Dominican Republic: The best of the rest

Arghh! It's a pirate's life for me...

Back in Las Terrenas, we soon found ourselves getting into a routine: wake up late, walk to the town center to get breakfast (the scrambled eggs we ate everywhere continued to be excellent), stop back to the room to change into beachwear, go sun ourselves and take a dip in the ocean, have afternoon cocktails at a beach hut, walk back to the room to change and shower, get dinner, go to bed early, and repeat.

But, alas, even endless amounts of eating, sleeping and sunning can get old for two people who are used to (and enjoy) being constantly on the go. So, Scotty and I had to come up with creative ways to entertain ourselves. Ridiculousness quickly ensued... (and it runs in my family, or so I hear...)

Feeding the parrot, of course!

For instance, I braided Scotty's hair with my white-girl version of cornrows...

   

Later, a local guy with his own much longer version complimented Scotty on his braids. (Once back in Atlanta, Scotty also managed to land a few compliments. :)

 

Incidentally, I had previously taken a picture of the guy (in foreground of the photo below) who complimented Scotty's new 'do. I think his might have taken just a bit longer...

We also spent a good deal of time just walking on the beach, dipping our toes in the surf, breathing in that clean, salty air.

In Las Terrenas, one of our favorite ways to pass the late afternoon before dinner was to hang out a beach cabana sipping cuba libres- or in Scotty's case, a pina colada. The man likes his pina coladas while on vacation. ;)

It felt so good to shed our wintering-in-Alaska layers and walk barefoot again. Every time, I promise myself that my future will hold a lot more days of walking around barefoot.

In total we spent two half days and seven full days (December 28 through January 5) in Dominican Republic. And as an added bonus, we managed to return the car in one piece. A successful trip, in my opinion.

I'll be back soon with some local Alaska stuff and our upcoming boat trip down the ICW!

Dominican Republic: Road trip to Las Galeras

Beachfront street in Las Terrenas

On a rainy day- our third- in Las Terrenas, we decided to take a little day trip in the rental car. Our destination was the tiny town of Las Galeras at the most eastern tip of the Samaná Peninsula. If you asked Scotty what the drive was like he would probably tell you it was fine, no big deal. For me, it was a bit more of a nail-biter. Open man-holes abounded, and the road was barely wide enough for two cars to pass. There were also the usual obstacles and creative local means of transportation to contend with.

Passing through Samaná town we got stuck behind this truck for a while

At one point we saw the aftermath of a horrific wreck (the second really bad one I've seen on our travels) where a small bus had run off the road, missed a bridge, and toppled over into a stream bed. The demolished vehicle was surrounded by people, but no one seemed to be still inside. I wondered if the driver had made it. (On our return to Las Terrenas, the vehicle had already been removed.)

Cemetery in Samaná

The route led us through the larger and more populated town of Samaná. Despite seeing plenty of advertisements for whale-watching and other tours like scuba diving, it appeared a very non-touristy place. There weren't any fancy hotels that we could see and we didn't see a single tourist. Perhaps the town is a day trip for tourists coming from Punta Cana by boat or a stop. Either way, it wasn't quite the season yet for whale watching which runs from January 15 through March 25.

The drive got a little tamer and even pretty towards the end. And by that time, the storm began to break.

It really was beautiful, especially as we neared the end of the road.

Eventually the road dead-ended in Las Galeras at a beach. There were a few others cars parked and an adjacent restaurant with a separate bar cabana where we stopped for ice-cold Presidentes before making the return drive to Las Terrenas.

Several locals sipped beers and chatted, and as usual, we were of no interest to them. I don't blame them for wanting to avoid an awkward Spanish lesson (note to self: must improve on this!).

The trip had taken close to two hours and we would need to return on the same road, as there was no other. With all our recent long drives, I'm beginning to think Scotty and I would've had made great long-road truckers. (Perhaps we should consider that as a retirement plan?)

I'll be back very soon with the best of the rest of our adventures in Dominican Republic!

Dominican Republic: Celebrating New Year's Eve, Caribbean-style

In the Caribbean, New Year's Eve feels like pretty much any other day. And that's a good thing.

We walked on the beach, sipped our usual afternoon Cuba librés at a beach hut, and then, considering Las Terrenas' strong European influence, decided to try a authentic-looking Italian restaurant for dinner.

In summary, the food was simply amazing. We shared a margherita pizza- which we got to see being hand-thrown and fired in an outdoor stone oven- and the best mushroom risotto I've ever had. And to top it all off, the risotto was served with a side of freshly grated Parmesan cheese... yeah, I was pretty much in awe of our dinner.

Pictured: Margherita pizza and a shrimp cocktail from a second night back there

(Not pictured: mushroom risotto)

So, if you're ever in Las Terranas, go to La Capannina: you won't be disappointed.

Restaurante El Capannina on New Year's Eve: These diners know what's up

After dinner, the evening remained pretty low key. There were no spectacular fireworks besides some firecrackers being set up on the beach (we made up for that last year when we were in Australia's Sydney Harbor). However, people did stay up later and play their music even louder than usual (including our local next door neighbors).

Like I mentioned before, we already knew we weren't exactly in the most tranquil place, nor were our accommodations exactly the most comfortable, but then, I guess you get what you pay for. Also, we woke up in the middle of our first night there getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, despite the swath of bug netting draped around the bed. Yeah, it wasn't pretty to be woken up that way at three in the morning but we swatted as many of the suckers as possible and somehow managed to doze off again until a more respectable hour.

Miraculously, after that night the mosquitoes all but disappeared inside our room. We guessed their presence might have been caused by the water pipe repair job that was going on before we arrived, resulting in the door being left open a lot. For the rest of our stay we were hyper-vigilant about making sure to quickly shut the door behind us.

And to use this...

This natural stuff actually worked! (Thank you, Mom :)

After two days of being there, rain arrived. It was a steady, tropical shower that pelted down on us on our way home from breakfast and washed the dust and dirt from the streets.

 Rainy day in Las Terrenas

The ocean waves picked up a bit too and changed color from the city run-off. With swimming out of the question for the day, we decided to take a little road trip.

Tomorrow I'll be back with a recap of our day trip to the far end of the Samaná Peninsula!

Dominican Republic, Day 4: Experiencing Las Terrenas

After 48 hours in Santo Domingo and three hours on the road, we arrived in Las Terrenas, ready for some serious r&r. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into...

Wooden fishing boats in Las Terrenas

I'm just going to be completely honest: Las Terrenas was not exactly the tranquil island paradise I had been hoping for. The beaches, though, were indeed beautiful.

So, how did we decide to go to Las Terrenas? It all started with this article from Budget Travel and our preference for independent travel. The rest we would figure out as we went.

We had pre-booked a cabina at the popular Casas del Mar Neptunia after finding it on Trip Advisor, one of our go-to places for travel information.

View of the grounds from our front porch

At only about $50 US per night, this place was in our shoestring budget (after recently purchasing a sailboat) and had everything we were looking for: close proximity to the beach and town, free parking, and even hot showers.

Outdoor shower for washing off beach sand

 Dominican-style cabin

When we checked in the expat Canadian owners explained that the cabin we had rented was having a water issue and in the process of being fixed, so would we mind staying in another room and switching the following night? We were just glad to have a room since we heard them turning someone else away on the phone who didn't have a reservation. Also a big plus were a safe and a secluded parking spot off the main road for the rented bean can.

Quiet side road where we parked the car

We put our valuable stuff (i.e. credit cards, passports) in the electronic safe (you set your own passcode) and then set out to explore the town and get some lunch.

Scotty counting our "fun tickets"

The first thing we realized was how busy the roads were with motorcycle traffic. As the local and obviously preferred method of transportation, "motos" were also available to rent. Not only that, but we would be offered one literally twenty times a day. I was like just the fact that you were walking instead of riding seemed strange to them and an obvious sales opportunity. They were also very, very noisy, especially when they traveled in droves.

Las Terrenas town center

And, as it turns out, walking is not the easiest thing to do in Las Terrenas. When trying to get around town, we had to be very careful when crossing or walking along the street, lest we get hit. Once, while walking on the shoulder of the road, a moto skimmed mere inches away from Scotty's feet.

After that we tried to walk on the beach instead as much as possible. I was pretty sure that if one of us gotten run over, no one would have stopped. And then add in a few four wheelers... yeah, no thank you. And the air pollution from these things is a whole other story...

We did find some really great restaurants in town. One beachside place, Mojitos, quickly became one of our favorites. Run by a Cuban expat, the menu featured some awesome appetizers and entrees, including three types of some of the best ceviche I've ever had. After a lot of traveling and driving, the cuba libres and sound of the waves helped us finally chill out a bit.

Digging into some fresh ceviche and fish "fingers" at Mojitos...

... and the view was pretty nice, too.

Las Terrenas is home to many European expats and also most heavily frequented by French, Italian, and German tourists. While Punta Cana, Dominican Republic is one of the most popular international destination for US citizens, they definitely weren't where we were. In fact, we saw only a handful of state-siders, after happening upon a Mexican-themed lunch stand owned by one (now expat).

Curious what else was in store for us? Check back soon for more of our adventures in this little corner of the Caribbean.

Dominican Republic, Day 3: Road trip to Las Terrenas

Even after our rough start when our car rental fell through, we eventually managed to dodge a bullet. On our second full day in Santo Domingo we arrived at Alamo first thing in the morning and- miracle of all miracles- our rental car was actually waiting for us! I was so happy I could have hugged the agent who handed Scotty the keys. 

Just before taking off we witnessed a van being returned with its rear window smashed out and a large dent below that. And then we saw that our car was brand new- so new it didn’t even have a license plate yet. Big gulp. Of course, at that point there was no turning back.

Here, I have to insert a word of praise for Scotty, because he really can drive it like he stole it. Give the man some third-world road construction on mountain roads with no guardrails, open manhole covers, and oncoming vehicles in lanes they have no business being in: he won’t even break a sweat. I would be lying if I said there haven’t been a few times we had "I don’t think we’re going to make it!" moments. But all in all, when Scotty’s at the wheel, I know I’m in good hands.

Scotty with our rental car, en route to Las Terrenas 

Then, with me playing navigator, we headed east back towards the airport and towards the highway that would take us northeast to the Samaná Peninsula, a two and a half-hour drive away.

We made it as far as the outskirts of the city when the road dead-ended with the entrance to a military base and a big, modern gas station like one you’d see in the States. I got out and attempted to ask a young, armed guard for directions. For a man holding an automatic weapon, he was extremely nice and really tried to help me, looking at the map I had and trying to ask which way I wanted to go. Thing was, I didn’t know and besides saying that in Spanish, I couldn’t communicate any better in Spanish and was having a hard time understanding him.

Instead of giving up, the awesome guard asked a few passerby customers for help and one young guy turned to me and in perfect English said we could follow him and that he would point us in the direction of the road to take. As we left following the guy’s fancy black SUV, the guard waved goodbye, smiling. Being reminded of the kindness of people is one of my favorite things about traveling.

The driver of the SUV actually stopped and rolled down his window when it was time for us to turn off. He explained that there would be a toll stop not to far ahead and wished us luck when we thanked him.

Off we went, through three toll stops, and past fields of palm trees without their tops (harvested perhaps, for heart-of-palm? A palm tree disease?).

The highway is a straight shot for the first half of the drive, then winds through jungle and volcanic red rock hills.

Later on in the trip, we talked to a local guy from Santo Domingo who told us that it used to take around five hours to drive to Las Terrenas, whereas now it only takes half that.

Back tomorrow with more on Las Terrenas!

 The beach (at last!) in Las Terrenas