Pico Duarte Jan 6th URGENT

We are three guys planning to leave on the 6th for Pico Duarte, no other date available, but have no idea how to go about it.

We have:
Good sleeping bags
Warm clothes, rain equipment, good shoes etc.
Good spanish knowledge

Any help with dos and don'ts?

Especially:
We drive to Jarabacoa, and then?
In which village should we find the guide, leave the car, spend the night before the trip?

Any recommendations are very welcome!

Pico Duarte Tours suspended

Thanks HB, you are probably right.
We went yesterday, bought plenty of food and water, and once we got there, we found out, that due to the heavy rain, there will be no tours during the next 15 days.

The last 8 km from Jarabacoa to La Cienaga are very difficult, even with 4x4.
There were lots of guaguas waiting for hundres of students coming back from the tour until late at night.

Apparently parts of the track have been washed away, some hikers ended with broken legs or arms, or lost their shoes in the mud, mules slipped down the hill, and the ones we saw coming back were all covered with mud.

On the way back, there was another landslide and we had to drink a couple of beers, until the road was cleared again.

Anyway, we met a nice guide who explained us how it goes:
We bring the food for us and for him, he takes care of dishes etc and prepares the food.
Guide RD$1000, each mule RD$500 for the entire trip.
Sounds fair and hopefully we'll have the chance to go any other time, preferably in summer.

Okay, here's the plan if we go in summer:
An extra mule which carries the inversor, 4 batteries and the microwave oven.....