Saludos! I just returned from a vacation in Mao, Cruce de Guayacanes, and Maimon.
As is my custom I returned to Mao and Cruce de Guayacanes to give some photos, from my previous visit, to my friends and their families.
To give you an idea of how small the town of Cruce de Guayacanes is and how friendly the people are-I was able to find my friends just by stopping by a local colmado and showing the photos and asking if they know where they live. Very quickly a young man called for a motoconcho to take me to where I could find them.
A few of my friends are peloteros and they invited me to a baseball stadium in Mao (15 minutes away) to watch their team practice. Afterwards we walked back to town and they treated me to a beverage that was rebottled in a Miller Light bottle. It was some type of non-alcoholic malt drink that I never had before. I thought the rebottling was interesting.
In Mao I got to try mangu de yuca for the first time and it was delicious. I again stayed at the Hotel Aqua Azul and had lots of fun with my friends in the pool. I was able to comfortlaby and safely walk alone through the town talking with people and taking photos.
The next part of my vacation was a return to the Riu Hotels in Bahia Maimon, which is located about 15-20 minutes west of Puerto Plata.
Along the road were many fruit and vegetable stands featuring mandarins.
This time I stayed at the Riu Mambo and again had a great time. The weather for a couple of days was changeable with wind and rain showers but this turned out to be a good thing. There were hundreds of small seashells and small pieces of coral washed up on the beach each morning.
As always, I had a great time. I can also recommend returning to photograph an area as there is always something different happening-including changes in weather and one's perspective-to guarantee interesting photos.
You can see photos from this trip here on the DR1 Media Gallery website at
http://dr1.com/media/cgi-bin/media.cgi?direct=Gerace.
Gracias,
Paul Gerace
(10)
Mao, Cruce de Guayacanes, & Maimon
La Presa
