Just wanted to give you our "picture" of Rancho Wendy.
The nature is nice.. It is.. No question about it..
Right behind the "ranch", you see som great mountains, and there's a small river runnig not far from the ranch as well.
BUT...
The rooms are a story for it self...
And everything else as well...
We arrived to Bonao the 14th of July, and we got hold of Marshall - the owner of the ranch. He sent a taxi to pick us up, and we paid the 250 RD$ to go to the ranch. It was supposed to be 200 RD$.. Oh well...
The surrounding looked weird, and everything looked like it was falling apart. A group of trekkers were at the time "checked in" at the ranch, and the first thing they told us, was: "He's a jerk!" (They meant: Marshall)
We thought it was a bit strange, and seemed unfair at the time.. but - still.. We were very confused by the "image" given to us by Marshall when we spoke with him over the internet. Nothing seemed to be as he described it..
We got a room, and unpacked..
The room smelled like it's been a flower shop for years - and the only thing sold - was rotten flowers! :bored:
We went with a couple of other guests to town, as Marshall told us that there was dancing on the streets every weekend. After a couple of hours we were bored.. No dancing at all.. just a couple of loud teens and young men driving around the center of the town playing LOUD music... That's it!
We were back at the ranch before 0:00.
The first thing we encountered when we opened our door, was a noice that shouldn't be there... There was a rat running just above the bed... NICE!!... NOT!!
Went down to get some help with how to handle the little bastard running for its life...
No help available... Marshall was asleep, and his wife wouldn't bother to help in any way at all...
The rat disapered after a while though...
Outside the rooms, a guard patroled the premesis.. Why? Well.. Marshall has a few ppl in the village that really doesn't like him at all.. So - they had to have the premesis 24 hours guarded.. Felt not that great!
The so called excursions was a joke..
We were supposed to go for the Waterfall -excursion.
It was about 35 USD per person.
We started to walk, and after one hour we came to the river - quite a bit from the ranch.. There was a bridge, but the guide said that it costs 10 RD$ per person, so we have to cross the water our selves...???
Why couldn't that be included in the 35 USD??
Oh well..
We crossed the river, and continued..
After another 1? hour, we came to the first "waterfall"... Well.. Water fell, but so does the water in toilets, showers, zinks etc... It was nice to jump in to the cool water though after a walk in the heat under the sun..!
We continued another 30-40 minutes walking, and then we came to a little greater waterfall.. Nothing to see, but larger hole to swim in - and lots of more people as well... So.. We went in to the water to get ready to go back home..
The walk home took about 30 minutes.. At the most!
Why didn't we go THAT way in the first place? The 2? hour walk before was not NICE.. It was just a way to get us out from the ranch - it felt!
And - when we got back - we were supposed to get lunch - as that should've been included in the price..
But - after our trip that took about 5 hours in total.. there were no lunch.. just the food that we had for breakfast - still on the tables...
We then went back to our rooms, packed our stuff - and asked them to call us a cab - and we went to Jarabacoa... THAT is where you want to go!!
Forget about Rancho Wendy.. You will be far from satisfied!!!
/Peter
