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Having replaced seals on head #2 yesterday, we felt we had earned yet another day off. OK, I know that many folks still in the workforce or studying hard to enter it are thinking that it is a bit of a stretch but regardless, we had some more fun today. Having read about the differences in rums, we felt it only right to go and visit a distillery to see (and taste) ourselves. The largest rum distillery in this area is Brugal so in our new found friends, Ralf and Stacey’s rental car, off we trotted in search or the factory. That proved to be easier said than done. Howard and I knew we had passed it in our travels with our guide previously, but could remember only its approximate location. Google maps didn’t help much and the car’s GPS didn’t list it, and indeed when we did eventually find it, it wasn’t even identified as the Brugal factory; no signs anywhere, just security personnel outside a gate. However, they were most welcoming and gave a short tour of the bottling process followed by tasting and purchasing opportunities. We came away with a bottle of Brugal Anejo, i.e. rum that had been aged at least 3 years in white oak barrels that were formerly used for Jack Daniels bourbon. Fine stuff it is too. They supposedly produce 24,000 cases a day, of which only one third are exported. The locals must like their rum!

I also posted a pic of a meal Howard and I previously had in a Mexican restaurant near the marina. Rice, beans and meat seem to be staples here. We had a trip to the supermarket today and saw lots of veggies I had never seen before, many of which were root vegetables…. but had a hard time finding fresh milk. Will have to do a bit more research to find out what some of them were and maybe even try some of them….