Cabarete - Day 14 (recap) - we will miss you

Needless to say that after last night's final festivities, I am one hurting unit in the morning.  And guess what?  I haven't even started packing my suit case, let alone my kite gear.  Holy crap, I got to get on this and start packing and quick like....but I hurt hella bad.

No worries though, this is Cabarete and my personal helper, aka kite caddie Alberto, knew that we needed to catch a ride to the airport at around 9am so he got a ride to F10 at 7am to help me pack up. And he does the most amazing job of getting everything as small as possible and uber organized....he must have some experience doing this before this.  Haha!

So, my morning is vastly improved without having to worry about all my kite gear.

Around 9am, after saying goodbye to everyone, Sean, Becky, and I pack our stuff into the back of a taxi van and head to the airport.  12 hours later we are landing in Seattle.

Looking back, this trip was amazing.  If I was to give you some highlights, well of course the riding was fantastic and I improved greatly....but the highlight and most memorible moments of the trip all come back to one thing...and that is the human element of the trip.  In no order.....

• Hanging the first week with Danial Stoner and family...they are awesome.  Becky and I definitely want to meet up again with them all.
• Bringing Isaac a laptop computer so he can stay in touch more....and hanging and partying with him.
• Having Alberto help Becky everyday...and myself.  Always smiling and being there to pump and rig our kites, to break them down.  It was great to have him up to our room for dinner one night.
• BBQing it up and serving food to the others at F10..including Joseph and the other Haitian caretaker.
• Meeting Laurel Eastman, Susi Mai, and Sir Richard Branson...of course that was cool to meet those guys!
• Partying up with Georgi from amazon.com!
• Hanging with and spending time with our good friend, owner of F10, Alex.  He is a true friend.
• And spending time with Wendy and Pedro...two awesome souls of like mind on our favorite island in the Caribbean!

One of the craziest things about leaving the D.R. is that all of the locals we know had one thing in common to ask us when we were saying goodbye, "When will you be back?" No joke, everyone asked us that.  This was probably the hardest moments of being in the D.R. and the only time I felt compelled to lie to my Dominican friends.  You see, if you have been reading my blog at all, you know Becky and I want to find a island somewhere in paradise, move, open a kite shop and school, and live our lives out wearing flip-flops every day for the rest of our lives.

So while we would love to head back to the D.R. every summer, it is time for Becky and I to move on and find a little island that is just waiting for the two of us to move there.

So, next year we plan to hit the road to find our little piece of paradise...and while we love Cabarete, we need to find our own windy paradise that isn't fully saturated with schools and shops.  So wish us luck, and Cabarete and all our Dominican friends, just know that Becky and I love you....and someday most likely the wind will blow us back to your waters. 

Until then......keep WindRockin!!!!