My son and I just returned to LaRomana a couple days ago from our 5 day DR road trip, was a great experience for both of us, as this was Craig's first trip to the DR and I had been too busy building my house etc. to see much more than Santo Domingo and the areas around LaRomana.
Our first starter side trip was to Casa de Campo to see the hotel sized homes being built around their 4th golf course and then on to Altos de Chavon, an old style Mediteranian type village high on the bluff overlooking the Chavon river. It's a very peaceful and relaxing place with lots of restaurants, small shops, shaded walkways, and great vistas.
We then took a full day warm up drive to S. D. and spent much of the day in Zona Colonial walking and taking in the sights and the odd tour. I know I'll get some flak for this, but we weren't overly impressed, it was OK, but...
Decided to round out the day with a couple cervesas fria at my friends beach restaurant in Boca Chica and then back to LaRomana.
We were now ready for the real trip, 2 days later we drove to Banao and discovered I had left my street maps at home. Being the adventuresome types, we proceeded to explore the town anyway, was definetely not the sleepy little place we expected. Down town was bustling and very clean, however, it did take us about 30 min. to find our way back out of town thru the maze of one ways and semi circular streets.
On to La Vega, not so adventuresome this time, stopped for a late lunch and decided to press on to Santiago.
Had no trouble finding the main core area of Santiago and bought a map.
With map in hand we walked for a couple or so hours, up to the Monument on the hill, the old fort being renovated, thru the not so nice area down toward the river and back up to the Hotel Colonial, where we got a fairly nice room with 2 beds, AC, cable TV, and security for my car for $858.00 pesos.
Next morning we explored a little more and took the back road to P.O.P. an absolutely georgeous drive, and spent the rest of the day doing the typical touristy things like the Amber and Larimar museums, the fort etc.
We stayed at the Aparta Hotel Lomar on the Malecon, again a nice room with 2 beds etc. for $1,000.00 pesos.
My son wanted a little beach time, so we moved on to Sosua were he did his beach thing and I explored town and had a fairly decent massage at one of the many massage places around town.
Although the north coast is very beautiful, it's much too touristy for our liking, so we moved on, taking another road less travelled from Sabaneta de Yasica to Moca, and on thru to Banao, where we stayed the night for $550.00 pesos. Again 2 beds etc. with a pool parlor and disco down stairs, both of which we enjoyed.
During our evening walk around town we were, as they put it, attacked by 2 lovely young university students who wanted to interview us for their English classes, so with tape recorder in hand we spent at least an hour sitting in the park talking and answering their questions.
The following day we did a marathon 8 hour drive from Banao thru S.D., San Christobal, Bani, Azua and then a circumnavigation of Largo Enriquillo to within a few kilometers of the Haitian border and at least a dozen military check points, and on down to Barahona. Much of this drive was thru miles of semi desert and cactus, with many beautiful and bountyful valleys.
About all we saw of Barahona was the down town area, a couple beers on the Malecon with dinner and early to bed.
After a good sleep we left early for a little village further south along the coast, called Bahorucco, home of the only Larimar mine in the world.
We found a guy who knew a guy, who knew another guy that could take us up to the mine, about 10 kms. up into the mountains, and I mean up.
An unbelievable experience, 100's of people digging holes down into the mountain with nothing but a short handled pick and shovel. Each hole has a small generator for lights, a small compressor for air and a bucket on a long rope for hauling out ore, rock and accumulated water from the hole.
We crawled down into one of the shallow holes, about 4 ft. X 4 ft. X 50 ft. deep, not a fun crawl, but what an experience to see how they work down there.
The people up there were just fantastic, so eager to talk with us and show us every aspect of their work, and of course, try to sell us some of the ore.
Back down the mountain, we were taken into a little community off the highway that you would never know existed, and the Larimar started coming out from every where for us to see and hopefully buy.
After about an hour of getting to know the people and laughing and joking with them, the prices came down considerably and I made some very good buys.
Leaving there on a natural high, we planned on driving all the way home that night, but stopped in Boca Chica for dinner at my friends. After dinner we discovered there was a huge street party going on, so we got rooms and stayed. It was a shame to waste a good beach, so our 5 day trip became 6 days by the time we got home late the next day.
This trip may not be for everyone, but we really enjoyed it, especially meeting some fantastic people along the way, and seeing first hand just how beautiful and diverse Dom. Rep. really is.
Ken & Craig
Our first starter side trip was to Casa de Campo to see the hotel sized homes being built around their 4th golf course and then on to Altos de Chavon, an old style Mediteranian type village high on the bluff overlooking the Chavon river. It's a very peaceful and relaxing place with lots of restaurants, small shops, shaded walkways, and great vistas.
We then took a full day warm up drive to S. D. and spent much of the day in Zona Colonial walking and taking in the sights and the odd tour. I know I'll get some flak for this, but we weren't overly impressed, it was OK, but...
Decided to round out the day with a couple cervesas fria at my friends beach restaurant in Boca Chica and then back to LaRomana.
We were now ready for the real trip, 2 days later we drove to Banao and discovered I had left my street maps at home. Being the adventuresome types, we proceeded to explore the town anyway, was definetely not the sleepy little place we expected. Down town was bustling and very clean, however, it did take us about 30 min. to find our way back out of town thru the maze of one ways and semi circular streets.
On to La Vega, not so adventuresome this time, stopped for a late lunch and decided to press on to Santiago.
Had no trouble finding the main core area of Santiago and bought a map.
With map in hand we walked for a couple or so hours, up to the Monument on the hill, the old fort being renovated, thru the not so nice area down toward the river and back up to the Hotel Colonial, where we got a fairly nice room with 2 beds, AC, cable TV, and security for my car for $858.00 pesos.
Next morning we explored a little more and took the back road to P.O.P. an absolutely georgeous drive, and spent the rest of the day doing the typical touristy things like the Amber and Larimar museums, the fort etc.
We stayed at the Aparta Hotel Lomar on the Malecon, again a nice room with 2 beds etc. for $1,000.00 pesos.
My son wanted a little beach time, so we moved on to Sosua were he did his beach thing and I explored town and had a fairly decent massage at one of the many massage places around town.
Although the north coast is very beautiful, it's much too touristy for our liking, so we moved on, taking another road less travelled from Sabaneta de Yasica to Moca, and on thru to Banao, where we stayed the night for $550.00 pesos. Again 2 beds etc. with a pool parlor and disco down stairs, both of which we enjoyed.
During our evening walk around town we were, as they put it, attacked by 2 lovely young university students who wanted to interview us for their English classes, so with tape recorder in hand we spent at least an hour sitting in the park talking and answering their questions.
The following day we did a marathon 8 hour drive from Banao thru S.D., San Christobal, Bani, Azua and then a circumnavigation of Largo Enriquillo to within a few kilometers of the Haitian border and at least a dozen military check points, and on down to Barahona. Much of this drive was thru miles of semi desert and cactus, with many beautiful and bountyful valleys.
About all we saw of Barahona was the down town area, a couple beers on the Malecon with dinner and early to bed.
After a good sleep we left early for a little village further south along the coast, called Bahorucco, home of the only Larimar mine in the world.
We found a guy who knew a guy, who knew another guy that could take us up to the mine, about 10 kms. up into the mountains, and I mean up.
An unbelievable experience, 100's of people digging holes down into the mountain with nothing but a short handled pick and shovel. Each hole has a small generator for lights, a small compressor for air and a bucket on a long rope for hauling out ore, rock and accumulated water from the hole.
We crawled down into one of the shallow holes, about 4 ft. X 4 ft. X 50 ft. deep, not a fun crawl, but what an experience to see how they work down there.
The people up there were just fantastic, so eager to talk with us and show us every aspect of their work, and of course, try to sell us some of the ore.
Back down the mountain, we were taken into a little community off the highway that you would never know existed, and the Larimar started coming out from every where for us to see and hopefully buy.
After about an hour of getting to know the people and laughing and joking with them, the prices came down considerably and I made some very good buys.
Leaving there on a natural high, we planned on driving all the way home that night, but stopped in Boca Chica for dinner at my friends. After dinner we discovered there was a huge street party going on, so we got rooms and stayed. It was a shame to waste a good beach, so our 5 day trip became 6 days by the time we got home late the next day.
This trip may not be for everyone, but we really enjoyed it, especially meeting some fantastic people along the way, and seeing first hand just how beautiful and diverse Dom. Rep. really is.
Ken & Craig
