The rain finally cleared up enough on Friday for us to grab some beach time. We had a blast in the ocean, which was warm and blue, trying to body surf, soothing our (mostly my) mosquito bites, and goofing around. Chris got water-logged first and left the Corvino water babies for dry land. All of a sudden, I looked up to see this:
I didn’t have my camera at the time (I took the above picture later), but I rushed back to get it and returned to find this:
The backstory is that the night before, we’d been guided to our hotel by a young boy named Jose Miguel. Jesse and I tried to speak to him, but he only had eyes for Chris. Chris had read that the Red Sox are popular in the DR, since so many Dominicans have played for the team. He hadn’t been able to find a Boston hat in New York (understandably) to replace his old one, so he brought his Brooklyn Cyclones hat instead. Jose Miguel turned to him on our walk and said, “Hey! Hey!” When we finally figured out he was trying to get Chris’ attention, Jose iguel pointed to the Cyclones hat and said, “Boston? Chris was thrilled. We talked about Boston and Jose Miguel’s favorite players and his favorite position (second base and pitcher).
The boy in the above photos is Jose Miguel. He was playing on the beach when Chris got out of the ocean, and Chris was a little shy to approach him, but Jose Miguel was quick to invite him over to play catch. And by the time I’d returned with the camera, they were hanging out talking. Talking! (Mind you, Chris at this point has a Spanish vocabulary of about 10 words, including cerveza and ron.) Chris filled me in later. They used a lot of gestures and sand-drawing to establish such things as whether they were righties or lefties. At one point, Jose Miguel bent down and wrote “Haiti” in the sand. He built up a pile of sand to represent the country and then wiped it out with his hand, saying “muchos muertos.”
The sight of Chris talking with this little boy, and playing catch with him, melted my heart. Soon Jesse joined in for a game of pickle, which Jose Miguel suggested.
Jesse and Chris showed their age (and previous night of beer-drinking) by lasting just a few rounds. All three had an amazing time.
Here are some video captures of the day:
