We have been in Luperon, Dominican Republic for a week now. We can tell that we are in a different country and have left most American- type things behind; people speak Spanish here, the music is all Latin- based (merengue, salsa, etc.), everywhere is an explosion of color, signs, and life. This is a relatively poor country, and it shows in the houses, roads, all of the infra- structure, where the electricity could go out at any time, and the toilets may flush or not. The public bus is a twenty- year- old van that holds about twice its intended capacity. We have made two trips, one on public bus into Puerta Plata, and one in a rented van with seven other cruisers into Santiago for provisioning. Right now we are waiting for the winds to settle down so we can go eastward along the north coast of the D.R. towards Puerto Rico.