First off, I have to say: September is HOT. Like oh my
gosh…the heat is unbearable. Life experience has taught me that things usually
start to cool down in September, right? It’s fall and what not. Well,
apparently I forgot that there is one season in this country=summer. It’s been
hitting mid to upper 90’s and feeling like well over 100 in the sun. It’s
stifling, like 3 showers/day stifling and you still sweat constantly. And
obviously, air conditioning is nonexistent here and even using a fan (if you’re
lucky enough to have one) is only sometimes an option, because there’s only
electricity 12ish hours/day and that’s mainly during the night, when Thank God,
it does actually cool down a bit. So yes, who would have thunk that September
is the hottest month of the year? Not me.
In other news, I’m just coming off a 3-day weekend off and
it was FANTASTIC. Madelon and I decided to be spontaneous, pick a new spot to
visit, and just go without any plans of where to stay or what to do. So we left
at 4:00pm on Thursday and by about 8:00pm, ended up in Samana, which turns out
to be a pretty nice city, right on the ocean and what not. We ended up running
into the mayor on the guagua up, so he suggested and made sure we got to a good
hotel/hostal for the night. And guess what? We had a room with cable TV, wifi,
and AC(!) for 800 pesos, i.e. $10 each. What a steal! We got some dinner there
and headed to bed (only down side of said hotel: the LOUD motos going by all
night and a rather noisy dog fight at one point).
We woke up on Friday morning, spent a little time exploring
Samana and the malecón (road along the ocean) and randomly decided to take what
essentially is a moto-carriage to Las Galeras, our destination. So boom, we
grab our stuff and we’re in this little moto-carriage going through the
mountains for about an hour ride and always within view of the ocean. GORGEOUS.
We saw so much of the countryside and even though we weren’t THAT far away, the
countryside was just so different than it is here.
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| Moto-carriage complete with its own radio i.e. the choffer. |
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| One of the 'scenic stops' on the way...this is where the whales come every spring. |
So we make it to Las Galeras, find a good hotel, and grab a
margarita. Before long, we’re at the beach (La Playita) and we spent the
afternoon there soaking up the sun. That evening, we went to an AMAZING
restaurant literally literally literally located on a cliff. It took about 20
minutes to get there on a “dirt road” (I use that term loosely because only to
the trained Dominican eye would it come off as a road…to the rest, maybe just a
rocky path that you wouldn’t willingly venture down). However, it was WORTH it.
The view was INSANE, like unreal. And I ate octopus :)
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| There was an AMAZING sunset. |
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| Me and Madelon! |
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| This is the restaurant...definitely on a cliff. And next time I want to make the jump :) |
Saturday was another beach day. We started off the day at a
little French café (can you say chocolate croissants!?!) where we ran into a
group of about 6 surfing instructors mainly from California. They said they
were renting a boat to go to Playa Fronton, a more remote but supposedly
amazing beach, and invited us along. So we said ‘Sure, why not?’ And a half
hour later we were in a boat out in the ocean blue scaling along the huge
cliffs and seeing some amazing waves. We arrived to literally a paradise. We
were the only ones at this beach and contrary to all the other beaches I’ve
been to in this country, it wasn’t a ‘touristy’ beach. There were no shops,
vendors, garbage cans, nothing…just beach. AWESOME. And I’m not kidding, it was
the bluest, clearest, water I’ve ever seen. So we spent the day there just
relaxing. I did a little excursion going up the cliff a little ways where there
is this crazy abandoned house. And we went into a couple caves too complete
with stalactites and bats. Pretty cool. That night, Madelon and I went out for pizza
and then did some dancing. We both decided that people in Las Galeras
definitely are better dancers than here...it was a lot of fun!
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| On the boat headed to Playa Fronton! |
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| The gorgeous cliffs... |
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| Our boat... |
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| The BEACH! |
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| More beach... |
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| The abandoned house... |
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| View from a little higher up the cliffs... |
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| There were some HUGE waves rolling in... |
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| Going for a walk... |
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| Going for a dip...the water was SO warm! |
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| Heading back... |
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| Me and Madelon at Playa Madama! Part of Survivor was taped here I guess... |
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| Climbing up the cliffs to the caves with our guide... |
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| Checking out the caves... |
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| Notice the two people on top...these are BIG cliffs we are talking about... |
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| SUCH clear water! |
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| Chillaxing :) |
Sunday morning we packed up and took a couple busses pack to
NPH, completely refreshed and ready for the next couple weeks with the kids. We
definitely plan to go back in January when there is whale-watching! And guess
what else? Nelly is back!! YAY! She was in Spain for a month and just arrived
Sunday night…I’m so happy. So the house is a little fuller again and we’re
ready to battle through the heat of September and just keep doing what we’re
doing and living this life to the max.
1 comment:
That is my favorite part of the island!!! I love playa rincon, playa fronton, playa madam, and el punto!! I think some of my favorite memories were on that part of the island (other than the ones with the kids of courses) And I remember that August and September heat!! I remember my first month teaching I was dying, like soaked in sweat everyday and all the other teachers would be in their full uniforms asking "What? You're hot?" like I was crazy. hahaha try to grin and bear it, at least it makes the cold showers more bearable! :) Keep up the good work!!
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