My eight-year old and I went on a mother-daughter trip, left the little one at home and went to have us some off-the-beaten track fun. We re back home over a week now, but I think I still have some red Samana earth on my feet that just won t come off and my mind is still running in DR mode, meaning that no one and nothing can stress me out, at least for a few more days while it lasts.
First and foremost, it was HOT. With only few days/hours of A/C we got used to sweating, even stopped sweating so much after a while.
La Romana
We changed our flights at the last minute from flying into SDQ to PUJ, as I realized from this board I needed all those single-parent documents (and didn t have them), which was a good choice, because they never ask any questions at PC airport, and I was surprised the trip to La Romana is short and painless. I rented from Avis this time, who actually brought car and contract to the airport and off we were. Friends in La Romana hooked us up with a place to stay in Rio Salao (no, not down by the river) where we stayed the first few nights. We took the necessary trips to see Casa de Campo (including Ferraris and even a Smart) absolutely had to go see Shakira s house on my daughter s demand) and Altos de Chavon, the latter I thought was really cool despite the always present AI-excursion groups (coming all the way from Punta Cana doing Altos de Chavon AND Isla Saona in one day CRAZY). I wouldn t mind one day sending my daughter to Art School up there... nor attending an Alicia Keys concert at the amphitheater... A day-trip to Santo Domingo to Aqua Splash Caribe waterpark (cover for 4 adults and 2 kids was around USD60) was fun for the kids, but hardly worthwhile the drive. A Dominican friend drove the way there, but I had to drive back, could it be that this was the only slow and carefully driving person here? He was driving me mad going so slow. I found out later that he had been witness to the horrible bus accident on the bridge (river?) into La Romana coming from San Pedro just the other day. La Romana as a town is easy to get around, and without having much to offer still has some charme. Sundays on playa caleta are off the hook, we even hat to pay some pesos to drive/park in. Unfortunately the electricity (incl water) goes out at the wrong hours, in the evening just when you are getting ready to go out and/or washing 8-year old s extraordinary mane. Where we were staying no one had an inverter. So we appreciate the nice changes when we got to
Bayahibe.
Cheap hotels. 24 hour private luz, oops no not on our first day here. A truck hits a nearby power pole and we are without electricity/water again for more than 6 hours. I m surprised how joyfully my daughter goes to bathe at the local water hole (agua dulce). We got a great walk-up deal to go out to Isla Saona with a speed boat while all the brought-in AI excursion folks paid big bucks. The boat ride, the natural bassin (with starfish), snorkling and the beach on the Island were spectacular. Drinks, Food and Animacion were included, what a treat. Instead of going back with the group on a catamaran, we stayed behind with the kitchen staff, this way we got to ride on the lancha again, plus got to take some delicious fish home for breakfast the next day and made some new friends. Priority 1 on my daughter s activity wish list was horse-back riding, so we asked around for a rancho nearby. We paid real turista prices and it hurt, but wow what a tour he took us on. Both horses were in great shape and we ran for hours so that I was in serious pain the next day. Our guide took us to a little-known cave, where we went for a swim in pitch black cold water. My courageous daughter jumped from a 'cliff' and we felt just so adventureous. Attracted by the horse-trip cueva, we wanted to see more underground stuff, so I look up an internet cafe in La Romana and find oh miracle info on DR1. Cueva de las Maravillas is just on the way to San Pedro, and has recently (2003?) been opened for public tours. Beautifully illuminated stalagmites and stalactites (or whatever they are called) and impressive Taino pictographs as well as our highly informed guide (actual archeology student) thouroughly made us enjoy this trip. Entrance fee I think was 120 pesos and half for my daughter. A couple of the nights in Bayahibe we went to Higuey to dine with friends out there. Again I m surprised to arrive in about 20minutes, all the way good roads. Restaurants - and everything else for that matter - are far and few between in the town of Bayahibe, and way overpriced. We started calling Bayahibe 'the desert' as you can t get anything out here, and we had to drive into La Romana every day to get what we needed (- by the way breath-taking crossing over the Chavon bridge). There are some diving schools (not my thing) one of which I happened to stop by, because the owner seemed to be a fellow-citizen by the advertisement. Several expat-diving instructors hung out there daily with a frown on their face, as if they were working in my office back home. Didn t greet me nicely, much the opposite, probably judged me quickly as a sankie-searching turista chick.
Campo - Sabana de la Mar - Ferry to Samana
So we leave the tourist scene behind and drive via Higuey up into the countryside. As we get away from the coastal areas, I feel more comfortable not worrying constantly whether I paid twice the regular price for food, etc. And I love the country folks. By now my daughter is understanding a bit more Spanish and is getting really familiar with how things work. Kids adapt so quickly. We are staying outside and above of Hato Mayor and she is just happy among cows, lambs, chickens and her horses. After one night we are heading off to Sabana de la Mar. The road is hilly to say the least, not many vehicles, and certainly very few rental cars around. We are taking our time as there is beautiful countryside to see, and many potholes I would not have wanted to hit. (Still one headlight pops out half-way there.) I had read on this board that finding safe parking in Sabana de la Mar may be tough, and it was. My company knew someone that knew someone but they weren t around. Some guy lurking around by the pier offered a garage for a 100 pesos a night to be paid upfront and the key to be left with the guy. Not my kind of deal. We arranged anyway, but the key stayed with me. I was a little uneasy leaving on the ferry with not a piece of paper saying where the car is, what the guy s name is, etc. Sure enough he was standing right there waiting for us, at the arranged hour, when we arrived back. (and the car was still there too). I was told it was a big ferry that would take us across to Samana and that the sea could get quite rough sometimes. I was surprised to see a two-story rather small boat maybe holding 100 people. The 1-hour ride was good fun though, and we did not miss out on some wavy action. If I remember right the cost was quite high at 500 pesos a person.
Samana
Arriving in Samana harbor is a spectacular sight. There is some dam built out there, don t know with what function. Some tuktuk-like vehicle (motorcycle with hooked-on passenger benches) took us (4 adults, 1 kid) up the hill. And it was a real hill. Since we arrived without much prior notice, we could not stay at a in
PR-living-aunt's house for some lame reason, and we decided to climb further up the hill to a friend's friends grand-parents' house. The grand-father in his late 80's asked if my daughter had never seen a horse before, when he saw her joy upon the animals. Unfortunately after our first dinner down in town by the malecon, we did not get to see much more of the peninsula. The rain did not stop for about next 36 hours and kind of washed our trip to playa rincon, etc. down the mountain. We learned that spending an entire day, sitting, chatting, eating cana, playing dominoes and doing nothing more can be extraordinarily relaxing. This is a lesson for us fast-living folks to learn, since we are so used to constantly being on the move or at least being entertained. Although there was water at all times, the electricity here went out from 8 to around 11 in the mornings and then again in the afternoon from 2 to 5. As long as the schedule is regular, I guess one can work around this. We slept with mattrasses on the floor, and had an extraordinarily wonderful time in the rainy hills of Samana. Our trip back to PC was uneventful and filled with sadness for the upcoming culture shock that we were to face back home. After three weeks of being awakened by the omnipresent roosters, it is hard to wake up to the alarm clock and to stress-filled, productivity-driven, so-called 'first' world again.
please apologize for the length of this post, to those that read all the way to the end, but by no means could I have shortened it any. It still only portrays about a fifth of what we did, saw and experienced. I hope my daughter could carry as much Dominican warmth home in her heart as possible, and as I could.
(sorry, do not have/cannot find apostrophe and accents/tilde on this keyboard)
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Trip Report - La Romana-Bayahibe, Samana and more in between
