Saludos!
I just returned from 8 great days of sun and fun visiting Santiago, Mao, and Monte Cristi with a side trip to Punta Rucia and Cayo Paraiso.
I flew into the relatively new Santiago airport which was very nice and convenient. I had previously spent time in Santiago for carneval 2 years ago. It's carneval celebration is almost as much fun as the one in La Vega, with La Vega's being larger. Friendly people with much night life.
Just outside of the city, and on the road to Mao, are many fields of tobacco, rice, plantains, and other agriculture.
I stayed at the Hotel Agua Azul in Mao for 2 days with plans on traveling to Monte Cristi for their Sunday carneval celebration. The hotel was small, inexpensive, and clean. The best feature was it's huge swimming pool. It has several slides. The pool is open to the public for a small fee and I had a great time playing in the pool with the local people.
I wanted to know the town of Mao as quickly as possible so I asked a taxi driver to show me the sights. He charged me about $20 US for 4 hours. The tour included stops at a plantain factory, stopping for photos at several rice fields, the vegetable/fruit market, and a couple of rivers.
I felt completely safe touring the town on my own and people were very friendly.
As I got closer and closer to Monte Cristi I noticed the landscape becoming much less green. Monte Cristi I saw lots of cactus and goats. My taxi driver told me that people come from all over the country just to buy Monte Cristi goats. I guess they make the best chivo picante. There were many roadside signs for that local meal, but I preferred to only take their photos.
The first sight of Monte Cristi was an impressive one. El Morro and the ocean could be seen in the distance and it was a beautiful sight. El Morro is a camel shaped mountain/rock that starts on land and ends in the ocean. There are several beaches surrounding it.
I stayed at the Hotel Chic which was in the center of town. I was surprised at how inexpensive the food was. A large plate of pulpo salad and tostones was only about $4 US. Presidentes for about $1.25. There was lots of seafood.
The first chance that I had I headed for the El Morro Beach. It was about 5-10 minutes away by motorcycle for about 40 pesos (less than $1 US). It was beautiful and very different from other beaches in the DR. There were rock formations just off the shore. The beach was surrounded by steep inclines of rock and vegetation. The color of the sand was a reddish brown. The water crystalline clear. There are many large rocks and driftwood swept to the back of the sand. I visited there 4 days in a row and I saw maybe 8 people in all of that time. Some days I had the beach all to myself and my Dominican friends. Early in the day the water was tranquil, and later it became rougher-good for body surfing.
I also visited a couple of other beaches in the area. Playa Juan de Bolanos was not nice, although it had many seashells. Playa Cana de Yuti was scenic and tranquil but not as nice as El Morro.
I had hoped to visit the Siete Hermanos cays but the waters were too rough. It was farther off shore than I thought-about an hour away. The ocean is much calmer in the spring and summer months.
I got to see how Carneval is celebrated in Monte Cristi. Lots of drinking, whipping, music, some costumes, and more drinking. Briefly there are 2 groups of participants. As I understand it one group of participants is protecting the town from spirits. The spirits are whipped with lazo fuertes and they also respond in the same manner. Drinking is involved so as to not feel the sting of the whips. It appears violant but the participants usually walk off together in peace. It's definitely safer to watch at a safe distance.
I took a day trip to Punta Rucia which included a 20 minute speedboat trip to Cayo Paraiso. There are 4 tour groups that go there and they charge US $30 per person. That includes transportation to and from, sandwiches on the cay, snorkeling, and a buffet back at Punta Rucia.
The water was very rough going out and when I got there I could not believe the number of tourists. There seemed to be more tourists than there was sand! The cayo was only about 60 feet wide and 180 feet long. As the tourists started to clear out I noticed that the sand was very white, the water color fantastic, and the snorkeling was great-hundreds of large angel fish that ate bread out of my hand.
The trip back included a tour of mangroves that are part of the Monte Cristi National Park.
After carneval I moved to a new hotel at the base of El Morro named Hostal San Fernando. Very scenic and comfortable, with very good food. There were no other guests. The hotel turned on the power and hot water when I arrived and shut it when I left for the day. It has just been opened for about 6 months so it still has some things to be worked out. No telephone, limited menu, but very friendly and accomodating. They told me they had pina coladas but no pinas!
It was a great vacation and I took lots of photographs. I just posted some images and they can be seen on the DR1 media gallery section under Paul Gerace Photos.
http://dr1.com/media/cgi-bin/media.cgi
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Santiago, Mao, & Monte Cristi
Monte Cristi
mao hotel
