With an injured person on board, we took things much easier the next day. Around midday we set off with the VIA to the mainland and then on to the city. Getting a taxi outside on the pier, wasn't that easy, but a nice shop owner helped us. She had spent a long time in Germany and seemed to have really enjoyed it there. Die Cola-Lecturer, which we bought from her for refreshment, we had to hide them in paper bags. In Puerto Rico it is set by law, that you up to 1000 $ pays penalty, if you are seen with a can on the street. It's a crazy world.

At some point our taxi appeared and as expected it only had four seats instead of five. So Vincent had to fold himself across the back seat and we set off on the short journey into town. In Ponce the city center is arranged around a very beautiful and large park, in the center of which are the church…and the fire station. The fire station in particular is a real eye-catcher with old fire engines and equipment. We strolled through the city center, which, as so often happens, consisted of a mixture of wonderfully renovated and completely dilapidated old houses. The market hall was pretty deserted this late in the day and the offerings didn't convince us. But we found an ice cream parlor, which offered excellent ice cream at surprisingly low prices. Of course we couldn't ignore it and immediately got to know a typical American ice cream specialty: Peanut butter.

For our further journey to the Dominican Republic we wanted to do one last round of shopping for cheap Puerto Rico provisions. So we started looking for a taxi, that was supposed to take us to the nearest larger supermarket. Hier in der Innenstadt waren die Taxifahrer nicht so flexibel und wir brauchten für fünf Personen jetzt doch zwei Taxen 🙁 Unser Taxifahrer gab uns auf der kurzen Fahrt einen kompletten Einblick in die sozialen Zusammenhänge der Insel, über Armut, Drogen und Kriminalität. Das Bild war er zeichnete war schon ziemlich trostlos, aber das liegt ja ganz oft auch am Blickwinkel des Erzählers.

Am Supermarkt angekommen stürzten wir uns mal wieder ins Einkaufsgetümmel und schafften es in kürzester Zeit, unsere Einkaufswägen randvoll zu füllen. Jetzt hatten wir vom Einkaufen aber erstmal die Nase voll. Jetzt mussten wir unsere Beute nur noch in die Marina transportieren. Somit benötigten wir wieder ein Taxi 🙁 Einige Telefonate und einige Zeit später fuhren dann endlich zwei Taxen vor und wir konnten unsere Einkäufe verstauen. Für die kurze Fahrt zur Marina verlangte der Fahrer plötzlich 15 $ von uns. Da schauten wir Beide dann mal ganz dumm aus der Wäsche und ärgerten uns sehr. Beim Einsteigen war uns aufgefallen, dass das Taxameter nicht lief. Den Fehler würden wir nicht noch einmal machen. Die VIA bezahlte für denselben Weg nur 10 $, was eigentlich auch noch zu viel war 🙁 So viel zum Taxifahren in Puerto Rico.

Den Abend verbrachten wir wieder zusammen, diesmal beim Grillen auf der VIA. We decided, erst am Mittwochmorgen in Richtung der Dominikanischen Republik aufzubrechen. Somit hatten wir den morgigen Tag zum Ausklarieren und konnten vor der Überfahrt noch ein bisschen entspannen. Das Ausklarieren gestaltete sich dann tatsächlich so schwierig, dass danach Entspannung auch nötig war. Das Zollbüro lag ungefähr drei Kilometer entfernt am Hafen. Nach den negativen Erfahrungen von gestern, hatten wir uns entschieden, dass wir die Strecke auch mal zu Fuß laufen könnten. Die Hitze war morgens um halb elf schon beeindruckend, aber auf dem Weg gab es dann keine Möglichkeit mehr, noch ein Taxi herbei zu rufen. Nach einem abenteuerlichen Weg am Highway entlang, durch menschenleere Industriegebiete und ärmliche Wohnsiedlungen erreichten wir das Zollbüro. Leider war es wegen Renovierung geschlossen 🙁 man schickte uns weiter zum Flughafen. It was clearly so far away, that we needed a taxi again. The nice officer made the call for us and ten minutes later a taxi was at the door again. Today we were lucky and our taxi driver started the taximeter straight away and we headed towards the airport. Once we got there, we went through customs and immigration. At the very end there was a mirrored door without a bell or handle. How were we supposed to get in there?. Our knock was ignored, the phone call also rang in vain. But after ten minutes luck was with us. An employee also wanted to go into the area and let us in. So we were very lucky, that we were checked out at five to twelve after the lunch break. We routinely filled out the same form every time, got our papers and made our way back to the marina. The whole event lasted almost three hours, even in the midday heat. So we abandoned our original idea, to make another trip to an old Taino Indian village. Unfortunately it was too late for that. We used the afternoon to make the final preparations for the crossing and I made one last trip ashore, around the herons and pelicans, to photograph the people who lived here in the marina extensively.

In the evening we celebrated our second farewell to the VIA. The three hadn't decided yet, whether your further travel route should also go via the Dominican Republic. But somehow we hadn't given up hope yet, that we should meet the three there again. Because all good things come in threes.