This past Saturday the 13th Robert and I both woke up, hustled through our morning rituals, linked up at my apartment in Santo Domingo and headed off towards "Paradise North". Excitement filled the air as we began our journey out of the concrete jungle known as the Capital, excited about a three day stay in the exclusive Sea Horse Ranch (compliments of one of Robert's friends). Ahhh. Life was good. Well, almost.
We managed to get from Santo Domingo to Cabarete in "record" time. Unfortunately, our new "record" has to be one of the longest trips in DR history. It took us just over seven hours.
Robert picked me up at about 8AM. We were almost out of the city when we ran into a good sized traffic jam. Dominicans were driving every which way to try and get around the "obstacle" that lay ahead. The "obstacle" turned out to be a large pedestrian overpass than was lying across both lanes of Autopista Duarte. Evidently, a crane driver was much more familiar with his gas pedal than the height of his rig. You know the rest of the story.
Instead of waiting for what could be hours for the road to be cleared, Robert reached for his map and decided that we would try another route out of the city. Why not? At least we would be moving. There is nothing worse than sitting in traffic.
The alternate route goes up through Villa Mella heading north, intersecting with Autopista Duarte further north of the "obstacle". How long could it take? The color and thickness of the route on Robert's map was the same as the Autopista. Who are we to doubt Dominican Cartography? How bad could it be? We decided to get a jump on all of the traffic that would surely be following us.
Four hours later we emerged from the mountains north of the "obstacle". Later research revealed to us that the four hour "short cut" we took brought us only twenty minutes up the road. Anyway, the road quickly became nothing more than a goat trail. At one point we did not see another car for two and a half hours. Clearly there were no others as naïve as us.
The pictures do not do the road justice. I was too lazy to get out of the jeep (I only did once for another reason but failed to notice the 300 pound pig sleeping next to me until after I woke her up).
My pictures do not give you a good appreciation of the size and number of potholes. But there are a few pictures of erosion and bridges that are completely out.
I wish we had video of the short cut. The few people who live up there just smiled and laughed at us as we went by (slowly I might add.not their laughing..our driving). At one point we must have driven through the center of "town" because we came across a phone booth (satellite microwave.see picture) with a horse tied to it.
We got back on the highway and continued driving north. The picture of the guys standing on the back of the chicken truck was taken at about 70 MPH. Only in the DR.
We arrived at the Sea Horse Ranch in the late afternoon. We immediately jumped in the pool. Here's some pics. The place is a real dump J.
After relaxing we phoned Escott and Dawnwil to set up dinner plans. We ate in Sosua at Bailey's. Great place, cool atmosphere, good food and very reasonably priced. After that we had a few drinks and went home to prepare for the beach.
I spent all day Sunday and Monday on Sosua beach. There were lots of people but nothing too exciting. Although, I must say that Sosua has to be the Sankie capital of the universe (we don't see much of that in Santo Domingo). Escott spent most of the afternoon with me on Sunday. Robert joined me on Monday.
Both days Robert and I ended our afternoons at Rocky's. We had the ribs both times. See the picture for a good look at the ribs and Robert. Besides the ribs, Marco has a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Bruno who is a gem. See the picture of me with him. He's the one on the left. I had been lying in the sun all day.
We enjoyed leisurely Saturday and Sunday nights at the Sea Horse Ranch. The house we stayed at has a screening room that has to be seen. The screen is about seven feet wide with a great picture. Dawnwil joined us on Monday night for a movie. I fell asleep and missed 90% of it.
All in all it was a great weekend. Robert leaves his laptop on and I amazingly resisted the urge to spread chaos on the DR1 website because he is always logged in and has the "God Powers" on his control panel. I figured that the payback would not be worth it.
I highly recommend the Sea Horse Ranch, Rocky's Ribs, and Sosua Beach (for day trips). Just don't take the same route we did to get there.
Scandall
Scandall and Robert Head North!
