General: Dominican Republic

As with most of my travel opinions, they don't go into detail about the history, the geographical statistics or the polictical state, you can get that information from any travel related site. I'll also not be spending any time describing the hotel in any depth, having already written a full review on the Riu Merengue. I will however detail some of our observations and experiences of a recent trip (January 2004) to the Dominican Republic, once we ...
...was a 10 hour plus flight, and still being daylight on landing, we got a glimpse of a fraction of the island from the air - always worth a look. We had already completed our tourist cards handed out on the plane, showed them and got our passports stamped. I managed not to pay my tax of 10 dollars, or perhaps Karolina (my gorgeous girlfriend) mistakenly paid 10US dollars to the counter staff who maybe thought it was a rather generous tip. Either way, ... more

As with most of my travel opinions, they don't go into detail about the history, the geographical statistics or the polictical state, you can get that information from any travel related site. I'll also not be spending any time describing the hotel in any depth, having already written a full review on the Riu Merengue. I will however detail some of our observations and experiences of a recent trip (January 2004) to the Dominican Republic, once we got outside of the hotel gates.

This was a 10 hour plus flight, and still being daylight on landing, we got a glimpse of a fraction of the island from the air - always worth a look. We had already completed our tourist cards handed out on the plane, showed them and got our passports stamped. I managed not to pay my tax of 10 dollars, or perhaps Karolina (my gorgeous girlfriend) mistakenly paid 10US dollars to the counter staff who maybe thought it was a rather generous tip. Either way, we got through the airport quickly, picked up our bags and met the tour rep. A porter claimed our bags (as we had expected) and carried them to our bus, lucky we had a few 1USD bills handy - everyone must make a living. The bus took us on the journey to our hotel, the five star Riu Merengue. Through the windows we saw the town of Puerto Plata pass us by. Sugarcane fields, banana plantations, run down houses, lots of mopeds some laden with as many as four people, traffic constantly tooting and people seemingly just hanging around the streets. Having myself already seen 2 other Caribbean islands, the scenery was as expected, but still interesting and surprising too.

We had already planned our trips out of the hotel, over the internet. We'd recommend Coco Tours (www.cocotours.com) as a reliable company who will also give you 10% discount off the total if you book in advance - we saved 60USD or so. These are all safe tours, meaning you never feel that you are in an uneasy situation, so could be described as being for the slightly adventurous, not too manic. We had originally intended to take a day trip to bordering Haiti, but were advised against it, and judging by the current situation in the country, would also not recommend it.
To ease us into the holiday, we spent the first few days within the hotel, exploring the grounds, meeting the staff and generally relaxing. The sun was warm, sometimes too warm, the sky blue, palms swayed in a gentle breeze, the ocean clean and warm, drinks ice cold...perfect.

*** Jarabacoa - The Dominican Alps ***
This was our first trip out, and it started raining in the morning but after an early breakfast as we waited for the bus, the sun came out! We had a tour guide was called "Jerry" and the driver "Paco". At first Jerry began talking only in Spanish, leading us to believe that he spoke no English, but of course he was joking and actually spoke fluent English. Jerry seemed to have a great sense of humour and made us smile all the way. He also told us a lot about all the places we passed on the way and about the Dominican Republic in general. Paco drove like mad even though Jerry said he was the best driver in the company. After seeing how the others drive, it could actually be true. First stop was the "La Aurora" cigar factory, which recently celebrated it's 100th anniversary. We saw people making cigars while smoking them, as they could smoke as much as they wanted for free. Each workers target is to make 150 cigars per day, even with the distractions by hoards of visiting tourists. After some interesting facts about cigars, I bought a box of Leon Jimenes No.3 in the shop, perhaps because I was now expert in cigars, but perhaps because they were one of the cheaper boxes. We had a free glass of Presidente beer in a nearby bar. We then continued to the next stop which was the "Monumento a los Heroes de la Restauracion", a huge 67 metre high marble monument in Santiago. This was erected in the 1940s under the dictator Trujillo as a monument to himself. Originally it was known as the "Trujillo peace monument". This was a brief stop for picture taking. From here we could also see a lot of the city of Santiago and the Cibao valley.

We continued on to our next destination, the waterfalls at Jarabacoa. When we arrived, there was a row of little boys, some as young as 8 or 9 perhaps, and each with a horse most of which did looked a bit tired. We all got a horse each (except the chickens who decided to go by jeep). We could have "helpers" if we wanted. Karolina, who's never ridden before decided to have one, a little boy named Memos. This gave her the opportunity to try her basic Spanish she learnt especially for this trip. Myself on the other hand has ridden before (like 100 years ago) therefore didn't want a helper. This is probably why I ended up furthest back with a horse which either went to fast or too slow. To begin with it just didn't move, then once it woke up and saw the others in the distance, it began a gallop to catch up. The horse ride lasted for about 20 minutes (my ride was longer), through open countryside, tiny settlements and over a river,it was then a short walk to the falls, being careful not to fall down the sheer drops along the way. The falls themselves were perhaps a little disappointing, and were very brown due to the huge amount of rain recently. A brave young boy was hanging over the waterfall on some steel wires, doing acrobatics and stuff...they'll do anything for a tip here. After picture taking, we took the horses back along the same route, although more people decided to take the jeep back instead, sore bums maybe. Karolina tipped Memos, and waited for me to arrive with my horse which had decided to take lunch and siesta on the way back. We had lunch at "Rancho Baiguate", which wasn't too bad although the selection was limited. We relaxed in the grounds spotting various wildlife and bought a few things (covered in spider webs) at the very reasonably priced gift shop. Karolina bought lime-flavoured crisps made locally, turned out to be one of her favourites after that.

The next stop was the Ceramics factory where people didn't really seem to like tourists. We were guided around the various processes and learnt that the workers earn an extremely low amount of money per piece completed. Felt a little uneasy taking photos of people at work, but they didn't seem to mind too much. Bought some nice things in their giftshop, and then made the trip back to the hotel. We had good luck with the weather all the way, not even a hint of rain. This was an interesting day, cost 53USD each.

*** Outback Safari ***
A couple of days later, we were off on our Outback Safari tour. Right after breakfast at around 8.30, our guide Ernie and Scooby (Driver) picked us up. We found out that all the other people on this tour were from Canada except us - well it made us seem more interesting perhaps. The weather was great and Ernie was a fun bloke, also very knowledgable showing us different plants along the way and talking about the area. We first got to visit a house of a Dominican family. This family weren't the poorest, nor did they have many luxuries. They are paid by the tour companies to have hoards of tourists march through their kitchen and living room for an hour each day. Hard to believe that 12 people shared this house, although they seemed happy enough. There were young and old in the house, children still dressed in school uniforms, sitting around in rocking chairs. A Baby in mothers arms posed beautifully for me. Around the house were sleepy pigs, cats and dogs and less sleepy cockerels. Grapefruit and oranges were growing on nearby trees. Dominican coffee was served to those who wanted it, then it was time to move on. After more alcoholic stimulant of course - the recommended drink being "Scooby Special". Basically this was a bottle of 7up, top off, pour out a bit, add some rum, mix it up a bit - very good though.

The journey continued. Some of the roads we navigated could hardly be described as actual roads, they were downright ridiculous and had us falling about the truck at times, well we would have if it wasn't for the seat belts. God knows how the "barman", Ernie perched on the back serving us drinks actually managed not to fall off. The school was next. Words can't describe how far from a western world school this was. Three classrooms, barely furnished, as well as an "open air" classroom, everything tatty and old, although as usual lots of happy smiling faces. This was a brief stop, so as not to cause major disruption to lesson time, but just enough time to take a few photos and say a few words to the children. We had brought some school supplies from home as we knew how desperate they are for them, simple things we take for granted, pencils and paper are very much valued.

We move on to the next stop which is a local rum shack. After all the scooby specials, many are desperate for a toilet, and there are two here of sorts. It could have been worse, the doors might have had locks on them. The rum store sells Rum of course, and at a price one simply cannot resist - we buy a couple of bottles of Bermudez, produced locally in Santiago. It's not the "best" rum on the island, although it is apparently the oldest and it does make a good cuba libre. Oh, the price - just 90Pesos a bottle - less than 2US Dollars at the current exchange rate. For exactly the same price, you can also buy (and we did) 25 locally made cigars or a kilo of Dominican coffee. We also picked up a bottle of 75.5% Bermudez white rum too, referred to locally as Dominican Gasoline.

We move on again for lunch at a place full of wildlife. We meet a crocodile, turtles, iguanas, exotic birds etc. Lunch here is buffet style again, and we sit with the tour guides and have a bit of a chat and more drinks of course. We then walk through the gardens down to a river where we climb aboard a small boat. We wind through beautiful countryside while the guide explains in a humourous style all we see. We hand over our camera for him to take a photo, and it drops onto the bottom of the boat with a thud....fortunately it survives and he takes our picture. The river flows out into the Atlantic ocean and we end up on a beach where we got on the jeep for a short ride to the next beach for boogie boarding. Just then though, a man in the jeep fell over. At first we just thought he had fainted due to the heat and drink, we really weren't sure what was happening. I was holding his head in my hands, and he was given water. When it became apparent it was not just fainting, the jeep rushed off to the hospital with him while we waited on the beach. All our belongings were on the jeep so we couldn't do much. An hour or so later, when it was time to leave, the guides announced that he had suffered a heart attack and passed away. We felt very sorry for his wife and their children and cried a bit. The trip back was very quiet, many of us thinking about what had happened. Although the end of the trip was sad, the rest of the day was fantastic, and well worth the 70USD or so price.

*** Catarmaran Boat Trip ***
Just one day in between to soak up the sun, and we were off again, this time to take a trip on a Catamaran boat. A short bus ride to the Occidental Allegro hotels beach and there were 2 catamaran boats waiting for us, playing loud music. Going aboard the boat meant walking up to your hips in the sea, then climbing the ladder. The crew were very nice and helpful, although the water-fights later which came as a surprise meant we had to dive to cover our cameras. Some people were sick, and the crew ran around with buckets - nice job. We managed to keep our food to ourselves however. The weather was sunny and beautiful all day, and we did a good deal of just lazing around while the gentle sea lapped around us. We arrived at Sosua, and it was now time for snorkelling. We could already see the colourful fish from the boat. The staff handed out the equipment and we were given a very quick demonstration and explanation, then off we went. We were a bit scared, but it was lovely warm water, about 10 feet deep and there were coloured fish everwhere!

We decided to have a photo taken of us two under the water feeding the fish with bananas. There was already a photographer in the water waiting for us. It took 4 or 5 attempts to get a photo of us as Karolinas mask kept filling with water, once it was adjusted though all was well. The photographer got a bit impatient with us, as he needed to photograph the other snorkellers too. The photos cost 15 US dollars, or 530 pesos which worked out cheaper. We also had our underwater camera with us and we took some photos. After a time, quite out of breath we swam back to the boat where lunch was served buffet style. They played 90's music such as "Mr Vain", "I like to move it", and some 70's stuff like "I will Survive" and "It's raining men", as well as some reggae too. I had to try the rum punches which were free flowing, as well as a few beers, although didn't overdo it. Got more colour on the way back, and when we were going off we first had to take a smaller boat into the shore which almost tipped over a few times. The photographer was waiting for us with a handful of photos, we found ours and had a laugh at it. We took the bus back to the hotel, taking our memories of the day with us. The cost of this trip was about 65USD each.

*** Whale Watching in Samana Bay ***
Another 3 days of beaching, relaxing and of course drinking. We were then ready for our final trip out. The reception telephonist did a wake up call for 4.00am (eek). The bus pickup was at 4.30. We tried to sleep on the bus but it wasn't easy as the roads were so bumpy and the driver was mad. The tour guide was picked up a little further in Sosua, where he lives. He was called Julio and kept talking all the way. He sounded very much like the Belgium tour guide in Trigger Happy TV who constantly describes "the windoze..." (apologies if you've not seen it). we had breakfast on the way in a remote restuarant. It was nothing compared with the hotel breakfast, but the coffee served as a good wakener up. Whilst we were there, the power went off twice.

We passed fields of rice, cocoa, banana and coconut plantations and many half built houses. The houses are built as and when the land owners have spare money, so this can take literally years. We got to Samana at around 9am, the bus dropped us at the harbour where the Victoria II was waiting for us. On board was a crew, and Kim the onboard whale expert. Off we went and it didn't take long before we saw whales tails and splashes from their backs. Now this is an experience! Saw travelling humpback whales too. We were a bit early in the season but still saw plenty. After a few hours we stopped off at the island of "Cayo Levantado". There we had lunch which was again buffet style, chicken, rice, fish and veg, plus a couple of drinks. We stuck to alcohol free ones. After lunch we had about an hour to explore the island and it's beautiful beaches named "Bounty Beach" and "Bacardi Beach". Obviously adverts for these products were filmed here. Unfortunately the beauty of the island is somewhat spoilt by all the rubbish everywhere...and all the mad sellers who just jumped on you as soon as you set foot on the beach. They offer to climb a tree for you to take a photo of them - at a price, rent you a chair for a couple of dollars or sell you a huge sea-shell or weaved hat. There is a hotel on the island but it looked derelict and run-down.

The boat returned to pick us up at 3.15, and we headed back to Samana harbour. After glorious sunshine all day the heavens opened and everyone on the boat rushed to cover. Saw the most beautiful rainbow ever, and the end of it! Walked through puddles and onto the awaiting bus. We made a stop at a local shop on the way back to the hotel, where we stocked up on more rum, and other products. We were back at the hotel at around 8pm - it was a long day. This was the most expensive tour we took, at around 100USD each.

These are just a few of the things you can do in the Dominican Republic, there are lots of other things, but no point in listing things we have no experience with. The best advice though is to get outside the hotel gates and explore, perfectly safe with a tour guide. For the more adventurous, and those perhaps with a better Spanish vocabulary, explore on your own, but be safe, and always alert - not just in the Dominican Republic, but anywhere in the World.

We were exhausted but happy to have made such a fascinating trip, and are already talking about the next trip! Many thanks to Karolina for the use of part of her diary in the making of this Review.

 

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