alankurdusa said:
yes guy you right it's Pedernales, How many Km from the capital of DR to Pedernales city and how long it will take to get there?
Thanx
I'm not too sure how far away Pedernales is (assuming its the provincial capital you are referring to and not some campo in another area of the country with a similar name).
However, it's a LONG RIDE. Of course, the ride is boring one minute, spectacularly scenic the next, but long either way!
Take Carretera Sanchez (2) out of Santo Domingo (just follow the malecon going west, if the sea is on your left, then you are going west) the malecon becomes Autopista 30 de Mayo and that merges and becomes Carr. Sanchez.
Follow the road all the way to Barahona. From Barahona follow the coastal road that leads into the rediculously beautiful Sierra de Bahoruco mountains that seem to plunge into the sea! Truly spectacular scenery and heavily forested which I like to see. This road will take you all the way to Oviedo (very dusty town in a place that is a virtual desert). Just south of there the road turns towards the west. On the left, all that land is Parque Nacional Jaragua in case you are interested.
The road leads all the way to Pedernales, which is snuggled right along the border with Haiti and although it's technically illegal to cross into Haiti from there, as you will notice, many people are not aware of this illegality.
One of the interesting thing of such a trip is that you will witness how ecologically diverse this country is by simply following the route. One minute you could think you are in the interior of Spain with the arid Sierra de Martin Garcia and the blistering sun and arid landscape and then the road makes a turn and bam, a jungle clad mountainside greener than anything will appear as if reclaiming the land and it becomes clear that Spain is very very far away. Truly spectacular scenery.
May the lord be with you if you happen to pass through the Azua plains around noon, the place is a virtual frying pan! One of the hottest and driest places on the island.
The bad thing about such a trip is the level of poverty really gets serious in the southwest, striking different from the other areas of the country. Also, after crossing along the edge sandwitched between the stupendously green and forest clad Sierra de Bahoruco on one side and the always beautiful Caribbean sea on the other side, it becomes rather disturbing to see the mountains along the border completely denude of trees, with little to no animal life at all!
You can even see dried riverbeds that certainly come back to life when the rain comes, if ever.
The closer you get to Haiti, the more military posts you will witness and also the presence of Haiti is very obvious with the changing landscape and also the fact that you can tune into Haitian radio stations in many areas in the southwest and listen to Haitian music, etc.
Just remember to fill your gas tank especially when you reach Barahona, because after that, gasoline stations are few and far between. Do not take the risk, fill it up!
A rough estimate of how long it would take, let's put it in around 5 to 8 hours (oh yes, its that long). It all depends on how many stops you make, average speed, etc, but all in all, it's a long trip.