Last Saturday morning (February 2) I left Montellano around 8:30am with a friend named Bernabe in search of tickets to the Caribbean World Series. (YES!) A group of us had been wanting to go and were having trouble coming across some tickets. We found out that they were going on sell the day of, so the two of us headed down there early in an oh so exciting quest.
We got to the stadium in Santiago around 10:30 and talked to a few people to figure out what the deal was. There were three lines formed, one unmarked, one saying US dollars, and the third RD pesos. Bernabe and I stood in the "peso line" and waited.
The lines led to nowhere, the whole stadium looked closed, yet we all waited. Finally after a little time we heard noises coming from other lines. People began yelling and pushing, while our line waited patiently for our turn. Bernabe took my camera to get some documentation of all the people around. The lines were not really that long. I would guess that we were about 60 feet from the front, if that, but more people came as the time passed.
Soon after, people started calling out that they were only accepting US dollars. What the heck?! Aren't we in a country called the Dominican Republic that uses Dominican pesos? After waiting around for several hours, moving around from line to line and slowly inching my way up, there was an announcement made that all the tickets were gone. I was so bummed because I was really hopeful that we would come across some. Bernabe left and went to another part of the stadium and somehow was able to buy tickets there with ease. He came back and I thought we were just going to head back, but as we were walking away he told me that he got tickets! It was so exciting!
We went back to Montellano and picked up Robin, Cara, Kate, and David, along with Bernabe's friend David, and headed back to the stadium for the game!
Las Aguilas were national champions this year, and therefore represented the Dominican 
Republic in the Caribbean Series. The other nations represented each year are Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Venezuela. Puerto Rico did not have their own national series, and therefore could not represent their country in the Caribbean series. Since the series was held in the Dominican Republic this year, the DR was able to have a second team enter the tournament. I am not sure if technically they were representing Puerto Rico though, kind of weird.
This really was one of the coolest things I have done since being in the country!
Kate, David, and I sported our Astros gear during the game. For those of you who didn’t know, or those that don’t keep up with the MLB, the Astros recently signed Dominican native Miguel Tejada from the Baltimore Orioles. Tejada plays for Las Aguilas during Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic. In the game we saw, he went 3-4 with a double and two homeruns leading the Dominican team to a victory over Mexico 13-6!! So exciting!!
To read the article on the game click on
aguilucha.This word means Aguilas fan in Spanish.
me, Kate, and David
Weston and Cara
The other pictures are of us on the boat as we went out to see the whales. (Look at Cara for a good laugh). If y'all remember, I did the same thing last year with Alexia, Keith, Jennie, and Miguel. This year though it was a little more sketchy. The boat we were on was a lot smaller. It started pouring whenever our journey started, so we all put on these huge yellow rain jackets. Somehow they did not keep us dry.
