March 27, 2010... Puerto Plata, continued

Thrilled with our ability to use the gwah gwahs, we decided to set out again on Saturday morning for downtown Puerto Plata.  We were warned to be careful about which bus we took, as the wrong one would put us too far out of town.  We got the right one (the "F" route) and were dropped off only a couple of blocks south of the cathedral.  Fortified with a couple of freshly baked cookies from the bakery nearby, we ventured out to the Malecon, the waterfront boulevard, and up to the 15th century Fort San Felipe -- the oldest fort in the New World.  Back into town we stopped for a cold drink (this is definitely the tropics Toto) and a rest, reading Hoy, one of the Dominican newspapers.  It helps our vocabulary to read -- hopefully it will improve our Spanish conversational skills too.  Then more walking through town, loving the colors of the wooden Victorian-style buildings mixed in with the ubiquitous concrete blocks.  We found Sirena, the Target or Walmart equivalent, and walked through to see what it was like (and to enjoy the air conditioning...)  Hungry, we decided on a late lunch (or early dinner) at Eskina, a family-owned restaurant where we were well taken care of by the whole family.  Stuffed with a traditional Dominican platter of rice, beans, pickled salad, tostones, and a pork/beef combination, we topped off the meal with terrific coffee, and waddled back through town to catch the gwah gwah to Cofresi.  About a mile or two later we got the bus and off we went back to the marina to collapse after our day out.

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