people on the streets. The city feels really crowded.

16.45 We arrived at the Caribe Tours bus terminal which was behind a large gate. It is now time to take a taxi. We share the taxi with a lady and a gentleman. Hey, it's a rooster in the middle of the road.

17.35 Our driver drove his scrubby car at full speed up a steep hill. The couple was dropped off at their hotel, the city's best, the Hotel Mont Joli and we began to drive through a city that made me think about New Orleans. I have not been there but seen pictures, movies. Halfway a colleague of the driver drove up alongside us and threw in a line that quickly was connected (some communication radio?). We were driven to the Hotel Imperial (http://hotelimperialcap.com) and here we stay in room 20. The traffic here was chaotic but the driver just laughed at everything. Before we said goodbye, he tried to sign us for a tour tomorrow. We declined. The hotel owes us US$4 from the payment. They had no change right now.

19.25 We have been resting, finding energy since we got here. Speaking of power, there is strange power outages here. The ceiling fan light works, Christer can charge his telephone and a table lamp is shining. However the air conditioning and the TV doesn’t work

19.47 I went down to the front desk and pointed out our error. Ok said the man there and vanished away. I returned to the room. There Christer hit the air conditioning with his fist and it started. We also got the TV to work. Did we do wrong in the past or the did the man do something? It might have been a fuse.

Buddha has checked in at Hotel Imperial.

We have moved in to our new home, room 20.

We tried Prestige, beer from Haiti.

Christer is having goat as his dinner dish.

20.57 It is time to find out what the hotel has to offer when it comes to WiFi connection and dinner.

22.26 It went great to get a WiFi code and dinner. It was no small dinner either. We sat at a table indoors, ate good, substantial and long. We weren’t able to finish it all. We also tried the Haitian beer Prestige. I ordered coffee but it was not possible to get any. The waiter was extremely polite and asked a bit timidly if it was our first visit to the country? We gave him US$2 as tip. Now we are back in our room again.

22.40 Since we got back to the room, our waiter has been here twice. First, he came and gave us US$6. It was the remaining money from the check in and his tip. I took the $5 bill and the tip ended on US $1. He was soon back with a timid knock and apologized for not bringing me coffee. I said it was OK and hoped for the breakfast coffee instead.

23.18 We start prepare for sleep here at the Hotel Imperial. No exact plans are made for tomorrow but most likely there will be a visit to the hotel pool to begin with.

250 haitian gourdes (US$5,50).