Platane Maduro

I made a discovery today.  I'm still walking to and from work each day, and until this morning, it has been quite sunny out so I've been wearing my sunglasses.  Today however, I felt like a tard wearing them because it wasn't that bright, so I took them off and proceeded to work.  Suddenly, men were shouting things at me, making the hiss sound, etc. and I was like, that's weird, they've been so good all week.  And then it dawned on me - it's the sunglasses. 

At lunch, I met up with Marola again, and her friend Carlos.  I brought the sunglasses theory up to them, and Carlos said yes, its true.  He explained it to me, sort of like this: when I am wearing the sunglasses, it tells the men that I am a snob.  And apparently, because I am a snob, they are afraid of what I might say back to them, so they don't say anything to me out of fear.  Now, I don't really understand, but I don't care.  Sunglasses it is.  Everyday.  All the time. 

Back onto the topic of lunch... we went to a restaurant called Buen Provecho.  It was sort of expensive (DR$315 - I can sometimes have lunch for under DR$100) but very tasty.  And the lady that seemed to be running the place was quite nice, and ended up asking me a lot of questions about being in the DR.  But most importantly!  I had my first Plantain!

It is the brown colored half a banana shaped thing at the bottom of my plate.  This one had been boiled and then sort of caramelized but not really, the main point is that it was sweet.  I enjoyed it and now look forward to trying plantains in their other various forms!