Adventures on the North Coast, in Santo Domingo, and Punta Cana
Our adventure starts at 4:30 am Jan 1st, just slightly hung over and going on 3 hours sleep. It couldn?t have been any better. Dressed in a windbreaker and sandals my wife and I dodge snowdrifts as we load our suitcases into the taxi. We are about to put our bodies through a 100 degree F swing in temperature and a huge change in humidity. This is our 5th trip to the DR ? our favorite vacation destination! We use some of the time on the plane to practice our Spanish. We have now completed 50 hrs of class time, are still quite green, but very excited about trying to talk to the Dominicans in Spanish. Will they understand us? We are pretty certain we will understand very little of what they say.
We get off the plane in Puerto Plata and quickly grab a taxi. We exchange introductions with the driver and then ask him to crank up the radio. First a meringue tune, then a bachata ? we are in heaven! The first thing that strikes me is the blackness of the Dominican night. There are no street lights (or perhaps no power for them). It is eerie but exciting. As usual the driver drives like mad weaving in and out of traffic, makes it a 3 or 4 lane road when it should only be 2, honks his horn and flashes his brights. It would be frightening if it wasn?t so familiar.
Home base for the first 12 days will be the Paradise Hotel and Beach Club in Playa Dorada. Our friends meet us in the lobby. They had arrived the previous day and this will be their first DR experience. I have to say we were a little disappointed with this hotel. It is in serious need of some upgrading or at least a coat of paint. We had problems with the stove and fridge and had a few cold showers. On the bright side, our 2 bedroom suite was in an ideal ocean front location.
On our second day the weather wasn?t great so we decided to hire a taxi for 2 hrs to go into Puerto Plata. We told the driver exactly what we wanted to do and agreed upon a price of $22 US which sounded like a pretty good deal to us. We drove down the Malecon, visited the Fort briefly, and then stopped at the Amber Museum for a while. Our driver was quite personable as he pointed out areas of interest. He seemed quite happy visiting with his buddies while we looked around the shops. We probably made a mistake by going to Supermercado Messon on a Tuesday - veggies were 2 for 1 and the place was a zoo. We are the only tourists shopping here and we soak up the Dominican experience. We filled up one cart with essentials (rum and Presedentes) and the other with enough groceries for the meals we planned to cook in our room. The sun briefly appears as we head back to the resort.
The weather turned out to be a bit of a downer on this trip. It ended up raining 10 of our 12 days in Puerto Plata. Two days were total write offs with wind and rain all day. The other rainy days weren?t too bad with most of the rain occurring early in the morning and in the evening. However, putting things into perspective, 28 degrees with a bit of rain is bliss compared to the nastiness of -40 degrees and snow back home!
My friend and I were especially disappointed with the weather because we had hoped to get in a few rounds of golf. From looking at the amount of standing water on the Dorado course, it didn?t look promising. After waiting a week we decided to give it a try. We arrived at 8:00 am and appeared to be the only customers. After paying green fees, I went to the Caddie Master to request a specific caddie I had met a few days earlier walking to the hwy. The Caddie Master yelled out his name and a huge commotion erupted in the caddie shack. My friend described it like they had thrown a rat into a hornet?s nest. I was now thinking maybe I shouldn?t have asked for this caddie. Obviously he wasn?t next in line and the other caddies were a little pissed. I think there are over 100 caddies that come in each day and due to the lousy weather they weren?t making much money.
This was the first time either of us had ever had a caddie and we had an absolute riot. The course was soggy, so the caddies really earned their money. After every shot they would clean and place your ball on a nice dry spot, many times retrieving it out of a puddle. After a couple holes they knew exactly which club to hand you for each shot. I had a great time practicing Spanish with my caddie. I would ask him ?a la derecha un pequeno?? And he would say ?no, a la izquierda un pequeno?. After a shot he would often have to say ?un poco mas? and I would have to exclaim ?malo? after many a shot. I did my best to make small talk asking him about his family and life in the DR. All in all a great day and great experience. To top things off, on the 18th hole I needed a par to post my best score ever. I had a fabulous drive and was left with a hundred yards to the green over a bit of water on the left. As fate would have it the next shot ended in a splash and I scored a double bogey ? oh well. Cost to play the Dorado course totaled about $100.00 US after green fees, taxes, caddie fee and tip (no cart). A bit pricy for an average quality course. We had hoped to play Playa Grande once during our stay. Total costs would end up being close to $200.00 US for a round including transportation and a cart ? well worth it from everyone I talked to. Unfortunately the weather wasn?t co-operating and we missed out playing the ?Pebble Beach of the Caribbean?.
One morning we made a quick trip to Hotel Fun Royale to drop off our suitcase of school supplies for Fundacion Patria with the manager Mario Mattana. We find out he is out of the country but his secretary assures us our donation will get to the proper people. Thanks Jimmy for getting us the letter for the extra baggage allowance. We really enjoyed donating to the country kids personally 2 years ago, but this process made much more sense. The last thing we want to do is turn the Dominican kids into beggars. And speaking of donations, if you are staying at a resort don?t forget the hotel chambermaid. My wife brought all kinds of gifts; lipstick, nail polish, kids stuff etc. to leave for them along with a cash tip. We always got fantastic service and the maid would show her appreciation by making a new towel sculpture each day.
On Sunday we headed to Sosua beach. I was hoping Dominican families would be out enjoying the day and we could give our friends a good taste of the DR. We walked to the hwy intending to catch a gua gua and of course half a dozen taxis stop to try and get a fare. Asking price was generally 500 to 600 pesos whereas the gua gua would cost us 20 pesos each. Well of course we have to barter with each taxi driver just to see how low they will go, and end up jumping in one after he came down to 150 pesos for the trip. It turned out he was making a delivery to his Mom?s place on the way. He apologized for the short delay and proudly showed off the homes of his mother and his family.
It turned out to be a glorious day on Sosua beach. A large group of Dominican kids played in front of us most of the day. They had a blast burying each other in the sand, having sand fights, and generally just being kids. Great photo ops! A couple of the young boys looked like they were born in the water. I was amazed by how far out they would swim into the ocean and how long they would stay there. All this with no parental supervision! We asked them where Mom and Dad were and they said ?trabaja?. We figured their parents must work at one of the numerous restaurants or shops on Sosua beach.
We captured the true Sosua beach experience by buying fresh shrimps, oysters, and candies from the numerous beach vendors. The camarones with fresh lime were very tasty. I can?t stand oysters, but my friend said they were the best he ever had. We rented loungers (60 pesos each) for the day. Presedente grandes (90 pesos) were delivered to us all day by our charming Dominican server. The Dominicans are so trusting, insisting that we pay for everything at the end of the day. I was further impressed by their trustworthiness a few days later when our friends bought some souvenirs from the beach vendors just west of Playa Dorada. They negotiated a good price only to realize they forgot their pesos in the room. The Dominican vendor insisted they take the trinkets and come back to pay the next day. Only in the DR!
We topped off the great day at Sosua Beach by spoiling ourselves with a sunset dinner at ?On The Waterfront?. Two of us had their lobster special served in a creamy bourbon sauce that was to die for. This restaurant is higher end but I highly recommend it for a special night out - great setting and atmosphere and good quality food.
The next day my wife and I headed out to Cabarete - one of our favorite towns in the DR. This would be the second day in a row of sunshine! We catch the gua gua and get out at Sosua on the way. We needed to pick up some cigars for my wife?s boss and wanted to check out prices at Super Super. We paid 1900 pesos for a box of La Aurora robustos. This would end up being the lowest price we would find on these cigars this trip. Interestingly we paid only 950 pesos at the same store for these cigars on our last visit two years ago. This was also the best price I saw for Presedentes. The new family size Presedente was only 60 pesos here. Ha! Family size beer? Only in the DR!
We caught another gua gua to Cabarete at a cost of 20 pesos each. How many people can you fit into a gua gua the size of a standard mini van you ask? Answer: 24 Dominicans and two silly Gringos! About half way to Cabarete the count was up to 23 and we thought it would be impossible to stuff any more passengers in. How wrong we were ? they pick up 3 more Dominicans and now 4 people are standing, hanging precariously out the side door for the last few miles. All we could think of is that if the driver hits one good pothole, those guys are toast. So if you are traveling in the DR, don?t be afraid to use the public transportation. We have never felt unsafe. Not only is it cheap, but it usually has some good entertainment value. Hanging out the side door of the gua gua? ? Not recommended!
I was a little disappointed because the ocean was full of seaweed on Cabarete beach ? probably due to all the bad weather. I didn?t do any boogie boarding this time but we enjoyed a great day on the beach soaking up the sun and taking in the sights. There were a few wind and kite surfers out, but nothing like the hundreds of them on the water 2 years ago when we visited during spring break. Prices are up even more here I think ? 75 peso for a lounger in front of restaurant Lax and pequino Presedentes were 90 pesos (in hindsight we may have been able to get them for 70 pesos if we had parked ourselves in front of a different restaurant). We enjoyed a pizza and salad at Lax for lunch which was very good.
After a great day on the beach, we were anxious to check out a restaurant we heard about on DR1. The restaurant is called La Casita (locally known as Papi?s) and is situated right beside Vento. We each ordered the camarones at a cost of 550 pesos each. We couldn?t believe our eyes when the dish came to the table. A huge wok was placed in front of us with 2 dozen massive head-on shrimp bulging out of it. These gambas were so big they almost looked like baby lobsters. The flesh was so white, delicate and sweet, and served up in wonderful garlic curry sauce. This was definitely the best meal of our 3 week stay. Thank you so much Escott, Chris, and others for recommending this fabulous spot.
We caught a gua gua back to Playa Dorada about 8:00 pm and I was surprised how quickly we got there. The van filled up in Cabarete and the driver only stopped in Sosua and a couple other times even though many people had there arm out wanting to get on. At one point I had to get out to let others off, and it just so happened the guy told me to get into the front seat. Now I was sitting like a king in the front while my poor wife was squashed up in the back! Then the driver turned on the interior light and my wife felt a searing sensation. She looked up to see the interior light is a bare bulb dangling by a wire out of the roof over her head. A few minutes later the gua gua stopped in the middle of nowhere. I wasn?t sure what was going on until I saw a Mom had taken her little girl for a pee behind a telephone pole. Where else but the DR is a bus driver going to give that kind of service? The driver had the radio cranked as we sped through the dark Dominican night. One of our favorite Bachatta songs, Perdido, comes on and all the Dominicans on the bus sing along. I sneak a peek at my wife in the back and we both have a huge grin on. Boy, we sure love this country and the music! Life is good!
On our last night in Puerto Plata, we decide to go to Portofino?s for dinner because I had read good reviews on DR1. We were disappointed to find it closed when we arrived at 6:00 pm on a Weds night. We decide to have another meal at Caf? Cito instead. First we stop at Supermercado Jose Luis so our friends can pick up some rum and coconut milk to take home. I wish we would have checked out this store earlier in our stay. We liked it better than Messon and Tropical. They even had frozen lobster tails at a very reasonable price.
We had another nice meal at Caf? Cito and had a good chat with Tim. We picked up more cigars for my wife?s boss. Tim had a limited selection which are supposedly of good quality and were reasonably priced. When we were about to leave, a busload of people took over the restaurant. It turns out they were on a pub crawl that started in Puerto Plata at 6:00 pm and would continue into the wee hours ending in Cabarete. The pub crawl looked like a lot of fun and we?ll have to check it out next time we are in town. One of the few bad things that happened on this trip was my wife and I both got a few dozen insect bites on our feet and legs that evening. I could feel I was getting bites as we ate dinner but didn?t think much of it at the time. About 24 hrs later the itching was driving us crazy. We picked up some cream but it still took 3 days to recover from the bites. I guess we should have been wearing repellant, but we have never been bitten like this in previous trips to the DR.
The next morning we caught the 10:00 am Caribe Tours bus from Puerto Plata to Santo Domingo. The bus fare was very cheap @ 200 pesos each. For a change this bus trip was pretty uneventful. The bus made two stops in Santiago and it took about an hour to get through the city. We enjoyed the limited sights we saw and thought we may spend some time here in the future once our Spanish is better. After Santiago we enjoyed the countryside seeing orange groves, rice patties, corn fields, cow pastures, and even a couple tobacco fields. We were amazed by the number of roadside stands selling manderinas. Do they buy them or steal them out of the orange groves at night? How many of the 100?s of venders could make a buck at this? Many of the homes along the way look incredibly impoverished. All the recent rain looks like it has taken its toll. However, where ever we go in this country the people seem happy. It is so refreshing to us to see how happy people are when they greet one another. The ladies kiss each other on both cheeks and the men will stop traffic and yell across the highway to say hello to an amigo.
We arrived in Santo Domingo at 2:00 pm and caught a taxi to our hotel. We had two nights booked at the Antiguo Hotel Europa. It is a quaint, nicely renovated Hotel in the colonial zone. Rates were quite reasonable at $65 US per night.
We really enjoyed exploring the colonial zone. My wife was fascinated with the architecture. Of course, as usual, I was fascinated by the beauty of the Dominican women. We took plenty of pictures of both. Again we splurged and had nice dinners at Vesuvio on the Malecon and Pat?e Palo in Plaza Espana. The food was good, but not outstanding. Maybe it was just the dishes we picked, but we didn?t think it was worth the high end price we paid. We sat outside at Vesuvio and the noise and fumes from all the traffic on the Malecon did not help the ambiance.
We are faring quite well with our limited Spanish abilities. We have no problems taking/ giving directions, ordering food, making some small talk etc. and are having a lot of fun in the process. Understanding is a different matter ? they just talk so damn fast! At the start of a conversation my wife would always say ?hablas rapido, no comprendo?. This would always result in a chuckle and the person would try to speak more slowly.
Santo Domingo at night is a whole different world than Santo Domingo during the day. We slept little the first night due to all the racket. Sounds of moto conchos, horns honking, car alarms, and dogs fighting filled the night. Now I know why all those scrawny, homeless dogs are so lethargic during the day ? they come to life at night! After dinner at Vesuvio we decided to catch a taxi to the Jaragua Casino. The taxi waiting there wanted 200 peso to go 2 minutes down the Malecon! ?Es demasiado? we said and start walking away expecting him to come back with a better offer, but surprisingly he didn?t. Now two Gringos are walking down the dark Malecon at night. After a few minutes of looking over our shoulders we flag a taxi and are charged a much more reasonable 100 pesos.
We walk into the casino and are quite impressed ? certainly the nicest we have seen in the DR. We head right for the meringue lounge hoping to do some dancing. To our disappointment the lounge is dead but a band is playing and they are quite good. We enjoy the balance of their set over a drink. We are shocked when we receive a bill of 360 pesos for one glass of beer and one glass of wine. That?s $6.00 US/drink! We then try our luck at some craps but that didn?t go very well so we head back to the lounge to watch another set. We take a seat again and the waitress very quickly comes for our order. We tell her no thanks and she sticks a sign in our face showing there is a 2 drink minimum. Felling a bit insulted we get up and leave ? maybe this is why the place is dead?
Heading back to our hotel I have the bright idea of taking a stroll down El Conde at night. It was such a happening place during the day, it must really rock at night. Not long after stepping out of the taxi we realized we had made a big mistake. The street looks like a 2 mile tin can with all the metal store fronts locked up for the night. There are some kids hanging around doing nothing, we notice a few hookers, and some bums are settling in for the night. Now when I say bums, I mean that literally too, as one vagrant gave us a good flash as he crawled into his cardboard box. We get a good workout walking the next 10 blocks to our hotel at a brisk pace. I?m not sure if we were putting ourselves at risk on El Conde or on the Malecon at night, but why take the risk? Taxis are cheap. Stupid Gringos! You can pretty much get anywhere you want to go for 100 to 150 pesos. Apolo Taxi had the best prices. The stupid Gringos are learning and get a good nights sleep on the 2nd night by utilizing their earplugs.
The next morning we are ready to begin the final leg of our vacation. We plan on catching the 10:00 am express bus to Bavaro. This was one part I was a little concerned about originally ? finding some obscure bus stop in a big city we hardly know. Thanks to info found on DR1 we had no problems finding the bus stop and it was in a nice part of the city too (Gascue). We had time to pick up rum at Supermercado National across the street for the trip home and we also made a quick stop at a McDonalds for some fries and a couple Presedentes. I had to take a picture of this one. Where else but the DR could you buy a beer in McDonalds!
Fare to Bavaro was cheap (210 pesos) and we hopped on the bus quickly so we could secure a spot in front to get a bird?s eye view of all the action. We were let down on our last bus trip when nothing exciting happened, but this trip would not disappoint. Our first clue came at the first stop light when the driver had problems shifting gears. He did not seem happy about it. The bus made a stop at Parque Enriquillo to pick up more passengers. I understand why it was suggested not to catch the bus here. There was lots of commotion ? traffic congestion, noise, people everywhere ? quite a happening spot. We quite enjoyed it ? from inside the bus.
As we made our way through the city, the driver continued to have trouble with the bus. I heard him say problema and clutch numerous times. The bus would often stall when starting from a stop ? I don?t think he could get it into first gear. We would get stuck in the middle of intersections and cars would be honking at us - this was exciting! As we continued, other words besides problema were coming from the driver as he vented to the Dominican woman sitting behind him. There was liberal use of the word coger which we recognized from Spanish class ? we were told not to use this word in Latin America. And just in case we didn?t get the drift he finally turned to us and in good English said ?This bus is f#@$ed.? It turns out this was the fifth day the driver had the same problem with the bus and the company was doing nothing about it. He was clearly frustrated when he told us ?I love my job?. I couldn?t quite understand why, but he felt it necessary to flag down busses passing in the opposite direction to tell them all about the problema. Since he came to a stop to do this, it just created another problem to get going again!
Once we got out of the city the bus performed fine. The driver cranked up the tunes, but he had some sappy slow music on. Before long, someone was yelling at the driver from the back of the bus. The driver smiled and changed the station. A good bachata song was playing, the driver cranked it up a few more notches and started singing along ? go figure. Once we reach Sammy Sosa?s home town the bus really starts to act up. Now the driver is cursing to someone on his cell phone and we barely make it through the city. A few miles before we reach La Romana the driver stops our ?express? bus for a lunch break. We jump at the opportunity to stretch our legs and sip on a Presedente. My wife came back from the bathroom shaking her head. Who would design a stall that was so small it was impossible to shut the door when sitting on the toilet? And what?s with the no toilet seats?? This seems to be a common occurrence in the DR ? even in the Airports. Now if anyone deserved a break, it was our driver, and we were content taking a nice long break here. But for some reason a guy on the bus wasn?t so patient and after about 15 minutes he was in the driver?s seat honking the horn and yelling at the driver to get moving. All this commotion but no one seems to get angry!! Only in the DR! Someone would get shot if they tried this stunt back home.
We get going again and limp through La Romana. Before long we are descending down to the bridge over the Chavron River. There is a bit of a line up at the bridge and a steep grade going up the other side ? this is going to be a problema! Sure enough the bus stalls right at the bottom of the hill and the driver can?t get it back into gear. Calmly he grabs a screwdriver, goes outside to direct traffic for a while, and then fiddles with the bus. He jumps back in and pops the bus into first gear. The driver red lines the engine, creeping up the hill, not daring to attempt to shift in the middle of the hill. After what seems like an eternity we reach the top of the hill and the driver cleanly shifts into second gear. Everyone on the bus erupts into applause! Looking ahead I thought maybe our celebration could be a bit premature. A fully loaded cement truck was creeping up another hill in front of us. We slow to a crawl behind it and then to our amazement the truck starts to dump a stream of cement in the middle of the highway! Maybe he was a tad overloaded? We broke out in laughter as I tried to snap a couple pictures. Even the driver throws his hands in the air and exclaims ?aye yi yi?! What could happen to us next?
We now reach a part of the country we haven?t seen before. The landscape changes from scrub with huge cacti to cow pasture to large stretches of sugar cane. You can see the mountains in the background. Workers are harvesting cane with machetes and piling them on carts pulled by oxen. This must be a dreadful job! A few miles before Higuey, the driver is on his cell phone again and then flags down a bus going the other way. It looks like our adventure is coming to an end. We change busses in the middle of the highway and say so long to our driver.
Our new driver drops off a few resort workers on our way to Bavaro, and we aren?t quite sure where to get off, but we end up getting off just a short taxi ride from the hotel. The trip ends up taking 5 hours (probably would have been 4 hours sin problemas). Cost for the 5 minute taxi ride to Grande Paradise Bavaro was 240 pesos. Looks like things are going to be a bit more expensive on this side of the country. Unfortunately we were forced to take the all inclusive at this, our sister Ahmsa Marina resort, @ $50 US/day/person. As it turned out we were ready to kick back and do nothing for our last week anyway. We were pleasantly surprised to see they gave us a room in a good area of the resort with a spectacular ocean front view from the balcony. We were not sure what was going on, but for some reason we seemed to be getting the VIP treatment at this resort. They even brought a bottle of champagne and a plate of fruit to our room one evening for no apparent reason. The beaches on this coast are outstanding. This was our first visit to the Punta Cana area and the beautiful white powder, wide beaches that went on forever were the nicest we have ever stepped on. The water was clear most days and we both enjoyed playing in the waves. The weather was nice except for one day of rain and wind and one cloudy day.
Although this is a beautiful area of the country, I think tourists coming here miss out on the DR?s greatest asset ? the wonderful people. Sure you can talk with some of the resort workers and have fun with the animation team, but you are really missing out by not getting out of the resort and getting a true taste of the Dominican culture.
We got a bit of a kick out of the animation team here. They were all charming and not too pushy. They all wore their special uniforms except for 3 guys that happened to be Italian. These guys were clearly part of the team, but didn?t wear the uniforms and looked a little out of place. We jokingly referred to them as ?the Dominican imposters?.
We went to the disco most nights to practice our dancing ? in addition to Spanish classes we had taken Latin dance classes in Canada. Also, in the disco we have an opportunity to do a little Sankie spotting. This resort had a huge animation team and we were surprised how many of them showed up at the disco after the nightly show. They are all great dancers and we were incredibly impressed by a couple from the team that did an amazing salsa routine one night. One Dominican asked my wife to dance a few times, but he was very polite, always asking my permission. He was no Sankie, he just liked to dance and usually only asked the married women. Two of the animation guys were all over the single women, bumping and grinding on the dance floor. It was quite funny ? they looked like the professionals I have read about on DR1. I guess you would need to be a single woman to find out for sure if these guys were Sankies ? and even then it could take a while.
I apologize for this dreadfully long trip report. I don?t contribute much to this forum, but find myself lurking a fair amount (too much in my wife?s opinion) to keep up on the happenings in our second favorite country. I?ve been feeling guilty since that message first popped up a few months ago that says ?Hello Gordo, it appears that you have not posted on our forums for a while??? So here?s my contribution, it took all day to write, but I didn?t mind a bit - its been like therapy, easing my transition back to reality and at the same time allowing me to relive the vacation all over again.
So Robert, do you think you can ease my guilt and remove that message for a little while ? say until next year, when we look for new adventures in this amazing country?
Our adventure starts at 4:30 am Jan 1st, just slightly hung over and going on 3 hours sleep. It couldn?t have been any better. Dressed in a windbreaker and sandals my wife and I dodge snowdrifts as we load our suitcases into the taxi. We are about to put our bodies through a 100 degree F swing in temperature and a huge change in humidity. This is our 5th trip to the DR ? our favorite vacation destination! We use some of the time on the plane to practice our Spanish. We have now completed 50 hrs of class time, are still quite green, but very excited about trying to talk to the Dominicans in Spanish. Will they understand us? We are pretty certain we will understand very little of what they say.
We get off the plane in Puerto Plata and quickly grab a taxi. We exchange introductions with the driver and then ask him to crank up the radio. First a meringue tune, then a bachata ? we are in heaven! The first thing that strikes me is the blackness of the Dominican night. There are no street lights (or perhaps no power for them). It is eerie but exciting. As usual the driver drives like mad weaving in and out of traffic, makes it a 3 or 4 lane road when it should only be 2, honks his horn and flashes his brights. It would be frightening if it wasn?t so familiar.
Home base for the first 12 days will be the Paradise Hotel and Beach Club in Playa Dorada. Our friends meet us in the lobby. They had arrived the previous day and this will be their first DR experience. I have to say we were a little disappointed with this hotel. It is in serious need of some upgrading or at least a coat of paint. We had problems with the stove and fridge and had a few cold showers. On the bright side, our 2 bedroom suite was in an ideal ocean front location.
On our second day the weather wasn?t great so we decided to hire a taxi for 2 hrs to go into Puerto Plata. We told the driver exactly what we wanted to do and agreed upon a price of $22 US which sounded like a pretty good deal to us. We drove down the Malecon, visited the Fort briefly, and then stopped at the Amber Museum for a while. Our driver was quite personable as he pointed out areas of interest. He seemed quite happy visiting with his buddies while we looked around the shops. We probably made a mistake by going to Supermercado Messon on a Tuesday - veggies were 2 for 1 and the place was a zoo. We are the only tourists shopping here and we soak up the Dominican experience. We filled up one cart with essentials (rum and Presedentes) and the other with enough groceries for the meals we planned to cook in our room. The sun briefly appears as we head back to the resort.
The weather turned out to be a bit of a downer on this trip. It ended up raining 10 of our 12 days in Puerto Plata. Two days were total write offs with wind and rain all day. The other rainy days weren?t too bad with most of the rain occurring early in the morning and in the evening. However, putting things into perspective, 28 degrees with a bit of rain is bliss compared to the nastiness of -40 degrees and snow back home!
My friend and I were especially disappointed with the weather because we had hoped to get in a few rounds of golf. From looking at the amount of standing water on the Dorado course, it didn?t look promising. After waiting a week we decided to give it a try. We arrived at 8:00 am and appeared to be the only customers. After paying green fees, I went to the Caddie Master to request a specific caddie I had met a few days earlier walking to the hwy. The Caddie Master yelled out his name and a huge commotion erupted in the caddie shack. My friend described it like they had thrown a rat into a hornet?s nest. I was now thinking maybe I shouldn?t have asked for this caddie. Obviously he wasn?t next in line and the other caddies were a little pissed. I think there are over 100 caddies that come in each day and due to the lousy weather they weren?t making much money.
This was the first time either of us had ever had a caddie and we had an absolute riot. The course was soggy, so the caddies really earned their money. After every shot they would clean and place your ball on a nice dry spot, many times retrieving it out of a puddle. After a couple holes they knew exactly which club to hand you for each shot. I had a great time practicing Spanish with my caddie. I would ask him ?a la derecha un pequeno?? And he would say ?no, a la izquierda un pequeno?. After a shot he would often have to say ?un poco mas? and I would have to exclaim ?malo? after many a shot. I did my best to make small talk asking him about his family and life in the DR. All in all a great day and great experience. To top things off, on the 18th hole I needed a par to post my best score ever. I had a fabulous drive and was left with a hundred yards to the green over a bit of water on the left. As fate would have it the next shot ended in a splash and I scored a double bogey ? oh well. Cost to play the Dorado course totaled about $100.00 US after green fees, taxes, caddie fee and tip (no cart). A bit pricy for an average quality course. We had hoped to play Playa Grande once during our stay. Total costs would end up being close to $200.00 US for a round including transportation and a cart ? well worth it from everyone I talked to. Unfortunately the weather wasn?t co-operating and we missed out playing the ?Pebble Beach of the Caribbean?.
One morning we made a quick trip to Hotel Fun Royale to drop off our suitcase of school supplies for Fundacion Patria with the manager Mario Mattana. We find out he is out of the country but his secretary assures us our donation will get to the proper people. Thanks Jimmy for getting us the letter for the extra baggage allowance. We really enjoyed donating to the country kids personally 2 years ago, but this process made much more sense. The last thing we want to do is turn the Dominican kids into beggars. And speaking of donations, if you are staying at a resort don?t forget the hotel chambermaid. My wife brought all kinds of gifts; lipstick, nail polish, kids stuff etc. to leave for them along with a cash tip. We always got fantastic service and the maid would show her appreciation by making a new towel sculpture each day.
On Sunday we headed to Sosua beach. I was hoping Dominican families would be out enjoying the day and we could give our friends a good taste of the DR. We walked to the hwy intending to catch a gua gua and of course half a dozen taxis stop to try and get a fare. Asking price was generally 500 to 600 pesos whereas the gua gua would cost us 20 pesos each. Well of course we have to barter with each taxi driver just to see how low they will go, and end up jumping in one after he came down to 150 pesos for the trip. It turned out he was making a delivery to his Mom?s place on the way. He apologized for the short delay and proudly showed off the homes of his mother and his family.
It turned out to be a glorious day on Sosua beach. A large group of Dominican kids played in front of us most of the day. They had a blast burying each other in the sand, having sand fights, and generally just being kids. Great photo ops! A couple of the young boys looked like they were born in the water. I was amazed by how far out they would swim into the ocean and how long they would stay there. All this with no parental supervision! We asked them where Mom and Dad were and they said ?trabaja?. We figured their parents must work at one of the numerous restaurants or shops on Sosua beach.
We captured the true Sosua beach experience by buying fresh shrimps, oysters, and candies from the numerous beach vendors. The camarones with fresh lime were very tasty. I can?t stand oysters, but my friend said they were the best he ever had. We rented loungers (60 pesos each) for the day. Presedente grandes (90 pesos) were delivered to us all day by our charming Dominican server. The Dominicans are so trusting, insisting that we pay for everything at the end of the day. I was further impressed by their trustworthiness a few days later when our friends bought some souvenirs from the beach vendors just west of Playa Dorada. They negotiated a good price only to realize they forgot their pesos in the room. The Dominican vendor insisted they take the trinkets and come back to pay the next day. Only in the DR!
We topped off the great day at Sosua Beach by spoiling ourselves with a sunset dinner at ?On The Waterfront?. Two of us had their lobster special served in a creamy bourbon sauce that was to die for. This restaurant is higher end but I highly recommend it for a special night out - great setting and atmosphere and good quality food.
The next day my wife and I headed out to Cabarete - one of our favorite towns in the DR. This would be the second day in a row of sunshine! We catch the gua gua and get out at Sosua on the way. We needed to pick up some cigars for my wife?s boss and wanted to check out prices at Super Super. We paid 1900 pesos for a box of La Aurora robustos. This would end up being the lowest price we would find on these cigars this trip. Interestingly we paid only 950 pesos at the same store for these cigars on our last visit two years ago. This was also the best price I saw for Presedentes. The new family size Presedente was only 60 pesos here. Ha! Family size beer? Only in the DR!
We caught another gua gua to Cabarete at a cost of 20 pesos each. How many people can you fit into a gua gua the size of a standard mini van you ask? Answer: 24 Dominicans and two silly Gringos! About half way to Cabarete the count was up to 23 and we thought it would be impossible to stuff any more passengers in. How wrong we were ? they pick up 3 more Dominicans and now 4 people are standing, hanging precariously out the side door for the last few miles. All we could think of is that if the driver hits one good pothole, those guys are toast. So if you are traveling in the DR, don?t be afraid to use the public transportation. We have never felt unsafe. Not only is it cheap, but it usually has some good entertainment value. Hanging out the side door of the gua gua? ? Not recommended!
I was a little disappointed because the ocean was full of seaweed on Cabarete beach ? probably due to all the bad weather. I didn?t do any boogie boarding this time but we enjoyed a great day on the beach soaking up the sun and taking in the sights. There were a few wind and kite surfers out, but nothing like the hundreds of them on the water 2 years ago when we visited during spring break. Prices are up even more here I think ? 75 peso for a lounger in front of restaurant Lax and pequino Presedentes were 90 pesos (in hindsight we may have been able to get them for 70 pesos if we had parked ourselves in front of a different restaurant). We enjoyed a pizza and salad at Lax for lunch which was very good.
After a great day on the beach, we were anxious to check out a restaurant we heard about on DR1. The restaurant is called La Casita (locally known as Papi?s) and is situated right beside Vento. We each ordered the camarones at a cost of 550 pesos each. We couldn?t believe our eyes when the dish came to the table. A huge wok was placed in front of us with 2 dozen massive head-on shrimp bulging out of it. These gambas were so big they almost looked like baby lobsters. The flesh was so white, delicate and sweet, and served up in wonderful garlic curry sauce. This was definitely the best meal of our 3 week stay. Thank you so much Escott, Chris, and others for recommending this fabulous spot.
We caught a gua gua back to Playa Dorada about 8:00 pm and I was surprised how quickly we got there. The van filled up in Cabarete and the driver only stopped in Sosua and a couple other times even though many people had there arm out wanting to get on. At one point I had to get out to let others off, and it just so happened the guy told me to get into the front seat. Now I was sitting like a king in the front while my poor wife was squashed up in the back! Then the driver turned on the interior light and my wife felt a searing sensation. She looked up to see the interior light is a bare bulb dangling by a wire out of the roof over her head. A few minutes later the gua gua stopped in the middle of nowhere. I wasn?t sure what was going on until I saw a Mom had taken her little girl for a pee behind a telephone pole. Where else but the DR is a bus driver going to give that kind of service? The driver had the radio cranked as we sped through the dark Dominican night. One of our favorite Bachatta songs, Perdido, comes on and all the Dominicans on the bus sing along. I sneak a peek at my wife in the back and we both have a huge grin on. Boy, we sure love this country and the music! Life is good!
On our last night in Puerto Plata, we decide to go to Portofino?s for dinner because I had read good reviews on DR1. We were disappointed to find it closed when we arrived at 6:00 pm on a Weds night. We decide to have another meal at Caf? Cito instead. First we stop at Supermercado Jose Luis so our friends can pick up some rum and coconut milk to take home. I wish we would have checked out this store earlier in our stay. We liked it better than Messon and Tropical. They even had frozen lobster tails at a very reasonable price.
We had another nice meal at Caf? Cito and had a good chat with Tim. We picked up more cigars for my wife?s boss. Tim had a limited selection which are supposedly of good quality and were reasonably priced. When we were about to leave, a busload of people took over the restaurant. It turns out they were on a pub crawl that started in Puerto Plata at 6:00 pm and would continue into the wee hours ending in Cabarete. The pub crawl looked like a lot of fun and we?ll have to check it out next time we are in town. One of the few bad things that happened on this trip was my wife and I both got a few dozen insect bites on our feet and legs that evening. I could feel I was getting bites as we ate dinner but didn?t think much of it at the time. About 24 hrs later the itching was driving us crazy. We picked up some cream but it still took 3 days to recover from the bites. I guess we should have been wearing repellant, but we have never been bitten like this in previous trips to the DR.
The next morning we caught the 10:00 am Caribe Tours bus from Puerto Plata to Santo Domingo. The bus fare was very cheap @ 200 pesos each. For a change this bus trip was pretty uneventful. The bus made two stops in Santiago and it took about an hour to get through the city. We enjoyed the limited sights we saw and thought we may spend some time here in the future once our Spanish is better. After Santiago we enjoyed the countryside seeing orange groves, rice patties, corn fields, cow pastures, and even a couple tobacco fields. We were amazed by the number of roadside stands selling manderinas. Do they buy them or steal them out of the orange groves at night? How many of the 100?s of venders could make a buck at this? Many of the homes along the way look incredibly impoverished. All the recent rain looks like it has taken its toll. However, where ever we go in this country the people seem happy. It is so refreshing to us to see how happy people are when they greet one another. The ladies kiss each other on both cheeks and the men will stop traffic and yell across the highway to say hello to an amigo.
We arrived in Santo Domingo at 2:00 pm and caught a taxi to our hotel. We had two nights booked at the Antiguo Hotel Europa. It is a quaint, nicely renovated Hotel in the colonial zone. Rates were quite reasonable at $65 US per night.
We really enjoyed exploring the colonial zone. My wife was fascinated with the architecture. Of course, as usual, I was fascinated by the beauty of the Dominican women. We took plenty of pictures of both. Again we splurged and had nice dinners at Vesuvio on the Malecon and Pat?e Palo in Plaza Espana. The food was good, but not outstanding. Maybe it was just the dishes we picked, but we didn?t think it was worth the high end price we paid. We sat outside at Vesuvio and the noise and fumes from all the traffic on the Malecon did not help the ambiance.
We are faring quite well with our limited Spanish abilities. We have no problems taking/ giving directions, ordering food, making some small talk etc. and are having a lot of fun in the process. Understanding is a different matter ? they just talk so damn fast! At the start of a conversation my wife would always say ?hablas rapido, no comprendo?. This would always result in a chuckle and the person would try to speak more slowly.
Santo Domingo at night is a whole different world than Santo Domingo during the day. We slept little the first night due to all the racket. Sounds of moto conchos, horns honking, car alarms, and dogs fighting filled the night. Now I know why all those scrawny, homeless dogs are so lethargic during the day ? they come to life at night! After dinner at Vesuvio we decided to catch a taxi to the Jaragua Casino. The taxi waiting there wanted 200 peso to go 2 minutes down the Malecon! ?Es demasiado? we said and start walking away expecting him to come back with a better offer, but surprisingly he didn?t. Now two Gringos are walking down the dark Malecon at night. After a few minutes of looking over our shoulders we flag a taxi and are charged a much more reasonable 100 pesos.
We walk into the casino and are quite impressed ? certainly the nicest we have seen in the DR. We head right for the meringue lounge hoping to do some dancing. To our disappointment the lounge is dead but a band is playing and they are quite good. We enjoy the balance of their set over a drink. We are shocked when we receive a bill of 360 pesos for one glass of beer and one glass of wine. That?s $6.00 US/drink! We then try our luck at some craps but that didn?t go very well so we head back to the lounge to watch another set. We take a seat again and the waitress very quickly comes for our order. We tell her no thanks and she sticks a sign in our face showing there is a 2 drink minimum. Felling a bit insulted we get up and leave ? maybe this is why the place is dead?
Heading back to our hotel I have the bright idea of taking a stroll down El Conde at night. It was such a happening place during the day, it must really rock at night. Not long after stepping out of the taxi we realized we had made a big mistake. The street looks like a 2 mile tin can with all the metal store fronts locked up for the night. There are some kids hanging around doing nothing, we notice a few hookers, and some bums are settling in for the night. Now when I say bums, I mean that literally too, as one vagrant gave us a good flash as he crawled into his cardboard box. We get a good workout walking the next 10 blocks to our hotel at a brisk pace. I?m not sure if we were putting ourselves at risk on El Conde or on the Malecon at night, but why take the risk? Taxis are cheap. Stupid Gringos! You can pretty much get anywhere you want to go for 100 to 150 pesos. Apolo Taxi had the best prices. The stupid Gringos are learning and get a good nights sleep on the 2nd night by utilizing their earplugs.
The next morning we are ready to begin the final leg of our vacation. We plan on catching the 10:00 am express bus to Bavaro. This was one part I was a little concerned about originally ? finding some obscure bus stop in a big city we hardly know. Thanks to info found on DR1 we had no problems finding the bus stop and it was in a nice part of the city too (Gascue). We had time to pick up rum at Supermercado National across the street for the trip home and we also made a quick stop at a McDonalds for some fries and a couple Presedentes. I had to take a picture of this one. Where else but the DR could you buy a beer in McDonalds!
Fare to Bavaro was cheap (210 pesos) and we hopped on the bus quickly so we could secure a spot in front to get a bird?s eye view of all the action. We were let down on our last bus trip when nothing exciting happened, but this trip would not disappoint. Our first clue came at the first stop light when the driver had problems shifting gears. He did not seem happy about it. The bus made a stop at Parque Enriquillo to pick up more passengers. I understand why it was suggested not to catch the bus here. There was lots of commotion ? traffic congestion, noise, people everywhere ? quite a happening spot. We quite enjoyed it ? from inside the bus.
As we made our way through the city, the driver continued to have trouble with the bus. I heard him say problema and clutch numerous times. The bus would often stall when starting from a stop ? I don?t think he could get it into first gear. We would get stuck in the middle of intersections and cars would be honking at us - this was exciting! As we continued, other words besides problema were coming from the driver as he vented to the Dominican woman sitting behind him. There was liberal use of the word coger which we recognized from Spanish class ? we were told not to use this word in Latin America. And just in case we didn?t get the drift he finally turned to us and in good English said ?This bus is f#@$ed.? It turns out this was the fifth day the driver had the same problem with the bus and the company was doing nothing about it. He was clearly frustrated when he told us ?I love my job?. I couldn?t quite understand why, but he felt it necessary to flag down busses passing in the opposite direction to tell them all about the problema. Since he came to a stop to do this, it just created another problem to get going again!
Once we got out of the city the bus performed fine. The driver cranked up the tunes, but he had some sappy slow music on. Before long, someone was yelling at the driver from the back of the bus. The driver smiled and changed the station. A good bachata song was playing, the driver cranked it up a few more notches and started singing along ? go figure. Once we reach Sammy Sosa?s home town the bus really starts to act up. Now the driver is cursing to someone on his cell phone and we barely make it through the city. A few miles before we reach La Romana the driver stops our ?express? bus for a lunch break. We jump at the opportunity to stretch our legs and sip on a Presedente. My wife came back from the bathroom shaking her head. Who would design a stall that was so small it was impossible to shut the door when sitting on the toilet? And what?s with the no toilet seats?? This seems to be a common occurrence in the DR ? even in the Airports. Now if anyone deserved a break, it was our driver, and we were content taking a nice long break here. But for some reason a guy on the bus wasn?t so patient and after about 15 minutes he was in the driver?s seat honking the horn and yelling at the driver to get moving. All this commotion but no one seems to get angry!! Only in the DR! Someone would get shot if they tried this stunt back home.
We get going again and limp through La Romana. Before long we are descending down to the bridge over the Chavron River. There is a bit of a line up at the bridge and a steep grade going up the other side ? this is going to be a problema! Sure enough the bus stalls right at the bottom of the hill and the driver can?t get it back into gear. Calmly he grabs a screwdriver, goes outside to direct traffic for a while, and then fiddles with the bus. He jumps back in and pops the bus into first gear. The driver red lines the engine, creeping up the hill, not daring to attempt to shift in the middle of the hill. After what seems like an eternity we reach the top of the hill and the driver cleanly shifts into second gear. Everyone on the bus erupts into applause! Looking ahead I thought maybe our celebration could be a bit premature. A fully loaded cement truck was creeping up another hill in front of us. We slow to a crawl behind it and then to our amazement the truck starts to dump a stream of cement in the middle of the highway! Maybe he was a tad overloaded? We broke out in laughter as I tried to snap a couple pictures. Even the driver throws his hands in the air and exclaims ?aye yi yi?! What could happen to us next?
We now reach a part of the country we haven?t seen before. The landscape changes from scrub with huge cacti to cow pasture to large stretches of sugar cane. You can see the mountains in the background. Workers are harvesting cane with machetes and piling them on carts pulled by oxen. This must be a dreadful job! A few miles before Higuey, the driver is on his cell phone again and then flags down a bus going the other way. It looks like our adventure is coming to an end. We change busses in the middle of the highway and say so long to our driver.
Our new driver drops off a few resort workers on our way to Bavaro, and we aren?t quite sure where to get off, but we end up getting off just a short taxi ride from the hotel. The trip ends up taking 5 hours (probably would have been 4 hours sin problemas). Cost for the 5 minute taxi ride to Grande Paradise Bavaro was 240 pesos. Looks like things are going to be a bit more expensive on this side of the country. Unfortunately we were forced to take the all inclusive at this, our sister Ahmsa Marina resort, @ $50 US/day/person. As it turned out we were ready to kick back and do nothing for our last week anyway. We were pleasantly surprised to see they gave us a room in a good area of the resort with a spectacular ocean front view from the balcony. We were not sure what was going on, but for some reason we seemed to be getting the VIP treatment at this resort. They even brought a bottle of champagne and a plate of fruit to our room one evening for no apparent reason. The beaches on this coast are outstanding. This was our first visit to the Punta Cana area and the beautiful white powder, wide beaches that went on forever were the nicest we have ever stepped on. The water was clear most days and we both enjoyed playing in the waves. The weather was nice except for one day of rain and wind and one cloudy day.
Although this is a beautiful area of the country, I think tourists coming here miss out on the DR?s greatest asset ? the wonderful people. Sure you can talk with some of the resort workers and have fun with the animation team, but you are really missing out by not getting out of the resort and getting a true taste of the Dominican culture.
We got a bit of a kick out of the animation team here. They were all charming and not too pushy. They all wore their special uniforms except for 3 guys that happened to be Italian. These guys were clearly part of the team, but didn?t wear the uniforms and looked a little out of place. We jokingly referred to them as ?the Dominican imposters?.
We went to the disco most nights to practice our dancing ? in addition to Spanish classes we had taken Latin dance classes in Canada. Also, in the disco we have an opportunity to do a little Sankie spotting. This resort had a huge animation team and we were surprised how many of them showed up at the disco after the nightly show. They are all great dancers and we were incredibly impressed by a couple from the team that did an amazing salsa routine one night. One Dominican asked my wife to dance a few times, but he was very polite, always asking my permission. He was no Sankie, he just liked to dance and usually only asked the married women. Two of the animation guys were all over the single women, bumping and grinding on the dance floor. It was quite funny ? they looked like the professionals I have read about on DR1. I guess you would need to be a single woman to find out for sure if these guys were Sankies ? and even then it could take a while.
I apologize for this dreadfully long trip report. I don?t contribute much to this forum, but find myself lurking a fair amount (too much in my wife?s opinion) to keep up on the happenings in our second favorite country. I?ve been feeling guilty since that message first popped up a few months ago that says ?Hello Gordo, it appears that you have not posted on our forums for a while??? So here?s my contribution, it took all day to write, but I didn?t mind a bit - its been like therapy, easing my transition back to reality and at the same time allowing me to relive the vacation all over again.
So Robert, do you think you can ease my guilt and remove that message for a little while ? say until next year, when we look for new adventures in this amazing country?
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