Our Caribbean Adventure: September 2013

Take a little trip to the Wild West of the island with us -- a trip with burnings, bulls, bumps, bays, beaches and beauty.

Driving west of Santo Domingo, past Bani, Azua and Baharona to a small resort called Playa Azul (Blue Beach) in between Baharona and Paraiso (Paradise) on the southern coast of the country, we arrived at about 1:00 PM, checked in to Room #11, and then took off down the coast to see how far we could go.

We soon arrived at San Rafael, a pebbled beach with a lovely set of ponds and small waterfalls fed by a cold water spring.

The waves were pretty strong there, so after taking a short dip in the water, we laid out our plastic beach sheet and I rested while Jill hunted for sea glass. Before I knew it, a wave snuck up where I was resting and lightly soaked some of our things.

Finding a family conversing under a thatched shelter nearby while our clothes dried, I inquired as to which of the nearby stalls offered the best fresh-cooked fish. Not surprisingly, it turned out that Carmen, the mother in the group, was voted the best cook in the bunch. She proceeded to fill my order of grilled lora and salmon over a charcoal fire...

...while I returned to Jill and a young urchin friend she had made on the beach.

Before long dinner was ready, which we enjoyed at a table under a thatched-roof hut on the beach. Jill’s little urchin friend meowed like a kitten until she fed him some of our tostones (fried banana-like platanos). He was soon joined by his brother who also enjoyed Jill’s kindness and generosity.

Satisfied after a delicious dinner, a beautiful beach in the dusk of the evening and the gurgle of the nearby waterfall against the roar of the waves, we bid farewell to Carmen and her family and returned to Playa Azul shortly after dark.

As we headed towards Bahia de la Aguilas (Bay of the Eagles) the next morning after a nice breakfast, we were stopped midway by burning bushes put in the road by striking townspeople who hadn’t had electricity or water for three months...

...which was surprising because there was a modern windmill farm (above) generating plenty of electricity only a few miles away. We were guided around the strikers through the jungle-like brush and promptly got stuck on the side of a hill with one wheel in the air. Some passing Haitians helped us out -- but that's a story for another time.

We felt extremely grateful that our silent prayers for relief were answered, but we weren’t out of danger yet. We still had to make it make to a safe, solid roadway. After about 20 minutes of going up and down hills and through the bushes that felt as though they were scraping “jungle pin stripes” on the sides of our SUV, we finally made it back to the highway.

Our welcoming committee was not the striking citizens of the nearby town, but a herd of 20 or 30 Brahma bull cattle and their calves crossing the road just beyond our entrance on to the highway. They were a pleasant site to see and a relief from what we had just passed through.

We paid our guide the 200 pesos (about $5) or somewhat more than he requested for his and compatriots’ services and continued on towards Parque Nacional Jaragua, Cabo Rojo and the Bahia de las Aguilas or Las Cuevas (The Caves), our destination, not far from the border with Haiti. As can be seen, we are now in the company of cactus - no palm trees - this is desert country.

The roads were all pot-holed, making the trip three or four hours instead of the two that it should have required. Nevertheless, the change in scenery from tropical to desert was striking.

Back at Playa Azul, the resort was more like a motel on the beach than a resort. It wasn't fancy, but was peaceful and comfortable and just what we needed. Yes, those birds are peacocks out for their evening walk.

A nice, quiet dinner with virgin pina coladas and good conversation in the open air restaurant of Playa Azul on the shore of a beautiful blue sea near Paraiso with my beautiful wife made the evening truly like paradise.

We awakened early the next morning to watch the sunrise.

The breeze was blowing the palm leaves softly and the waves lapped the shore under a bright blue sky

Gradually, the sun began peeping over the horizon, bathing the nearby cliffs in beautiful, pinky-orange glow.

With Jill’s hair side-lit in a soft glow, we enjoyed a light breakfast of eggs, toast, and orange juice.The soft meringue and salsa music in the background make it clear we could be nowhere but in the Caribbean.

Soon we were off, arriving at Cabo Rojo (Red Cape)...

... for a nice lunch of grilled Chillo (a delicious fish) on the beach of the Bahia de las Aguilas...

...and boarded a small boat with a family from Barcelona, Spain, for a more remote beach.

We had understood that the boat would take us to Las Cuevas (The Caves), but in reality, the Cuevas were not caves one could enter into, but cut-out portions of rock carved by the sea.

We rested for 1-2 hours on the beach in our pants, not having prepared for swimming, which would have been nice, in the crystal clear water.

The water and the sky are really this blue.

The boat trip was enjoyable going in and among the rocks and cliffs next to the sea.

We visited a wilderness area after this, but it was getting too late in the day to achieve our object there so we headed back to Playa Azul to get there before dark.

We had to use our high beams in the darkening night to distinguish the forms of the many dark-skinned persons walking along the road at night. Fortunately for us and for them, we arrived at our resort without mishap and enjoyed a nice meal, not of fish, but of grilled steak done just right. My steak was “A Caballo” (or “Horseback”) with an over-easy fried egg on top, just like I had many times on my mission in Argentina. A nice, peaceful close to two adventure-filled days.

One of the most interesting activities here in the Dominican Republic is that there are salesmen on all the main street corners offering you things or services from the comfort of your car. Sometimes, they are a little aggressive and tap on your window trying to get you to notice them (when you are looking the other way on purpose!) or they spray your windshield with water to give it a wash whether you've agree to it or not. These are few of the ones that we've caught photos of, but we're missing the men selling toilet paper, new wiper blades (and they'll even put them on for you if there's time before the light changes!), little black garbage bags, cold bottles of water, and lots of fruit - mangoes, pineapples, avocadoes, or bananas. When it's a little colder, we have seen bags of fresh corn and freshly steamed batatas (which are sort of like potatoes.) I really admire these folks for trying to do their best to earn a few pesos to feed their families. They aren't begging and are selling things that people seem to want to buy.