Oct 10 Bayahibe

Oct 10, 2013

We skipped out on a day early from Santo Domingo in search of cooler air and ocean we could jump into as we pleased. Yes we have been seriously spoiled living in TCI for 1 month!

This is for Olivia! Justin Bieber is everywhere :) Unfortunately we chose the most consistently rainy day to travel two hours for some beach time.

Bayahibe beach at Gran Catalonia Dominicus. We stayed one night at an all-inclusive and enjoyed the lovely beach, cool evening breezes and unlimited food and drink.

Tomorrow morning we will be heading back to the States, where the world makes sense and traffic laws are generally abided by... I am so looking forward to calling  and seeing friends and family at leisure, seeing autumn in the midwest, going to Yates Cider Mill, strolling through the Worthington Farmers Market, seeing our neighbors and friends, cooking our own food, exercising regularly, getting endless ice cold water right out of the door of our refrigerator and sleeping in my own bed. I think Ryan is looking forward to many of these things too. Columbus, Ohio here we come!

Oct 9 La Caleta and Ruins at Night

Oct 9, 2013

We went diving one day to escape the heat of Santo Domingo with Golden Arrow Technical Divers. The divemaster, Dennis took us and our gear in his truck and we headed east to La Caleta, a very small beach where fishing boats lined the shore and locals cooled off in the ocean. Just offshore is La Caleta Marine Park, a nice place for diving with several shipwrecks.

Believe it or not, this was our dive boat. Locals added a motor to the back and it putted out to our dive spot. While the driver managed the motor, he also "self bailed" the puddle of water collecting in the back of the boat with a cut off gallon jug. We pulled it back ashore afterward with about 8 people and the help of some PVC pipes. Unreal!

My favorite drink of DR, Jugo de Fresa (strawberry juice), why haven't Americans thought of this yet...other than in daiquiris? It's so good!

Nightfall gives an eerie quality to the Ruinas El Monestario de San Francisco.

Alcazar de Colon was once a regal home to Diego Columbus, Christopher's son. It was built between 1510 and 1512, its now half the size it once was. Since the 1950's its housed a museum and gallery. I like the way it looks this evening after a rainstorm. It is one block from our hotel.

Adjacent to Alcazar de Colon is Atarazana Bar, crowded this evening with Latin music pumping well into the night. We grabbed a drink here and watched in awe of the hip shaking.

Oct 7-8 Santo Domingo

Oct 7-8, 2013

Santo Domingo is the capital city of Dominican Republic, home to about 3 million people. Our drive in with the little rental car was insane. Jarabacoa and Constanza have nothing on Santo Domingo in the realm of crazy drivers. There are only a few people that obey traffic signals and stop signs. Every corner my heart stops and I prayed we'd get to the hotel and drop off our stuff then get to the airport to get rid of this car without event, so we can rely on experienced taxi drivers to get us around.

The inside of La Catedral de Santa Maria la Menor. It is the oldest Cathedral in the Americas, building started in 1514 and was completed in 1540.

Here is our whimsical little boutique room at Hotel Atarazana, in the heart of Zona Colonial. It is walking distance from ruins, cathedrals, museums, restaurants, bars and shopping. Santo Domingo is the oldest permanent settlement in the New World, founded in the late 1400's. Things here are old...

And things here are new...like this beach littered with thousands of plastic bottles and trash. Ryan's guidebook said to avoid swimming in the ocean in town, no matter how inviting it is, because of all the trash and food scraps, shark attacks are more prevalent here. Too bad because it is hot as hell in this city! 

One of the entrances to the old walled city.

This door is artwork to me.

Kids having some fun in the plaza outside La Catedral de Santa Maria.

Church bells at La Catedral.

The second evening spent in the city, we ate at Meson de la Cava, a restaurant in a cave. We thought it'd be nice and cool down there and it was! The appetizer was our favorite part of the meal. The night before we ate at Meson de Bari, our favorite meal in the city. They made awesome Jugo de Fresa.

Ryan chillin' in a mini cave.

Oct 6 Constanza

Oct 6, 2013

Constanza is a farming town in a valley surrounded by mountains. During colonial times, 200 Japanese folks were brought here to teach the locals farming techniques on the valley floor and terracing on the hillsides.

After a little flub with thinking I reserved us a room at one place, but it was actually at another...here is where we laid our heads for 2 nights, Hotel Constanza.

Beautiful countryside.

After a winding, bumpy ride from Constanza to the next village, we met Paul who recommended we park our car here at his restaurant/bar and he'd give us a ride to the waterfall we were after. I could have kissed him!

And now we are riding in style with an old pair of undies and some garbage in the back of his truck for the last 3km up a treacherous mountain road.

Here is Aguas Blancas, a cascading set of waterfalls, from a distance and up close. It is the tallest waterfall in DR and may be the tallest in the Caribbean, although one is rumored to be taller in Cuba. The first section's drop is 174ft/53m and the second is 125ft/38m. 

The water in this pool is chilly! It doesn't snow here but this area gets frequent morning frost in winter.

I love the bright blue sky contrasting with the deep green hillside and moss hanging from the trees. It rains here most afternoons and this one is no exception.

Back at Paul and Alexandra's La Perla de Aguas Blancas restaurant, this pup found a cozy spot :)

Their resident parrot stayed busy licking the condensation off my water bottle while we waited a home cooked Plato del Dia (whatever Alexandra was cooking today).

This tea made of lemongrass, anise, cinnamon and mint was the best tea I've ever had and a nice warm up after the rain. Paul is a British guy who came here years ago in search of a carnivorous plant and did not leave. He married a local woman and they own this restaurant and a little farm on the surrounding hillside.

After the rain, the road did not improve, as you may have guessed. Thankfully the little economy rental car made it out of the mountains, but it stopped liking its lower gears so much... After the afternoon rain cleared we had dinner in Constanza and will make our way to Santo Domingo in the morning.

Oct 5 Canyoning

Oct 5, 2013

Our adventure of the day is canyoning, which includes trekking through minimally marked trails, drainage areas, Rio Baiguate, rappelling and zip lining, ending at Salto de Baiguate (where we were yesterday during the afternoon rainstorm).

Glad this is a guided trip, its challenging to see the trail ahead. It is a warm, sunny morning.

Me rappelling down the first canyon.

Hugo, one of two our guides, is belaying Kristoff, another tourist from Germany.

The guides, Hugo and Adonis found a few crabs hanging out in the water.

Instead of sliding down this little rapid, we jumped into the pool below. Here's Ryan mid-flight. When it was my turn, I jumped in, went under, grabbed onto the guide's harness underwater, slid through his legs and popped up on the other side. Glad I didn't grab onto anything else between his legs!

Ryan, Kristoff and I in a precarious spot next to a rapid in between some huge boulders.

Zip line time.

Ryan's turn.

Our last rappel, which I was a bit nervous about. It helped to avoid looking down. We all made it safely just about 80 ft down Salto de Baiguate.

Its much prettier when its sunny out :)

After canyoning, we cleaned up, had lunch, checked out and headed southwest toward the city of Constanza. On our way we visited another waterfall, Salto de Jimenoa Uno.

I have noticed here in DR that people often use what they can from nature, like this vine that holds a fence post to the railing.

The road to Constanza.

Oct 4 Rafting Comedy Show

Oct 4, 2013

We rafted the Rio Yaque de Norte. I have never been a part of a rafting trip that was more of raft guide comedy show than this one. Their antics were constant; jumping into the river off rocks, yelling, joking, smacking their paddles on the water, getting the rafts caught up on rocks, acting as if they were nervous about the upcoming rapids, surfing. You name it.

Our raft surfing a hole, notice the water level?

Another raft getting out of a surfing hole.

Our raft: us, two spanish speaking folks and two Brits in the front. The Brits' steady commentary reminded Ryan of Mystery Science Theater 3000. He couldn't stop laughing.

The Brits and the other woman rescuing our boat off this rock after the rest of us and our guide Jose aka "Rambo" fell out. Dios Mio! 

Alas we survived :) And that silly leaf the guide stuck in my helmet stayed the whole time.

Our ride back in an open air truck through Jarabacoa.

After some lunch we took a horseback ride to this 80ft/25m waterfall, Salto de Baiguate. 

As we arrived, it started raining.

And then it started pouring. It was a chilly, soggy ride back. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening warming up under the covers reading books until dinner.