Galeras!
Yesterday after working, I went for a brief walk. Found a store, asked if they sold food. No, more like rum and cigars, said the somewhat surly woman as she cleaned the place. I noticed they had some snacks, and bought two large cartons of orange juice, and a bag of potato chips for breakfast.
As I was getting set to leave, I walked towards a waste bin. The counter woman was now standing somewhat in that direction. She said, "se murio" (he died), pointing to a person lying on the ground. The person did seem motionless, may actually have died.
At a different store, I picked up some more snacks for the road. Rode over the significant hills surrounding the town of Samana. Went by some fish places. I wasn't hungry and they were noisy but scenic places, so I kept riding.
Later in the day, I did stop at a smaller, quieter fish place.
Along the way, I had a huge (2.6 liter) bottle of soda. Overall I drank something like 5 L (over a gallon) of liquid during the day.
The juice and soda did not seem to upset my stomach, so for the first time in a while I kept down a large amount of fluid, and felt fine instead of thirsty.
Makes me wonder whether it was the caffeine, or maybe the phosphoric or (even less likely) a flavoring in the cola that made me feel sick?
Arrived early at the next town, Galeras. This town appears to have no road leading around anywhere other than the one back to Samana, so it looks like I'll be returning along the same route. I vaguely knew that beforehand, but didn't look carefully at the map before selecting this route.
Looking for a place to camp last night, found some beautiful but difficult terrain. Left that immediate area, found a place near the edge of town. Some people stopped, we talked. "It's dangerous," one of them said. "Yes," I answered. Later, the person reiterated that it's dangerous. "Yes," I answered again.
Now watching a sunrise over the sea!