Las Terranas 14 Day Report

Rumble2005

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Mar 18, 2006
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I am finally here :glasses:

My intent in this post it to give a day by day account of my vacation in Las Terrenas in order to help others that may be planning a similar venture.

I must forewarn anyone that is looking for an exhilarting trip report that you will likely be disapointed.

My goal of this vacation is to relax and rejuvinate. Thus, I will not be reporting on the club scene etc. .
I will report on my boring vaction which will likely be comprised of chilling on the beach, going to dinner, a few day tours etc.

I would like to thank those DR1ers that pointed me toward the location that I am currently writing this from(El Colibri).
Please excuse my obvious typos and grammatical errors as I am dead *** tired.

Day One

I awoke from my house one hour north of Ottawa at 4 AM. One hour later than planned.
I thank GOD that the road conditions were good and it was not snowing etc. We awoke to a balmy minus 10 which was sadly a treat.

Although we had a little sleep in, we still made our 7 AM flight to Montreal.

Through some good fortune we had access to the Air Cananda Lounge which was nice as we had 4 hours to kill.
I had my first vacation beer at 11:01. The lounge starts serving at 11 :squareeye

Let me say the recession must be over in Canada as the AC lounge was packed for the 4 hours we were there.
It was not business travellers. Primarilly famillies.

We boarded at 12:15 EST and landed at El Catey at 17:40. 3 hours and 47 minutes with day light savings time removed. We went from -14 C (in Montreal)to 27 C in 3 + hours. SWEET.

The El Catey airport is small.
Our flight was the only one there.
Most passengers seemed to be getting on the A/I buses which left my wife and I as prime picking for the Taxi's.
I was expecting a rate of about $50 US based on DR1 intelligence but I could not find a rate better than $70 US at the airport.
One guy seemed to control all the taxi's and I was not able to negotiate with anyone. I did try though:ermm:

Anyhow, we hopped in our $70 cab with a super nice driver that spoke decent English.
Better than our Spanglish.
We spent the next hour travelling to Las Terrenas.
What an AWESOME drive that was. Holy cow, was it beautiful!!! I loved EVERY minute of that drive!!!

We arrived at our hotel on schedule and checked in.
Everything is great at the El Colibri. Of course we have all the usual Dominican obsticalces to overcome.

We went to the beach bar with $20 US to buy a beer and Cuba Libre.

After I had taken a few sips of my beer I was informed they don't take American Dollars at this bar. They have no change.......(shocker)

I then laugh and say "do you want the beer back" ?
Of course they found a way to make my American dollars work for them.

We then went back to our room and could not get the key to work. It turns out we had one key for the door and one for the balcony but they did not tell us that.
We thought they gave us duplicates for the door so we left one in the room, LOL . Back to reception , we went.

Anyhow, we gained access to our room and soon attempted to gain access to the free WIFI that is advertised.
Well, it is free BUT back down to reception to get the WIFI key.

We had zero supplies in our room. The Colibri front office kindlly offered to hire a motto concho to town to stock us up. He grabbed all the supplies we ordered for $150 RD. SWEET.

All in all a FANTASTIC day and happy to be back in the DR. We LOVE all these quirky little roadblocks that the DR has to offer :glasses:

I will add to this daily for the next 14 days (boring as it may be) and upload pictures if the internet speed permits.
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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Interesting post. Some good insights. IE: Taxis at the new airport are thieves. Good thing to know. However that can be rationalized by the fact that that one hour drive produces RD$2600, minus fuel and wear and tear, maybe for the next two days? Not all that profitable.

Glad you like the accomodations. And do keep us informed...be nice to get this new point of view...Oh, by the way>? That's Las Terrenas....Not Terranas, and that reminds me of a "Dominincan joke on foreigners".

It seems that Steven and his new Dominican wife (and it could be Colombian, Brazilian etc) got back from their honeymoon and Steve was telling the guys all about the trip.

"Well, we arrived at the hotel, and when we got to the room I went up on the Terazza, and then we went to dinner, and later on I went up to the Terazza." And so on. In the morning to the Terazza, after going to the pool, Terazza,,after brunch, Terazza, on an on with this terazza thing.

Finally, one of the guys said"Whoa! That terazza must have been some spectacular place, was it the view? Did it have a jacuzzi? What made it so spectacular??"

Just then a voice comes from the kitchen: "Carajo, how many time I gotta tell you Esteve? My name is Teresa, Not Terazza!!!"

Be well have fun...


HB
 
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william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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Taxis

There just are not enough flights at el Catey to feed all the taxis.

They need to "make hay when the sun shines"

As you point out..... you may have been the only customer.
Not a good position to bargain from:ermm:

Its a long walk from there:eek:

WW
 

siegs

Member
May 9, 2006
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Looking forward to hearing about the next 13 days.
Good trip to you.
Rumble on.
 

Rumble2005

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Mar 18, 2006
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Day 2

Day 2

The first full official day of vacation was awesome.
I just love walking in this country. And, did I walk!!!!
It is such a treat to be able to get out and walk. I really have not been able to walk for any duration in Canada since November due to weather.

About 8:30 AM I headed out for town. The approximate 1 mile walk to town was awesome taking in the ocean / beach views.

My primary goal walking into town was to get pesos and from there acquire the vacation essentials . Rum, Beer, Wine :glasses:

We brought American dollars here as they are generally more accepted than Canadian dollars around the world.
After having my American dollars rejected last night I decided to change some for pesos today.
That proved to be a challenge. Most change banks seemed to be closed on Sunday AM. The first one that I found open had no change. LOL. I love this country. I wandered LT for almost 2 hours before acquiring some pesos. I am a little spoiled by Sosua where the annoying change guys are on every corner :ermm:

LT is a very sleepy little town on a Sunday AM. I am sure I will see it more lively in days to come.

I finally accomplished all of my goals in LT of acquiring pesos,rum,beer,wine and decided to be lazy and hire a motto concho for the ride back.
I thought my arms were going to fall off by the time we arrived at El Colibri.
It's not easy carrying 50 pounds of booze on a motor bike when you are not accustomed to it :glasses:
However, what a deal. 100 pesos for the ride. Can't beat that.

Once back at the hotel my wife and I headed a 5 minutes down the beach to a little shack with a barbecue for breakfast/lunch. We had two polo (chicken) chicken sandwiches , 2 presidente, and 2 cuba libre for $20 US.
We could taste a noticeable difference in freshness from Canada.
The ocean views were great. What an awesome place to have lunch.

After my long morning walk , lunch a few drinks it was off to Playa Colibri for a siesta. My annual vacation is the only time I get to siesta all year and I LOVE it. Nothing like catching some vitamin D and ZZZ's at the same time.

Tonight we wandered down the dark road to Hotel Alsysie (spelling)for dinner. I really don't know how safe the road is. There were no motto concho's around. Otherwise we would have taken one.
It is a tough walk at night as it is very dark and there are many opportunites to roll your ankles over on rocks and holes in the road that cannot be seen in the dark.

We had a red snapper and a sea bass for dinner. Eveything was super fresh. Dinner tonight was $55 US which also included a presidente,cuba libre and 2 red wine. All and all we enjoyed it and may go back.

All in all it was a great day!
 
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dulce

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Jan 1, 2002
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I am loving your reports and look forward to reading more.
Here is acouple of helpful hints for you:
Next time you go for supplies on a motorconcho have the driver hang your supplies on his handlebars or something. The drivers are used to carrying tons of stuff on those conchos.
Next time you are out and about inquire about a reliable concho driver in the area to pick you up after dark to go out.
Have Fun!
 

RonS

Bronze
Oct 18, 2004
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I'm totally envious! lol. I love the Colibri and the restaurant at the Alsei is great. Las Terranas is my absolute favorite destination in the DR and its a great time of year to get away from the cold north and get to the warmth and tranquility of LT. I read that you are doing my favorite things, ie, relaxing and chilling on the beach, but if you get up just enough energy to do some interesting things on the penninsula, there is a nearby town, Limon, which hosts the waterfalls and some great authentic Dominican cuisine. Also, the North American humpback whales are now in Samana Bay and a sightseeing tour out there with Kim Beddall is well worth the time and effort. I'm amd really looking forward to reading future posts as you experience one of the most beautiful places in the Domincan Republic.
 

Africaida

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Jun 19, 2009
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Day 2

The first full official day of vacation was awesome.
I just love walking in this country. And, did I walk!!!!
It is such a treat to be able to get out and walk. I really have not been able to walk for any duration in Canada since November due to weather.

About 8:30 AM I headed out for town. The approximate 1 mile walk to town was awesome taking in the ocean / beach views.

My primary goal walking into town was to get pesos and from there acquire the vacation essentials . Rum, Beer, Wine :glasses:

We brought American dollars here as they are generally more accepted than Canadian dollars around the world.
After having my American dollars rejected last night I decided to change some for pesos today.
That proved to be a challenge. Most change banks seemed to be closed on Sunday AM. The first one that I found open had no change. LOL. I love this country. I wandered LT for almost 2 hours before acquiring some pesos. I am a little spoiled by Sosua where the annoying change guys are on every corner :ermm:

LT is a very sleepy little town on a Sunday AM. I am sure I will see it more lively in days to come.

I finally accomplished all of my goals in LT of acquiring pesos,rum,beer,wine and decided to be lazy and hire a motto concho for the ride back.
I thought my arms were going to fall off by the time we arrived at El Colibri.
It's not easy carrying 50 pounds of booze on a motor bike when you are not accustomed to it :glasses:
However, what a deal. 100 pesos for the ride. Can't beat that.

Once back at the hotel my wife and I headed a 5 minutes down the beach to a little shack with a barbecue for breakfast/lunch. We had two polo (chicken) chicken sandwiches , 2 presidente, and 2 cuba libre for $20 US.
We could taste a noticeable difference in freshness from Canada.
The ocean views were great. What an awesome place to have lunch.

After my long morning walk , lunch a few drinks it was off to Playa Colibri for a siesta. My annual vacation is the only time I get to siesta all year and I LOVE it. Nothing like catching some vitamin D and ZZZ's at the same time.

Tonight we wandered down the dark road to Hotel Alsysie (spelling)for dinner. I really don't know how safe the road is. There were no motto concho's around. Otherwise we would have taken one.
It is a tough walk at night as it is very dark and there are many opportunites to roll your ankles over on rocks and holes in the road that cannot be seen in the dark.

We had a red snapper and a sea bass for dinner. Eveything was super fresh. Dinner tonight was $55 US which also included a presidente,cuba libre and 2 red wine. All and all we enjoyed it and may go back.

All in all it was a great day!

I am envious !!

By the way, 100 pesos is not a great deal, Dominicans pay 40-50 pesos for a ride within town ;)
 

CG

Bronze
Sep 16, 2004
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50 RD$ max for a concho with-in town, now it's like "two for one" for you !
Enjoy ! and look forward to more reading.
The cab ride is that, 70.00US$ for the trip from El Catey to Las Terrenas.
It's what it is.
 
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Rumble2005

Active member
Mar 18, 2006
388
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Day 3

Day 3

Today was quite uneventful, which is nice on vacation:squareeye
The day started with breakfast at the Colibri beach hut.
The resteraunt that appears on the internent does not exist or at the very least does not belong to the Colibri any more.
Our breakfast consisted of two eggs with ham and 2 slices of toast, two coffee.
This was 10 feet from the ocean for the outrageous price of $350 RD or just under 10 USD ;)

After breakfest we headed down the beach to town.

We stopped at the fish market and bartered for the catch of the day that were just rolling in.

We saw at least 10 small fishing boats rolling in with fresh fish which were quickly auctioned off.

We had our eye on a large red snapper that they wanted 680 RD for. It would likely provide 4 meals. There were also LARGE dorados and other fish there that were freshly caught and cleaned.

Tomorrow we will likely buy a fresh fish for dinner.

I will post pictures of the small fish market at some point.

We made our way into town by noon"ish".

Along the way we saw so many amzaing things. We say a guy climbing a palm tree in his bare feet ,clipping the limbs and sliding down it better than anyone has ever traversed a brass pole:paranoid:

The guy was GOOD.

I thought I had a video to post to You Tube but i had the damned camera on the wrong setting :angry:

We shook his hand when he landed and he gave us that huge Dominican smile:glasses:

We made our way to town and wandererd around somewhat aimlessly.
We found a cambio and changed US$ for 37.5.
Again I found LT to be a very sleepy little tourist town.
There is life going on but for the average tourist it is not extremely user friendly.
It is a little tough to find change banks etc. Not a complaint. Just an observation :)

We had to be back to the Colibri by 2 PM (long Dominican story) but the bottom line is the owners of our room were arriving today so we had to move.
This was a total pain in the *** butt it was still the best Monday we have had in a looooong time. The new room is actually a little better then the old one for views etc.

We changed rooms and then chilled at the beach for a few hours.
The sun viciously attacked our pale white skin from two until five :glasses:

Sometime around 5 we hired a taxi to LT in order to go to the Super market to buy real groceries. Not just booze :glasses:

It was $20 US to hire a taxi town(return trip). The driver again was awesome. A true Dominican jem. He even came in the store with us and advised us on the best products to buy. He was a really nice guy.

We cooked dinner in the room tonight which was nice. The food is so incredibally fresh compared to Canada.
My wife likes it even better knowing that we do not have to do the dishes in the morning.
We hope and expect the maid will do them but stranger things have happened.....

Tomorrow will be a quiet day once again which is nice. My wife has booked a massage on the beach at 3 PM and I will wander into town and do "whatever".

Wednesday we plan to rent a quad and do some touring.

Thank you to Dulce and RonS for your recent advice. We will use it.
 

yanandu

Banned
Jan 23, 2011
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If you walk through the Paseo the shopping center on the right on the road from the beach when you exit you will find an exchange office on the right.
Yanandu
 

Rumble2005

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Mar 18, 2006
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Day 4

Day 4

It was a quiet day. But a good one. The weather was a little unsettled until abbout 11 AM.
We had a little sleep in due to the rain. About 10 AM I headed down to the beach bar and ordered a coffee.
I thought we were in for a full day of rain and I was getting a little down.
By the time I finished my first cup of coffee the rain stopped and the sun was burning through.
What is that saying in Calgary? If you don't like the weather wait for ten minutes.....I have never been there but have heard the phrase and it was applicable here today.
I had cup number 2 of coffee knee deep in the ocean under the sun. Life is good:glasses:
I tried to pay for my coffee with a $1000 RD bill.
Poor Jannie, the beach hut attendant had that horrific look we have seen so often, followed by the usual, not possible. She then babbled on in quick spanish that was beyond my comprehension.
I was expecting this response as this is not my first trip to the DR.
I settled up with Jannie later in the day. She is another Dominican cutie.
I have no idea how a hotel beach bar operates on a float that cannot support a $1000 RD or about $30 US payment but that seems to be the norm.
This is truly a country without change.

We then walked all the way to the end of the beach past the sailing club and to Hotel Perdermo (spelling). I wanted to have lunch there and for whatever reason my wife did not.
In the interest of matrimonial bliss we headed back to Eden Beach for lunch. This is right next door to the Colibri and where my wife wanted lunch.

Lunch was good.My wife had chicken cordon bleu which was quite good and I had Pincho De Pollo.
I had know idea what I had ordered. To my relief I had ordered a shishkabob. It was decent.
Combined with two Presidente the bill was $27 US.

After a small siesta two haitan women rolled up on a scooter for the pre-arranged massage on the beach for my wife. $30 US for that which I knew was too much but again in the interest of matrimonial bliss.....I remained silent.

That was my cue to walk into LT for some "me" time. I did the walk along the ocean in about 20 minutes. I cannot stop rushing and measuring time even though I am on vacation. Perhaps by week two that will come:squareeye

Again I observe that LT is not a easy town to walk in. Your head has to be on a swivel to look for concho's or holes in the road or sidewalks ending for no reason etc. . I find all of this amusing but some might not.

Once in LT I stopped at Big Dan's Ice Pallace. There was one patron and the bartender.
The bartender was a super nice American guy and the lone patron was a fellow Canadian Ex Pat. He was drunk as a skunk at 4 PM and really annoying. I can handle drunk an annoying people if I am drunk but at 4 PM I was not drunk so it was one beer and out.
I still enjoyed watching LT life guy buy between dumb drunken repetitive questions :glasses:

A Grande Presidente at Big Dan's was $100 RD.

I walked back to El Colibri which was likely about my 5th mile on the day (this is not a complaint as I love every second of it). I could easily hop on a concho but prefer to walk and enjoy the surroundings.

Once back at about 5:30 PM "we" :ermm: decided that I would walk another 1/2 mile back to La Thalussa and order a take out dinner to be ate in the room.
I arrived by 6:30 but they do not open until 7:30 so I went to Hotel Alysie again.
I grabbed a bass with potatoe and a ravioli stuffed with pumpkin and almonds for $1145 RD. Of course I had a Presidente while I waited :glasses:

When I got back to El Colibri the Pumpkin Ravioli was really spinach. Oh well:glasses:

I must advise tourists to LT to learn the basics in Spanish as the locals here speak a lot less English than other parts of the DR we have been. Of course english speaking tourists also seem to be a minority here. French and Italian seem to be the predominant tourist nationalities from what I have observed.

At our hotel there are a lot of French people at the moment.

All in all a great vacation thus far. The biggest bitch is MOSQUITOS.

We are getting eaten alive. My wife much more than I.
She has massive open sores and they are itchy and oozing. Not pleasant.
As Canandians we know mosquitos but these are not your average Canadian bloodsucker.
The Candadian version are big lumbering brutts the size if hummingbirds;) that will land and remove a gallon of blood if you let them.
They are slow (especially if they escape with your blood). They leave very little after effets in the remaining days.
These little DR ***tards are, quick. hard to hit, and hard to feel at impact.
They leave wounds that puss up and oooze, they are extremely itchy. But scratching of course compounds the issue.

We have used repellant at night. How do we get rid of these little *******?

I have heard they like fresh blood. We are on trip 15 to the DR but LT is the worst mosquito locale so far. They are BAD.

Tomorrow I am hoping to rent a Quad and tour!!!!
 

yanandu

Banned
Jan 23, 2011
472
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Long sleves and pants at night an a small spray of baygon for the room may help.
It's in a plastic bottle that should transport back to Canada - but just in case wrap well in plastic bags.
Off deep woods in a plastic spray bottle is good. If you don't finish it its small plastic bottle so easy to transport back to Canada.
Both available at Lindo supermarket.

Prawns can be bought at the fish market at the beach. About 190 - 200 a lb usually enough for two people. Fried in olive oil coated in seafood fry mix very good.
A small whole fish about 2lbs to share between 2 is also possible 80 - 100 lb.
Lobster will set you back more 1 1/2 lb to share between 2 about 350 pesos.
Cook quite slowly - its a bit different to Canadian lobster.

Great posting.

Yanandu
 
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RonS

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Oct 18, 2004
1,457
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"I cannot stop rushing and measuring time even though I am on vacation. Perhaps by week two that will come"

Don't worry, in a day or two (and two is stretching it) you will understand the true meaning of 'tranquillo'! I experience the same thing my first few days in Las Terranas after comming from the hustle bustle of the US and Santo Domingo. LT is a wonderful place to unwind and recharge. Walking the beach from the Colibri into town, looking out onto the clear blue water of the Atlantic Ocean, ugh, I am soo envious! lol. If you're like me, before you know it, you'll want to permanently join the ranks of beach bums the world over. Good luck tearing yourself away when its time to leave ... but then ... you've got plenty of time to enjoy our little secret paradise before then.
 

CG

Bronze
Sep 16, 2004
984
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Regarding Mosquitos: if your eating banana's, STOP !.
We are not finding the situation so bad, sorry to hear it.
cg

Enjoying your post !
 
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Rumble2005

Active member
Mar 18, 2006
388
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Day 5

Day 5

I apologize to anyone looking for any sort of an exciting trip report. This is not for you.

Today we did almost nothing. It was great, however tough to write about :glasses: .

I had planned to go quad touring today but for whatever reason did not do so.
It was an awesome day here in LT. The weather was great.

The day started with breakfast at the beach bar. We had two coffee, egg with ham and two toast for 250 RD.

We then headed down the beach to the fishmarket. We got there and it was a FEEDING FRENZY,on us.
They were shoving giant crabs, fish of all descriptions, shrimp etc. at us and everyone was talking at once. It was a little chaotic.

I think, possibly to shut them up we quickly settled on a fish. A 3 pound Captain Fish for 380 RD.
We thought that price included filleting it, but we were informed after it was filleted that there was an extra charge for the filleting.
Oh well, we are here to vacation and support the local economy :glasses:

I have no idea what a Captain Fish is. We Googled it after the purchase and there is very little coming up for Captain Fish. Not a big deal.

I then spent the next few hours snorkeling. I was honestly a littled disapointed as I thought the snorkeling would compare to Sosua and it was not close. Perhaps I was not in the right location?

This "busy" day lead to an afternoon siesta. Oh how I love those on the Playa :glasses:

The hotel was invaded by Germans today. It is a small hotel of about 45 rooms and now appears to be full.

My wife is a fabulous cook. She decided we needed a little white wine to cook the Captain Fish in so I headed down to the beach bar for a small amount of white wine. Of course they don't have any, so we are walking again :glasses:
We walked about a 1/2 mile to Club Claude. It is an Ex Pat hangout for the French. It is about 10 feet from La Thalusa .
I don't think there is much point going in unless you speek French.
I grabbed a Presidente and my wife smoothed the owner into a free Vino Blanco with her broken french :glasses:
In all seriousness, he was a nice guy and it was a nice gesture on his part.

With that we had all the essentials needed to fry up our Captain Fish.

The Captain Fish was great. It is VERY mild so a sauce of some sort is needed to make it tasty.

All in all a very quiet day on vacation but quiet is what I am looking for.

Tomorrow I am definitely renting a quad and touring:glasses: