Traveling to Bani

Eleven people and all of their luggage in a ten person van. That is how we started our day. We crammed all of our luggage into the back row and then crammed ourselves into space for six individuals (there are nine of us). But there were eleven of us total in the van this morning. Luckily, we all know and love each other so much, because to say we were crowded would be an understatement.

We were able to cram ourselves and our luggage into the vehicle (with a guitar literally in my lap) and we started on our way. The A/C was working in the van, so everything was totally okay. First we stopped for gas and made it through that without any hiccups. We pulled out and were officially on our way. We drove for about 3 kilometers and then it happened. We all heard it and we all felt it. The driver quickly pulled over and we all climbed out of the van to inspect the damage. Yep. It was an extremely flat tire. It had been completely punctured by something and there was a 6 inch rip on the top of the tire. We attempted to change the tire, but we could not find a spare. Luckily "la pastora" was with us and she made a few phone calls. After about 45 minutes someone in the large, off roading, tourist truck showed up to drive us back to the mission house in Samana. It was 11am - exactly two hours from we left in the morning to start our trip. We were told we would wait until 2pm and head over to the bus station to take public transportation to Santo Domingo. So, we got comfortable and starting lounging and hanging out.
But then at 11:50am a large charter bus showed up outside of the mission house - our ride had arrived. We loaded up got onto an empty charter bus. We immediately began discussing whether or not we would have the whole bus to ourselves for the whole ride and what we do if we did...but alas, only a few minutes later we arrived at a bus station and more people got on the charter.
We continued to chat and hang out on the charter as we waited for our departure. Then we heard it. We looked around at each other to confirm what we heard. Were we going crazy? Was it a ringtone? Then we heard it again, this time louder. As we laughed we continued to discuss the veracity of what our ears told us they heard. Then we heard it again. It had to be real. Then we heard two at the same time. Andrew had had enough. He had to get up to check. He walked up to the front of the bus to investigate. We anxiously waited for him to return with the verdict. He checked, walked back towards us with a smile on his face and said, "Yep. It's in a bag up there." We all responded, "WHAT?!" He looked at us incredulously and said, "Imagine taking your laundry bag and throwing a couple of roosters in it and getting on a bus. Yep."