Last week I traveled with Sean to the Dominican Republic for a 4 day trip before he continued on his trip to Haiti and I flew back to Lima. We landed in Santo Domingo on Wednesday afternoon, which gave us some time to explore the area around our hotel before Sean was busy with two days of Embassy visits.
The international airport is right by the water so on the drive to our hotel I my first glimpse of the gorgeous azure waters that are iconic to the Caribbean. The highway was lined with palm trees and people selling coral, conch shells, and baby coconuts to drink out of! My main goal for my time in the DR was to drink coconut water out of as many coconuts as possible.
Turns out the Embassy Suites is kind of out of the way to easily be able to walk to anything of interest. Plus, sidewalks and pedestrian rights of way are nearly non existent in the DR, so walking anywhere father than a few blocks around our hotel was out of the question. It was also kind of frustrating because there are hardly any taxis to hail (and the ones that are driving around are not ones that foreigners want to use) so during the four days we were here we had to rely on the hotel to call (overpriced) taxis for us anytime we wanted to go anywhere.
As it was after lunch time by the time we had checked in and freshened up after 9 hours of plane travel we managed to find a Mexican restaurant that was only a few blocks away. El Agave is really great (I highly recommend if you ever stay at the Embassy Suites in Santo Domingo) and I wished I had been able to eat there every day because Dominican cuisine wasn't anything to write home about.
The next morning Naomi and I decided to go spend the first half of the day at the beaches. Going to the beaches is honestly one of about three tourist activities you can do if you are staying in Santo Domingo and aren't really interested in driving 2-3 hours across the island to go to Puerto Plata or Punta Cana. So around 9:30 got a taxi to drive us 45 minutes east to Juan Dolio.
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| these cute little crabs were all over the beach |
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| Not a bad way to spend a Thursday morning, right? |
Juan Dolio is beach town that's farther past Boca Chica (one of the more well known beach/resort areas of DR). Juan Dolio is quieter and less touristy than Boca Chica- its where Dominicans/ex-pats go to spend their time at the beach. Our driver brought us to Restaurant Del Sol and we agreed that he would come pick us up at 12:30. where we set ourselves up under a cabana just inches from the water. The nice thing about the beaches here is that each restaurant/beach club (as opposed to the private resorts) let you in free of charge to use a cabana and all you have to do is order food and drinks. And you get access to private bathrooms and showers. So we changed into our suits and immediately went for a swim in the warm and gorgeously blue water.
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| We had the beach to ourselves for most of the morning |
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| Paradise |
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| Pina Coladas! |
After an hour of just floating and swimming we ordered some pina coladas and calamari and kicked back and relaxed under our cabana. We finished up our lunch and realized that our driver should be arriving any minute.... except he didn't.... so we ended up waiting around for an hour until we got the restaurant manager to call us a different taxi. We got back to the hotel by 2:30 and at this point we were kind of tired from trying to figure out how we were actually going to get back to the hotel. So we decided to end our day of tourism by lounging by the pool and reading until the guys came back from their day at the Embassy.
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| I could have spent most of my time in the DR poolside and been pretty happy about it |
The group met up with some people from the U.S. Embassy at a near by restaurant. I had some delicious teriyaki grilled salmon for dinner, and Sean had this grilled steak over risotto. Risotto seemed to be really popular in the Dominican Republic, there were at least three plates on most menus that incorporated it. And it was always a side dish option. At least it was good risotto.
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| Dinner at Mix Restaurant |
Naomi and I had the next day to ourselves as well so we hired another taxi to drive us to Parque Mirador del Este to visit Los Tres Ojos. Los Tres Ojos is a giant open air limestone cave with a series of three lakes (los tres ojos means 'three eyes') with in the cave. The cave was created by a long ago earthquake causing the parts of the cave to collapse and create bowl like structures that filled with water. The lakes are fed by an underground river. The largest lake is composed of freshwater, while the other two are composed of sulfurous and salt water. There are massive stalactites and stalagmites all through out the caves. We walked up and down the stairs that were carved into the rock to check out all the different lakes. And then we paid 25 pesos to take a small boat across one of the lakes through a cave to go see a cenote on the other side. It was a neat experience but it was also insanely crowded, as Los Tres Ojos is one of the few tourist destinations in Santo Domingo.
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| A close up of the cenote |
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street scenes from the chaotic drive back to the hotel
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| Our driver was really excited to point out Santo Domingo's own Chinatown |
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| And he also insisted on taking a detour to show us the Palacio Nacional |
Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and got lunch at a nearby cafe. And then I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool again.
On our last full day in the Dominican the guys all wanted to check out the Zona Colonial and then to the beaches. So we set out in the morning over to the historic center of Santo Domingo. The Zona Colonial, right along the Ozama River, comprises a really small area of Santo Domingo. It didn't take much time to fully explore the historic center. The Zona Colonial is technically the second 'first' settlement of the Dominican. The first area was originally established by Bartholomew Columbus on the east bank of the Ozama River, but after a hurricane the settlement was relocated to its present location on the west bank.
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| View of the River Ozma from the top of Fortaleza and a Caribbean cruise ship |
We decided to pay a guide to give us a walking tour (which in hind sight was a good idea because I don't think we would have really known what all the different buildings were). First we walked around Fortaleza Ozama, which had just hosted a Jazz Festival, so all the awnings and stages kind of ruined the view.
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| Fortaleza |
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| The whole building and its walls are constructed out of coral! |
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| Hoping to find some ghosts of prisoners |
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| Looking down over the original walls of the fort |
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| Sean and the Dominican flag |
Then we walked down Calle de las Damas to Plaza des Espana. Then we walked up Calle El Conde, the main shopping street, to Catedral Santa Maria La Menor. This cathedral is the oldest cathedral in the Americas, construction began in 1512 and was completed in 1540. Its an impressive cathedral since it hosts 12 chapels as well as a tombstone for Simon Bolivar. And (fun fact!) at one point it was the headquarters for Francis Drake when he captured the city in 1580.
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| Plaza des Espanas |
After walking around the cathedral and relishing in the AC being pumped into the building we headed back to where our driver was parked and continued our journey back to Juan Dolio to spend the afternoon by the beach.
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| Parque Colon with the facade of the cathedral in the background (only photo I have of the cathedral) |
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| Seen on the streets |
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| A parting shot of the Zona Colonial |
We had our driver bring us back to Cafe Del Sol, since that was the only place we knew would be worthwhile to go to, and we didn't have a lot of time to spend looking for another location. And the guys just wanted to spend some time relaxing. So we parked ourselves under some cabanas, ordered some pina coladas and kicked back for a couple hours. Although it was cloudy (and looked like a storm was going to happen any minute) it was still a great afternoon at the beach again, and a great way to conclude our time in the DR before I went back to Lima and Sean and the other guys on this trip flew across the island to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.
Thanks for stopping by... Until our next adventure!
