Yeah, I know about the beach at BC, but somehow I get wrangled there when I go. Oh well, it didn't stop the adventure.
7-15-06 continued.
Okay, so we check into the Iguana, cool down the jets with some AC, and try to figure out what we were going to do. We decided to hit the beach, since it wasn't too late. So, after meandering through the relatively difficult to navigate streets, at least for us, we found the public beach in Baya. Can't miss it, after you found it. You can tell you're getting close when you see all of the Haitian paintings lining both sides of the street. You know that you have to run the guantlet to get to your destination. So, we put on our best "No Gracias" faces, and hurried through, smiling, feigning that we didn't speak spanish, english, french, german, dutch, etc. For the way back, I figured we would have to resort to clucks and whistles. But, after making it down onto the sand, the bay is a beautiful cove. And unmistakeable with all of the boats, from the smallest of rickety fishing boats, to the sleekest of tri-catamarans. The path to the nicest appearing part of the beach is a bit trashy, and downright treacherous for barefeet. But, with some carefully placed steps, we wandered over to the "nice part". Just happens to be butted up agains the AI, Casa del Mar. Now, we've done a little some research, and we know that all of the beaches in the DR are "public". So, we fearlessly trotted past the guard and onto the "private beach" past the sleeping guard. Within a minute, we were called back to his "palm tree command station". We made it easy for him, and told him we were just looking, we didn't want free food, drinks, to sit on his chairs, or to enjoy any of his watersports. He went as far as to draw a picture on a piece of paper he picked up off of the "public" beach and it basically said that we had to stay where the water meets the sand. We talked about the legality of the beaches, and he just laughed. So did we. So, after a couple of steps onto the private beach, we turned and settled on a "cleaner" spot on the public side. The water was beautiful, and seemed to help cleanse our souls of the days' travel. Aside from a few others, we had the beach to ourselves.
So after an hour or so on the beach, we headed back through the guantlet, wandered for a bit, stopped for a take home bottle of rum, and showered back at the Iguana. We went to an Italian/German run restaurant on the beach called Mare Nosturm (sp). I can't really remember, but the food wasn't bad, and not terribly expensive. Even after adding the "finder's fee" to the character, Williams, who we would see over and over for the next few days. Like a booger that can't be flicked, he would be there, even if to lead you next door. And then he would stand, and wait, and wait, and sit and the table with you, and wait, until you just pulled any amount of money out of your pocket to get him to leave. The night ended with a cold Presidente and a mamajuana at Barco Bar, just down the street. We were the only two in the place. Nice....
to be continued...
|