Santiago & Punta Rucia

[maharashii]

The trip started out with a thread in the general travel forum looking for a remote / quiet beach.

We considered staying near Azua and going to Caobito, but the roommates wanted more adventure, and I kinda liked the idea of some white sand, so we decided on Las Galeras / Playa Rincón in the Samaná.

We figured the least hassle would be to take Caribe from Azua to Santo Domingo and from Santo Domingo to Samaná. We got tickets in Azua but they wouldn't even let us make a reservation for the Samaná leg. We bought the tickets on a hunch (bad move) and went back to the office to make reservations for the last leg. No luck - we couldn't get on, and they said there were a lot of people hoping for a last minute seat.

Suck.

Now we were stuck leaving Azua late on a scheduled bus, which didn't get us into Santo Domingo until almost 4:30PM. On the bus we decided that given our late arrival and the need for various connections, we'd be better off going to Santiago and then to Punta Rucia in the morning.

If I could do it over again, I'd have told Caribe to **** off, and taken the guaguas from Azua to Sto Domingo and then guaguas to Samaná. Had we left early enough this would have been flexible and painless.

Anyhow, from Sto Domingo we took a taxi to the guaguas and arrived in Santiago around 7:30PM. We had called ahead to the Colonial in Santo Domingo and got a room with 2 beds for 3 people for $750RD. It seemed like a good deal but now I'm reading that the rooms should have gone for a bit less.

We had great fun in Santiago. There were lots of people hitting the bars, and the area felt pretty safe (as confirmed by the taxi driver, $120RD). Dinner was not too pricey at some goofy western-themed restaurant near the monument (salpicón and presidente). We then headed up to the monument to see the action. There were hundreds of people milling around, listening to bachata from blaring car stereos, drinking beer from the roaming vendors, and just hanging out. We stayed there until around 11:30PM and then decided to hit the bars. Things get a bit fuzzy from that point on but suffice it to say a good time was had by all. We played pool with some locals, went to a small bachata bar (not much happening there), went to another bar that only served Quisqueya (yech!), took a taxi to a recommended disco (the weapons search was amusing - they didn't find my knife), and a few other places. Good times, and lots of interaction with friendly local bar-goers.

The next morning we took a guagua towards Montecristi at noon, getting off at Villa Elisa (~1 hour, $70RD). There were a dozen motoconchos there waiting waiting to take people up to Punta Rucia. I had asked the guagua door guy (what do you call the guys who hang out the door shouting destinations?) what to pay for a motoconcho and he said $150RD. I think it should have been closer to $100RD but it was a long, hard motoconcho ride (~30 mins).

In Punta Rucia we got a room with 2 beds (one with mosquito net, and one without), balcony, private bath, no a/c for the 3 of us right on the beach ($1000RD). I don't know what the place was called, there were no signs up or anything. We had tried a small foreign-owned place outside of the main drag but they were full. Anyhow, the location was nice.

We spent the rest of the day lounging in the white sand, swimming in the turquoise water, and hanging out at some restaurant owned by a guy named Reiner who spoke Spanish but not much English. He was pretty cool, a bit eccentric, with terrible taste in bad '80s American music, but very friendly and easy-going. There was live music playing at a bar down the street, and no one bugged us to buy anything or beg for money while we were there. Everything was very chill.

Sunday was another lazy day. We figured we only had until 2PM before we had to leave, so we concentrated on maximized our lounging. Breakfast was water and snackfood from the colmado. Reiner rented snorkeling gear to us for $60RD, but we didn't have enough time to take a boat out to the reefs. Still, in the area around the beach we saw some cool fish and an eel. We waited to eat lunch until after the tourists left (they come in on boat tours once or twice a day on the weekend) and had Reiner cook us up a huge spread for lunch. The food was great.

At 2PM, with heavy hearts, we were resigned to leaving the beach. We passed on the motoconchos and got a ride in a pickup trip back to Villa Elisa. We made really good time on the way back, with awesome guagua connections. We were back in Azua by 9:30PM.

Overall the trip was worth it, but for the amount of travel, I'd have preferred to stay on the beach for several days at the least.