Good day fellow travelers.
Welcome back for part 4 of my report.
The day after our outing, I wanted to go snorkeling once again at Sosua. My daughter was gung ho, but it took some talking to convince the other girl and my wife. They where getting a little tired, at this point, but I convinced them to come a long just the same. We took a taxi for the usual 17 dollar price, plus tip. Another beautiful day greeted us, along with the usual flotilla of vendors.
As soon as we got to the beach we rented beach chairs off of a young vendor. I must say he was relentless in trying to rent or sell us anything. My daughter and I headed for the middle of the bay to swim out and snorkel, while the others relaxed and read. It was about a 100 meter swim to the coral, and we where instantly rewarded with a lot of fish to view. We had brought a little bit of bread to feed them, and we where swarmed by Sargent majors, and larger beautiful purple blue fish, which I did not identify, At one point we must of had at least a couple of hundred fish around us. As we glided through the reef, hand in hand, the colorful fish swam with us like a well choreographed dance troupe. Magical moments with my teenage daughter! Times like this, made the whole trip worth it to me.
When we returned to the beach, my wife and the other girl decided to go on the glass bottom boat tour. It was supposed to be an hour, but only lasted for about 40 minutes. They where not impressed. We also where getting tired of the overzealous vendors, and decided to walk in to town for lunch. The girls wanted to go back to Rocky's. We had a lot of time to kill.
Did I fail to mention that we had been there the last time we ventured to Sosua? We enjoyed the food, the internet, and the dogs. The ribs and the chicken wings where tasty.
Fast forward to Thursday.....Our horseback trip was at hand. The half day trip had been booked at Fun Tours for a reasonable price of 35 dollars each. We waited patiently for the bus to pick us up at the condo. Finally a Toyota super cab pulled up, and a gruff German woman blurted out horse riding!? Boarding the truck, I greeted her and tried to introduce our party, and was abruptly told that our names did not matter. She would not remember them, and would call us by our horses names. Hmmm, not exactly the reception, we had hoped for. The girls all sat quietly in the back seat while I tried to break the ice, despite the obvious damper that our guide had put on the happy attitudes of my girls. We drove out towards Rio San Juan, and arrived at the stables. We where introduced to our horses, and all was good, except that my wife was not overly pleased with the old nag, with an English saddle, that she had to ride. Two young Dominican men and their dog accompanied us as we rode our horses through the village, and across the highway, heading for the hills. The scenery was magnificent, as we climbed ever higher. After a while we entered a small village, back in the hills and stopped at the local watering hole. Large bottles of pop quickly arrived, while our guide had a beer. We soaked up our surroundings in humid atmosphere. The friendly locals, along with the lime trees, and banana plantations, really made you feel like you where in a far off tropical country of yesteryear. After a long break it was time to head back down the hills on a different trail. Along the way we spotted coco, coffee, cattle, goats, horses, and farmers with machetes. We stopped at a creek to let the horses water, and then it was through the forest, back across the highway, and down to the beach. My legs where getting a little sore by now and I asked our Guide Ingrid, if we could stop for a minute. She barked out, what for! I replied that I needed five minutes for a bathroom break. She said something smart like "is that how long it takes in Canada".
I did not reply with a truthful answer, because I did not want to wreck our fabulous day. As I was releaved my self, I thought....you just kissed your tip goodbye, lady! Oh well, I mounted up and headed down the beach for the last leg of our journey. The full grown palm trees and assorted greenery was really something to see. This was a basically an untouched stretch of beach. Mother nature at her finest. We cruised down the shore, while our horses splashed us with sea water.As we headed back through, the palms, and up to the stable, I tipped the two young guides on the sly. They where quite amused, as I gave Ingrid the Sieg Heil sign behind her back. On our drive back to Cabarete, Ingrid had suddenly become more talkative and friendly. However, I listened to her complain about how her restaurant in Sosua, was not doing so well because less Brits where visiting the DR. No wonder, I thought as she proceeded to run down the British, and the local people. I guess, her ancient Arian heritage was showing. She dropped us off at the Downwinder. As she drove away tip less, I could see her cursing those darn Canadians. To bad, I usually tip quite well.
We enjoyed the company of the ex pats, and another fine meal, before calling it a day.
One more report on our trip is to follow. See you then!
(21)
Hicks from the sticks visit Cabarete (part 4)
