I almost decided to use this post to really cook up some lies . . . .Las Terrenas is a pit . . . there's only electricity for 2 hours a day . . . the ocean has retreated a half mile . . . the sand for the beaches has been attacked by a mineral virus . .etc. etc. . . . . Why? Because Las Terrenas is so fantastic it would be a shame to see it overdeveloped a la Puerto Plata or Sosua etc. . . . We just came back from a two week stay . . .and an "intervention" had to be arranged to persuade me to return home!
I'm glad the road into the Samana Peninsula is so narrow, winding and difficult . . . hopefully it will keep out the heavy equipment needed to construct AI's and other organs of industrialized tourism . . . both into and out of the Peninsula we saw motorbike wrecks . . . both times tourists or tourist-looking folks standing dazed next to motorcycles lying on their sides, like horses felled on a battlefield . . . indeed, during the two weeks I too would earn a scar from my trusty motorized steed, taking a hex nut in the thigh after being surprised by a mischievous clutch . . .
The beaches in LT are so fine . . .long, sweeping stretches of white sand and limpid blue water . . . empty of people or only thinly populated (it is/was the offseason) . . . that at first you can't believe you're not trapped in some coffee table travel book or magazine spread . . . the snorkeling is also fantastic . .with some decent reefs (especially for kids) only ten meters or so from shore in hip-shoulder height water (esp. near the airport in Portillo) . . . with patience, we managed to sight sea spiders, sea snakes (really, eels), and a singular ray . . . as well as scads of fish . .
Playa Bonita turned out to the favorite destination for early and late afternoon swims/snorkels . . . but Playa Cason with its calm, still surf was the place for total relaxation . . .
The town is dominated by French folks . .who own all the businesses and comprise the bulk of longer term vacationers . . this is good because the French seem to adopt a more low-key, long term style of vacationing (and also because it means there's a great French bakery in El Paseo . .the little mall near the beach) . . . the longer we stayed there the more elaborate became the fictional screenplay developed by my kid and titled "Everyone Is French" . . as he built it episode by episode each night in one of the little restaurants just on the western edge of town and along the beach. . . a couple of downsides to the Franco domination: in my experience, French folks tend to be a little more standoffish than others . . .and it takes a bit more time to get beyond formalities; plus, I was surprised at how few of the businesses were owned by Dominicans . . . and this inspired my own dream of trying to get some kind of micro-loan program going in LT to enable the locals to own more of the businesses and at least get a little something more out of the tourist economy . . .
Windsurfing, scuba, horse-riding are all available . . .and offered on a truly inspiring relaxed kind of way . . . yes, the boards are available . . .but we have to wait for Vidal to show up to check this one out . . wanna have a beer while we wait? . . .
The people are just fantastic . . . Dominican folks in LT are relaxed, open, and interested . . . we made many new friends while there . . and enjoyed many invites to beaches, bars, meals . .etc. The manic tourist culture/economy that's wending it's way eastward along the North Coast has yet to reach LT . . . so there seemed to me to be more of a spirit of tourists as visitors rather than tourists as economic support systems . . .
All in all .. . a fantastic stay . . . we'll be going back . . .but in the meantime, if you see me making comments about potholed roads, lack of air conditioning, poor food selection . . etc. . . it's only in the interest of trying to preserve the laidback atmosphere of LT from tourist hyperdevelopment .. .
Here's a link to some photos from the trip:
Las Terrenas photos.
Ciao
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Two weeks in Las Terrenas . . .
