Fifteen days in Old Juan Dolio
Just returned from a wonderful fifteen days in Juan Dolio. My second visit to the DR the first for Mrs. Rebozo. Initially we thought that we would travel around some but were so happy with our situation in JD that we stayed put.
We had arranged a reservation at the Hotel Romeo and Jullieta in old Juan Dolio and finding it acceptable to our admittedly humble tastes negotiated a total of fifteen nights and full breakfasts each morning for a total of $550 US. The hotel itself is a small two story building with approximately 12 rooms, ours was among the smallest/cheapest but it included a comfy bed, a/c and fan, cable tv with many english language channels, lock box, decent sized bath with mostly hot water, daily maid service(by the lovely America(sp), and refridge. Our room overlooked the beach road and we slept with earplugs so we could leave the windows open and enjoy the sea air while avoiding the occaisional late night moto concho or early am garbage collection. The owner, a very nice and gracious lady named Anya, says she plans to expand and improve the facilities this summer.
Our r&r routine consisted of a tasty breakfast prepared by the also lovely Albania(sp), good coffee con leche, fresh fruit, toast, juice, and eggs. A long walk (our furthest took us as far as Restaurant ConCon in the new area of JD and back after a delicious lunch), then we'd take lounge chairs from the hotel down the short walkway to the beach and spend the rest of the day sunning and snorkeling the reef directly in front of that area. We thought the snorkeling was very good when the sea was calm enough for good visibility. Presidentes were usually available from the beachfront comedor/colmado located just east of the walkway across from the hotel. We also lunched there one day on fresh pescado frito with a choice of fried plantains or french fries.
Another favorite lunch stop was the Comedor El Gustico roughly across from Naito Mini-mart, the aspiring regaetton writer/performer owner has a good haitian cook who had trays of Pollo or Puerco Guisado and a tasty rice/bean mixture with fresh salad for $100 pesos an order. They sometimes had pescado frito and other choices as well with everything priced at $100 pesos completo. A couple of tables inside and out front or they'll put things up for take-out to the beach.
Another fun stop was located two doors down from Don Pedros on the beachfront. The owner, an interesting Swedish lady, had her french cook make us dinner on two occaisions for approx. $200 pesos a head, nothing fancy but very tasty seafood and pasta with $50 peso glasses of nice red wine on her balcony overlooking the beach. She also has a room she rents for $300 pesos/night. Probably a little too rustic/noisy for us but your mileage may vary!
The super bowl had us looking for a sports bar which we sort of found at The Hamilton Sports bar, a little east of our hotel on the beach road. It appears to be primarily rooms for rent with a(mostly unused) open bar area with 27" TV and ESPN IN VIVO which we also had in our hotel(we were hoping for satellite in english). The manager shooed out some non-paying customers, dusted off a couple chairs and a table in front of the TV and made us the guests of honor(only paying customers). After a couple Presidentes we inquired about food and while they didn't make anything on premise a young man was summoned who happily bicycled off and brought back a still piping hot Lucas' pizza for $200 pesos (and $100 peso tip to the runner). We lasted till half time but the mosquitos drove us back to our room in time for Tom Petty and the second half. I can still hear the announcer, in best futbal style, calling passsssoooo commmmmmpleeeeeeetooooo.
We had one "big" night out at The Chocolate Bar between the Coral and Capella resorts. The singer Indhira put on a good show with her back-up singers/dancers. Our favorite part was when they had everything cranked up and ready to roll with powerful amplifiers and lots of stage lighting and.......... the power went out. But a short wait and with power restored on with the show. A beautiful girl with a powerful voice.
Although we splurged on some delicious dinners at Lucas's and the Bar Cacique, our usual evening meal was a plate of fresh fruit at Don Pedros beach bar and another Presidente. Another favorite stop was a little family run giftshop/colmado to the east of our hotel on the beach road. Reasonable prices for everything from Haitian woodcrafts and t shirts to cold Presidentes and water. We spent our final evening sitting on the balcony of the Casablanca Piano bar, located in the Plaza Perla, sipping wine with an odd mix of everything from Madonna to Italian crooners playing in the background. Reasonably priced drinks and a nice setting overlooking the cove.
We flew Continental non-stop out of Newark to Las Americas for $302us per head and were well pleased with the service. On time, decent food, and not crowded on our early tuesday flight down.
Thanks to all the posters whose info led us to this lovely, sleepy part of JD. We hope to return el ano entronte and pray that development doesn't proceed too rapidly in this part of town.
|
