October 13-24, 2006
September came and went in the blink of an eye and then we blinked again and it’s November!
At this writing we are still anchored in Luperon, Dominican Republic but are anxiously awaiting the next appropriate weather window to head east to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for the winter months. We spent September doing some additional projects on Lucky Peek to get her ready for the next leg of our journey and also in preparation for much-anticipated guests!
Bryan and Allison Mann (from Boise) arrived in Santo Domingo on Friday, October 13 and we set out for an adventurous 11 days with them. We had a rental car for the duration of their stay so we had a full agenda of inland touring planned. We stayed the first few days in Santo Domingo, enjoying the city’s old New World sights and getting B & A accustomed to other big city normalcies – persistent tour guides offering their services, aggressive merchants calling us into their gift shops, and young shoe-shine boys that are sadly working the streets when they should be in school. Our first lunch at a sidewalk cafe held an emotional moment when a young boy, seeing that our flip-flops hardly needed shined, looked longingly at the club sandwiches on our plates. We knew when our next meal would come so we shared our sandwich quarters with him and were rewarded with a beautiful smile of gratitude in return.
From Santo Domingo we traveled into the interior mountains to Jarabacoa. At the Hotel Gran Jimenoa we had rooms overlooking the Rio Jimenoa rushing by with a backdrop of lush green mountainside. We had originally planned a one night stay here but by the next morning we all agreed that it was worthy of a second night. That decision allowed us to enjoy a long day in the area hiking into the Salto Jimenoa waterfall and then a spontaneous horseback ride at the confluence of the Rio Jimenoa and Rio Yaque del Norte. In the mountains there aren’t aggressive merchants but there are persistent offers for horseback rides. After repeatedly saying no to a man and his young son offering their horses Allison said “Let’s do it!”. And so she and I were off on a ride along the river. I have to admit that I wasn’t a willing participant initially but with the little boy sitting behind me on my horse talking non-stop in Spanish that I couldn’t begin to understand and swatting the horse’s hindquarters with a switch from a tree to make it go faster so I would giggle… well, it turned out to be pretty fun. We celebrated our ride afterward by sitting at the small riverside thatch-roofed shack/bar sipping an ice-cold Presidente’ grande in true Dominican style – sharing a 24 ounce bottle of beer among the four of us in little 4 ounce plastic cups. We amused the proprietor with our Spanish and in turn he gave us a Spanish lesson by holding up items in his small open-air shop and exclaiming the Spanish word. A little reminiscent of Sesame Street – only with beer.
Leaving Jarabacoa for Luperon meant leaving the cooler mountain temperatures for h-e-double hockey sticks. We tried to warn Bryan and Allison but our words could not adequately prepare them for what they were about to experience for themselves. Sun, boat in the sun, tropical heat, no A/C, no A/C, no A/C. You know the kind of heat that causes a constant stream of sweat to run down your back dampening your fresh shirt? A sweat mustache the no amount of dobbing will erase? A heat with no relief. Once on the boat we advised them to sit very still under the direct flow of a fan. They advised us to go for rides in the air conditioned rental car. And so we did!…
On Thursday, October 19 we took the air conditioned car for a 40 mile drive out to Rio Damajagua where we hired a guide to take us into the jungle, rock-climbing up the river, so we could then descend that very river via it’s many natural waterfall slides. It was late afternoon when we left the main road and turned down onto the narrow gravel road that was flanked by thick fields of 8-foot tall sugarcane. “Children of the Corn was mentioned and creeped us all out a bit. We eventually arrived at a deserted gravel parking area where a Dominican with a blue “Guide” shirt sat in a folding chair. A small group of young men was clustered on one side of the parking area enthusiastically watching an informal cockfight. We were immediately greeted by another “Guide” and once we agreed to a price of 200 pesos each ($6.00) we were off with our two guides, Commando and Manual, to experience 7 of the 27 levels of waterfalls that Damajaguas has to offer.
A quick stop along the way to pick out helmets and life jackets for each of us and we proceeded to hike into the jungle, fording a river and many creeks, until we arrived at a beautiful pool of water that would signify both the true beginning of our ascent as well as the finality of our exhilarating descent. Our jovial guides set to work pulling us up rock faces – literally pulling us up over small waterfalls, leading us further up the river and deeper into the jungle. Beautiful, unspoiled, and so incredibly green and lush. The water so refreshingly cool.
After numerous pulls up and over rocks and swimming through rock canyons to reach pristine, isolated pools fed by waterfalls, Commando announced that we had reached level 7 – our destination. Time to head back down. No! We all cried – we must not stop! To reach the 27th level it takes all day, which we didn’t have, but we did have enough daylight left to continue on to the 11th level. And so we continued…
To reach the 8th level we had to climb a knotted rope up a rock face and then use a vine (yes, an actual vine like Tarzan) to climb the side of the mountain. It seemed impossible for this experience to get any better but it did. We hiked, climbed, and swam the pools to the 11th level. No other tour groups pushing us along. No liability waivers to sign. In a word, we were giddy. And then without warning Commando demonstrated what was expected at the 11th level — jumping off the cliff we stood on through the narrow canyon into the deep pool of water 30 feet below. Rod jumped after Commando, followed by Bryan, then Allison, then me. Well, not exactly. I didn’t jump. Call me chicken, call me a wimp, but I do not jump off of cliffs into pools of water. I was perfectly happy to scramble back down the rocks with Manual and meet up in one piece with the crazies I was with.
Three more cliff-jumps and umpteen slides down natural water chutes (which I did do) into pools of water and we were gradually working our way back down from the 11th level. Along the way we passed a pool of water where the rock rim had naturally taken the shape of a giant heart. What an appropriate thing to see on Bryan and Allison’s anniversary! Yes, this was their 14th Anniversary! What a memorable way to celebrate!
It was getting dark by the time we were hiking out of this most incredible experience. Jungle sounds were filling the air and the low light was getting more thickly filtered by the minute. In the car back to Luperon, through our dinner that night at Gina’s Upper Deck and for the rest of the evening we each took turns proclaiming that to be one of the most exciting things we‘ve yet to experience. What a day!
We climbed back into the nice, cool car the next day and headed west to Los Gringos, an intimate little beach-front establishment with two cabanas on the beach and Patrick, a world class Belgian chef catering to our cravings. The only downside to Los Gringos (aside from the jungle spider — ask Allison about that), was that we only had one night to spend there. We made the most of our one night and then got back to Luperon the next day with only 30 minutes to spare before leaving for Santiago.
Our trip to Santiago was to watch a favorite Dominican sport: beisbol. The DR has six professional baseball teams and many of the Dominican players also play in the US Major Leagues. Remember Sammy Sosa? With our new team hats on we cheered for both Licey (team from Santo Domingo) and the Aguilas (from Santiago). The cheerleaders – scantily clad, Dominican beauties – danced between inning and kept the fans, especially Bryan and Rod (and Steve and Chris and Jack) entertained. Licey won, and since I was the sole member of our gringo group wearing a Licey hat (I bought the Licey hat because it had a giant “L” on the front of it) I received many smiles and fist pumps (a popular Dominican gesture) as we left the game.
With only a few days remaining in their visit, we decided to keep packing the activities into our schedule. So on Sunday morning we toured Isabella, which contains the remains of the first European settlement by Columbus on Hispaniola (some claim the first in the New World). Then we continued westward to the town of Dajabon on the Haitian border. We didn’t cross the border into Haiti, but on Monday morning at 7am we did witness a stream of Haitians crossing the guarded bridge into the DR for the Haitian market. Every Monday and Friday the border is opened to allow Haitians into Dajabon to set up booths – many of which were simply tarps or blankets on the ground – and sell merchandise at cut-rate prices. The merchandise (household items, clothing, shoes, shoes, shoes, etc.) is typically goods that have been sent to Haiti in aid packages from other countries, including the U.S. The Haitians then bring those goods over the border to sell them for money so they can in turn buy food items from the Dominican vendors in the market – trucks of plantains, eggs, rice, ice (yes, ice – huge 3’x4’ blocks of ice), and other staples that are scarce in Haiti. The muddy streets were full of vendors and shoppers; a cacophony of Spanish and Creole filling our ears. The only English heard was from our own mouths. The bridge that serves as the border crossing was a bustle of activity as streams of Haitians were rushing goods packed in bundles on top of their heads into Dajabon. Crudely made wooden carts full of food items were pushed and pulled back over the bridge. Eggs – stacks and stacks of eggs – were carried back to Haiti on the tops of womens’ heads. Twelve or more stacks of 3-dozen flats at a time (that’s over 400 eggs on a head). The expressions on the faces of these women, and in the faces of all the Haitians, told a clear story of hard work and desperation. Very different from the smiling Dominican faces we were used to seeing. The few hours that we spent at this market holds a book full of visuals and impressions for me. Many times during that morning I found myself very emotional over what I was witnessing. A powerful imprint has been left in my heart and soul.
That night Bryan and Allison’s visit ended where it began – in Santo Domingo. Over a nice dinner in a beautiful courtyard we reflected on our adventures over the past 10 days. From the city to the jungle we had seen and experienced some amazing things. We were exhausted but didn’t want it to end. We decided we just needed a couple days to rest then we could go again for another 11 days. But alas, they had a plane to catch the next afternoon. And so we said Hasta Luego to our good friends and wished them well on their return home and their next adventure.
Muchas gracias, Bryan y Allison, por su visita. Buenas suerte en Carolina Norte.
