This week I was invited to a meeting held at the Temptations Resort at Miches and so I decided to drive there from La Romana via Guaymarte ,El Seibo, Miches and then back via Higuey. This area is probably unknown to most readers but here are my impressions.
From la Romana to the Higuey -El Seibo Road, driving was easy although the road was busy as much sugar cane is being harvested at present. From then on to El Seibo,the road has become a large collection of holes and most cars were traveling at less than 40 klms per hour. The entire area is bone dry with not a blade of green grass and cattle and horses with their ribs clearly showing , not just brown but a black brown. I have never seen this part of the country so dry. Having gone through the hill town of El Seibo ,I set off along the road that crosses the Cordillera Oriental ignoring a sign that advised me to go back .This twisty and turning road up and down steep hills is in appalling condition with potholes 2 feet deep and parts of the road completely washed away and I met only two vehicles in the 40 plus kilometres . Definitely not for the low slung car.
Miches is a town on the Samana Bay that along with Sabana de la Mar just further north is very Dominican with very few foreigners to be seen .It is a fishing town with a few agricultural supply stores and at the best it could be described as poor and poorly maintained. Just out of Miches is the new Temptations Resort and housing development and some 20 kilometres along the water front going towards Bavaro is the Club Med Hotel. These two properties are more than 100 kilometres from the Punta Cana airport but the road is in superb condition, thanks to the demands on the Government made by Gustavo Cisneros.
I had a leisurely look around Temptations and had a light lunch there and although the landscaping is still a long way to go the place looked very nice in a very modern way. it reminded me of a few Novotel Hotels in Asia with so many bright colours. All the staff were all good looking,
and very young, quite a lot younger than the guests and all seemed to be Dominican. The beach is not quite as nice as the beaches further towards Bavaro but I could not help wondering if people would not get rather bored there although I was told that there were regular shows.
I then went on to the Club Med at Playa Esmeralda with a feeble excuse that I wanted to book in for Easter.It is much better groomed than Temptations and the position and the bay and the kilometres of empty beach make it very appealing .It is not five star because the furnishings are rather ordinary and the two rooms that I was shown were very comfortable but not luxurious . Again, all the staff I met spoke excellent Spanish although I was expecting to see some french speaking Haitians there ,being Club Med. I saw many people riding horses and playing various games but the overriding impression was one of natural surroundings . It reminded me a little of the beach at Sosua and Playa Grande 20 years ago with all the palm trees close to the water.
Higuey . I returned to la Romana along the beautiful Samana -Sabana de la Mar road to the turn off at the petrol service station and then the back road to Higuey . Last September there was a thread about the bridge at Otra Banda being swept away and I can report that absolutely nothing has been done to replace it . There is a dangerous unmarked detour that can not take trucks but that would not be usable in wet weather. Higuey never changes much and has a well deserved reputation for breeding the most lunatical drivers in the DR.
As I was driving back I thought of the crazy idea to build an international airport at Miches. It would have destroyed the entire atmosphere of seclusion and privacy . I am glad we got that right.
From la Romana to the Higuey -El Seibo Road, driving was easy although the road was busy as much sugar cane is being harvested at present. From then on to El Seibo,the road has become a large collection of holes and most cars were traveling at less than 40 klms per hour. The entire area is bone dry with not a blade of green grass and cattle and horses with their ribs clearly showing , not just brown but a black brown. I have never seen this part of the country so dry. Having gone through the hill town of El Seibo ,I set off along the road that crosses the Cordillera Oriental ignoring a sign that advised me to go back .This twisty and turning road up and down steep hills is in appalling condition with potholes 2 feet deep and parts of the road completely washed away and I met only two vehicles in the 40 plus kilometres . Definitely not for the low slung car.
Miches is a town on the Samana Bay that along with Sabana de la Mar just further north is very Dominican with very few foreigners to be seen .It is a fishing town with a few agricultural supply stores and at the best it could be described as poor and poorly maintained. Just out of Miches is the new Temptations Resort and housing development and some 20 kilometres along the water front going towards Bavaro is the Club Med Hotel. These two properties are more than 100 kilometres from the Punta Cana airport but the road is in superb condition, thanks to the demands on the Government made by Gustavo Cisneros.
I had a leisurely look around Temptations and had a light lunch there and although the landscaping is still a long way to go the place looked very nice in a very modern way. it reminded me of a few Novotel Hotels in Asia with so many bright colours. All the staff were all good looking,
and very young, quite a lot younger than the guests and all seemed to be Dominican. The beach is not quite as nice as the beaches further towards Bavaro but I could not help wondering if people would not get rather bored there although I was told that there were regular shows.
I then went on to the Club Med at Playa Esmeralda with a feeble excuse that I wanted to book in for Easter.It is much better groomed than Temptations and the position and the bay and the kilometres of empty beach make it very appealing .It is not five star because the furnishings are rather ordinary and the two rooms that I was shown were very comfortable but not luxurious . Again, all the staff I met spoke excellent Spanish although I was expecting to see some french speaking Haitians there ,being Club Med. I saw many people riding horses and playing various games but the overriding impression was one of natural surroundings . It reminded me a little of the beach at Sosua and Playa Grande 20 years ago with all the palm trees close to the water.
Higuey . I returned to la Romana along the beautiful Samana -Sabana de la Mar road to the turn off at the petrol service station and then the back road to Higuey . Last September there was a thread about the bridge at Otra Banda being swept away and I can report that absolutely nothing has been done to replace it . There is a dangerous unmarked detour that can not take trucks but that would not be usable in wet weather. Higuey never changes much and has a well deserved reputation for breeding the most lunatical drivers in the DR.
As I was driving back I thought of the crazy idea to build an international airport at Miches. It would have destroyed the entire atmosphere of seclusion and privacy . I am glad we got that right.
