Hello,
This weekend (including Friday) I made a 903km trip. We started early in the morning (5 am), by about 8:30 we arrived to the Caritas, the Petroglyphs on Lago Enriquillo. I have used a longer way, driving nearly all the way down to Barahona, then turning to Cabral, and just before Duverge, turning north and driving to Neiba (dry country). This road is not so bad, there are some bad bits around Cabral, lots of potholes, but otherwise it is a decent road. Two years ago I went directly through Vicente Noble and Galvan, and the road was terrible, maybe it is better now, but I did not want to risk it, especially with car full of gear.
The idea at Lago Enriquillo was to see the crocodiles, but I was asked 3500 pesos for the short trip to see them by the park rangers near Caritas. I was not ready to pay that much money for the privilege, so we satisfied ourselves with the local iguanas. The water level of the lake raised several meters, so the little sulfurous pool that was at the ranger station two years ago is under water and so are the toilets and some other structures. There is also a new path to Caritas, last time I had to find my own way through the rocks and cactus.
We continued our trip around the lake, stopping in Jimani for petrol (nothing interesting to see here). There is a new bridge now just outside Jimani on the road to Duverge, which was not there 2 years ago.
We continued along the southern shore to Duverge. You do not get many glimpses of the lake from the road, but you pass a small fresh water pool (La Zurza) which would be nice to have a swim in if we would had the time. At Duverge it was time for lunch so I turned off towards Puerto Escondido, and just before the road leaves the creek which it follows we had a picnic. Two years ago I took this road all the way to Pedernales, but it is quite bad road, and it takes some hours as your speed is reduced to a virtual crawl over rocks and stones, I was not going to do it with family in the car. Actually if you drive about 2 miles along this road out of Duverge towards Puerto Escondido, you get to a spot very similar to Polo Magnetico, where aqueduct running alongside of the road seems to have water running uphill.
We drove back to Cabral and took the road to Polo. Unfortunately we arrived to the Polo Magnetico at the same time as a bus load of students, who were not on their best behavior. We checked the famous optical illusion, and after about 30 minutes I gave up on the bus load to leave and we kept driving to Polo. There are some nice views here. My plan was to cross from Polo to Paraiso, which is possible I guess, but some locals told me that the road was bad. If I was alone I would most definitely gave it a try, but with the kids in the car, I decided for the more conservative road which leads to Enriquillo. The road used to be paved at one stage, but now most of the pavement is destroyed and there are some potholes here and there. No need for 4x4 or high clearance. There is a relatively steep climb just after Polo, but should not be a problem for a normal front wheel drive sedan. There are beautiful views form the road, as it leads through coffee plantations and rich tropical vegetation. Unfortunately it was very hazy, so I could not take any scenic pictures, just few shots of plants and animals. The road reaches some 1000m or so, and then starts to descent down to the sea, you leave the lush vegetation behind and go back down to dry plains used for cattle grazing. We passed several sleepy villages, and then arrived to the coast. From there it was couple of hours more to Pedernales, where we stayed at a hotel Villa Mar at 1500/room with air.
I was bit tired, as I was driving most of a day, but we got up early (6 am) and drove to the Bahia de las Aguilas. We had the beach for ourselves until about 2 pm, when a group of about 5 cars arrived with ATVs – the Dominican style. I had to stop the kids several times as they drove their ATVs at full speed alongside our spot covering us with dust. Eventually they settled down about a mile from us, and we were left in peace again.
The original idea was to camp on the beach. We tried to get permission from ministerio de medio ambiente, but it was refused, and we were told that it is totally prohibited to camp there. I had my doubts about that, but since my wife works in anticorruption, we have to follow the rules. Anyway I had a talk with the local ranger who explained to us that it was the turtle season now, and it certainly is prohibited to camp on the beach, and to drive on the beach. When I asked him about the group that arrived there, he took out the permission issued by the same ministry that refused to give it to us. There was some bulldust about scientific research with kids and teachers – bla bla bla – these were your typical rich Dominicans with expensive SUVs and lots of beer and whisky, and spoiled kids with ATVs. We left back for Pedernales at dusk.
When we returned the next day the guide told us that when he went to check on them the night before, they were drunk and he had serious argument with them, they were supposed to stay there for two nights but they left before we did. We had another glorious day at this paradise on earth; unfortunately it was time to go back to SD. So at 3 pm, we packed our stuff and drove back to SD. unluckily after getting up the short difficult climb out of the Bahia, my air-conditioning belt gave up, so I had to drive back to SD with windows opened. The trip back was uneventful, we came across several iguanas on the road between Bahia and Oviedo, which did not happen to me before (I have been there 3x so far). And came across several pre-election happenings and caravans. And then the stage between Bani and SD was total torture, as the road was jammed with totally crazy drivers, either driving like crazy, or stopping. Usually driving fast and overtaking in the most dangerous places, and the safe places slowing down to crawl. Sometimes I suspect that there is something seriously wrong with your average Dominican driver. I hope that I am not insulting anybody here, but frankly these guys must be really nuts to drive the way they drive. I mean that the driving has no logic or planning; I suspect that it evolves independently with every inch of the road, regardless of what is happening several feet ahead or behind the car. We got to SD at about 8:30PM, somewhat tired.
We covered 903km in 16 hours of driving time, with average about 57 km/h.
I have updated some pictures on my side with pictures from this trip, but not with many, under the heading South West coast and South West Border Area.
David's Pictures of Dominican Republic
If you want more details about the road from Polo to Enriquillo, I have uploaded files for GPS and Google earth to my side, you can download it from there. Here is the address:
GPS data
David
Trip to Lago Enriquillo, Polo and Bahia de las Aguilas
