Our next-door neighbors, who are in their late 80s, still take ocean cruises regularly.

Miyoko always explains to me upon their return, “I don’t cook, so we have to go!” She’s a very funny lady.

One day, I ran into her husband Ed and he told me that their latest cruise had taken them to the Dominican Republic. After sharing news about the renovated Taino Bay port in the city of Puerto Plata, as well as other points of interest, I needed to investigate. Immediately.

We booked and set sail on February 22^nd for seven days. There were other ports of call, but I focused on Puerto Plata.

I really wanted to visit Umbrella Street. It’s an iconic street with shops and brightly colored umbrellas hanging above the locals and tourists passing by.

Cruise excursions are often expensive, so we thought we would walk on our own to the street. Wanting to be aware of our surroundings, I even watched a YouTube video of a tourist walking from a cruise ship to Umbrella Street; it wasn’t a long walk.

So, when our port day arrived, we started out. We walked through the beautiful port area where no I.D. is required. But as soon as we walked past the barrier, a dozen men came up to us selling taxi rides, walking tours, etc.

“No; not needed,” we explained and kept walking. Having lived in the city of Chicago in my 20s, I had no problem giving a firm “no”. Of course, some may be interested in hearing what they have to say, and some people love to bargain.

Leaving the sales pitches behind, I saw the church on the hill straight ahead from the video. It was my marker. Excellent.

We were getting ready to cross a street when a gentleman approached us, showed us a badge explaining that he worked for the city, and that it was his job to help us cross the busy street.

“Ah, ok” we needed to cross, and he was walking with us, so… our hands were tied. He blew a whistle to stop the traffic.

Once on the other side, we said “thank you, we know how to get to Umbrella Street from here,” and walked away. Or tried to.

“No problem” he said, “But you should know that across the street over there (and he pointed) is not as safe, so I’ll just walk with you.” At that point, he said his name was “Juliano,” and I would guess he was in his 40s.

And then, we turned and there were all the umbrellas. It really was cool to see.

At this point, I need to share that we are long-time fans of the television show, “The Amazing Race”. They visit some incredible destinations and we are typically content to do some armchair traveling with them. But the show had recently visited Puerto Plata specifically, and I had fresh memories of some of their stops.

Before we knew it, Juliano was taking a photo of us under the umbrellas and suggesting we go to Pink Street, also known as Paseo de Doña Blanca. Now, this street was used in the show.

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

I looked at Dennis and he looked at me and we understood Juliano was sticking to us like maple sap on a tree. There were 100+ people around us, so safety wasn’t an issue, but our egos stung. We couldn’t believe that he had fooled us. As Dennis said later, “he had never met any one as smooth as Juliano.”

So, on we walked to Paseo de Doña Blanca, where the Amazing Race contestants had found clues. It’s named after Bianca Franceschini, who played a pivotal role in the tourism industry there in the early 1900s by opening a hotel. And the pink is PINK!! It was all too good. Here I was on this tiny PINK street in real time, in the middle of the Caribbean (we had even passed through a new time zone on the fourth night, losing an hour and then switching back on the following night) and my feet were walking this famous street. Yes.

I explained to Juliano that I wanted to buy some Dominican Republic coffee, so we visited a local “colmado” where the shopkeeper was nice and kept calling me “mama.” We became buddies, laughed over my confusion that cacao beans are for chocolate, not coffee. The Dominican Republic is also well known for their chocolate and cacao farms.

Juliano then suggested that we walk to the waterfront. It was busy. There was an entire stage set up and people were everywhere. What was happening?

“Today is our National Independence Day,” Juliano explained. “Schools and businesses are closed and people are gathering to watch parades, eat and spend time with families.”

I spotted a large vertical sculpture of the words “Puerto Plata” nearby which contestants had run by in the show. Soon, Juliano was taking our picture there.

Finally, it was time to cut ties with our unofficial guide. After explaining that we also wanted to explore the port area, he walked us back to the place where we had met. We all recognized the fact that money would be involved.

Dennis opened his wallet (he doesn’t carry a lot) and asked “would $30.00 be, o.k.?” Juliano responded “How ‘bout $35?”

We recognize that there was some risk involved in this whole adventure, but we were alert, and this chance encounter enriched our day beyond measure. He took us places we would not have seen “alone” and taught us things about their customs. $35.00 was a bargain.

We parted, and after shopping and hitting up a lazy river, we had a late lunch overlooking Puerto Plata’s famed mountain “Isabel de Torres.” Amazing, indeed.