Our trip to the Dominican Republic over winter break was a refreshing and relaxing escape from the stress and bitter cold of Washington, D.C. Our goal was to see the “real” DR (i.e. no visits to Punta Cana or related areas), partly in the anticipation that if James continues to work out of Haiti and I work with an NGO that the DR could be a good place to locate our home for a few years. We both had never been but had heard great things from returned Peace Corp volunteers and other friends who had spent time there. We were not disappointed—it is hard to believe that the DR shares an island with the failing state of Haiti, the contrast is so stark. While Haiti is deforested and very mountainous, the DR is replete with lush vegetation and (where we were at least) fairly flat. While Haitians by and large suffer from malnutrition, poverty, and general misery, Dominicans are a fairly prosperous and boisterous bunch—they are clearly a country on the rise. Hope and forward-thinking rather than despair and gloom are the norm on the eastern side of the island.
We left frigid D.C. on a bleak Monday morning and arrived by mid-day in the sunny capital of Santo Domingo, on the southern coast of the country. On first sight it appeared as most low-income countries do, a somewhat dreary and small airport filled with posters warning of the signs of cholera, sponsored by USAID and UNICEF. But as soon as we exited and were able to hop right into the rental car in the lot outside the airport, it was clear this country really had it together.
Driving through the outskirts of Santo Domingo on our way out of the city we paralleled the beautiful Caribbean Sea to one side of the road and the modern trappings of the city on the other. Dominican driving is much like other developing countries—which is to say completely crazy and sometimes borderline suicidal. Driving in such a country, avoiding disaster is a true art form. Our goal was to reach the Samana peninsula on the north coast before nightfall, which gave us about five hours. The actual drive ended up being around seven or eight on mostly small highways. Unbeknownst to us the country just completed a super-highway connecting the Samana with the capital city which would have saved us getting lost numerous times and about five hours of travel time. But the journey was interesting, and whenever we stopped to ask directions people enthusiastically offered their services and pointed us back to the correct road.
Our first stop was Las Terrenas, a small, as of yet off the tourist track beach town populated mostly by locals and European (French and Italians mostly) beachcombers. After checking into our hotel around 9 pm our first act was to head down to a beach-restaurant for some Presidente beer (a very delicious national staple) and light dinner. The next morning we headed for Playa Bonita, a thin stretch of beach that was practically deserted. Unfortunately the first few days were a bit chilly (low 70s) so with the wind coming in off the water we ended up wearing our sweatshirts while lying on the beach. We spent two lazy days in Las Terrenas, mostly decompressing and enjoying the beach.
Our third day was spent driving a few hours to the town of Las Galeras. On the way we stopped in Limon to investigate the “Cascada de Limon”, an amazing waterfall we were informed we could not miss. The hype was warranted, as James and I soon found ourselves on scraggly ponies making the hour-long trek through forests and small mountains to the beautiful and very large waterfall. Our guide, a young 18 year old boy named Andre, walked the whole way on foot, yelling at the poor ponies to hurry up. When the going got really rough we abandoned the ponies and hiked through a small waterfall and down a steep grade to the waterfall. It was a great experience and one of the best views and waterfalls I’ve seen anywhere. We met many local people as we walked along the trail (including a 3 year old toddler carrying a glock—I hope unloaded) and bought some chocolate from an older man who was selling it out of his house. Clearly the people who live along the trail were used to providing services to foreigners or Dominicans on vacation and traveling this path, and their entrepreneurial spirit shown through.
Las Galeras provided more beautiful beach views, and once again we were shocked by the lack of other tourists on the beach. Those who we did run into were mostly Europeans—I guess all the Americans congregate along the southeast shore near Punta Cana, because I don’t think we saw a single other American while we were there. One of our best experiences was the trip to Playa Rincon, named one of the ten best beaches in the Caribbean. In our little old beat up Chevy Aveo rental we drove for about 45 minutes up and down on mud roads to reach the beach, but once we arrived it took our breath away. I had a delicious meal of beans, rice, fried plantains, and fish cooked by a friendly woman named Claudia at one of the few beach shacks near the water. A few groups of Dominicans from the city were our only other company on the beach, it felt like we had the whole beach to ourselves. For New Years Eve we hung out at a local bar with a few ex-pats and some locals. For not the only time on our trip we struck up a conversation with a Haitian who was living in the DR. He told us he left his country years ago, and hasn’t been back or heard from all of his family after the earthquake.
January second was my birthday so we did another horseback ride, this time to a beach where our guide shimmied up a tree to throw down coconuts for us to try. Apparently there are three different kinds of coconut (who knew?) and we tasted all three. We also explored a remote cave next to the beach, which kind of freaked me out to be honest. After my experience with bats in Nicaragua I might never be able to enjoy caves or anywhere that houses bats ever again.
The drive back to Santo Domingo was much easier because by then we had figured out there was a new highway, and our little Chevy hung in there for the high-speed and always nerve-wracking drive back. Our vacation ended with a great five days in Santo Domingo. The capital city (unlike many other capital cities in Latin American countries where the best advice is to get out as soon as possible after landing) is beautiful and full of historical sites and other tourist attractions. We visited museums, enjoyed great food and nightlife, and in general enjoyed the Dominican culture very prevalent in the city. Dominicans are known for their love of baseball (soccer is not big there at all, surprisingly) and we managed to get tickets for a winter league game in their new stadium. The stadium was modern and actually looked like a minor league or small major league stadium in the U.S.—they were even selling hotdogs and pizza! Team spirit was at an extraordinary level in the stadium, with each team even having its own marching band (who did not hesitate to bang away on the drums during plays) and vuzuzuelas in full blast. My favorite part of the evening was the “besos cam” (equivalent of the kiss-cam) where they zoomed in on fans and then the announcer proceeded to narrate each kiss as it was happening. Hilarious.
Dominicans are wonderfully friendly and open people, and they definitely have the laid-back attitude of Caribbean people. Their attitude toward Americans from what I can tell is overall positive (despite their reasons to not be so fond of us) and they seem extremely eager to be helpful to tourists. I felt safe everywhere in the DR, probably more so than any developing area I've been besides maybe India. It is very easy to see how people can be so cheerful despite their economic situation (there is still pretty intense poverty in some areas) when you realize that the weather is almost always at least in the 70s, they have amazing music and dance, and it is really hard to be too far away from the beautiful beach given the size of the island. Plus, they make (and consume an astonishing quantity of) amazing beer and rum. Basically, they've got it made.
Our trip was over all too soon, but we had a wonderful time, met many interesting people, and explored a beautiful country. The DR is really interesting because of its proximity to Haiti (and many Haitian refugees) and its clear trajectory of development despite its checkered past. The DR has achieved a level of quality of life and development for its people that with a lot of money, luck, and good decisions, Haiti might be able to attain in the next fifty to a hundred years. We can only hope.
The beach, the sun, and the ocean were just what this formerly stressed-out graduate student needed :) Now back to the real world....
