my life with boys: vacation - second stop: D.R.

since i didn't keep a travel journal along the way,

i'm going to try to touch on the highlights of c and i's trip to the D.R. (dominican republic)

i have to start off by telling you that we almost didn't make it to the D.R.

while i was napping to try to rid myself of some serious jet lag from flying to florida,
c wakes me to tell me we didn't have our passports with us!

i was sat up dazed while trying to register it.
WHAT??!! (thinking he must be mistaken because he went back into the house to grab the
boys' passports even though i told him they weren't necessary). they weren't coming with
and they don't need to show identification to fly in the states. *sigh*

he had left them on the bathroom counter. we were both thinking about our trip to FL
not the trip to the D.R.. i almost flipped out, then realized, we had some time.
it was 4pm there and in san diego, it was 3 hours earlier. if we moved fast,
we could have them sent out overnight but it would be cutting it close.
we were flying out at 10:30am.

c was on the phone in minutes asking for help from our trusted friend nic.
i must say this man went Above and Beyond by going to our home,
getting the passports and sending them fed ex overnight for their earliest deliver.
we even had them sent directly to the hyatt regency hotel right there IN the orlando
international airport. we coldn't risk waiting for them at my parents.
we wanted to be at the airport so we could literally grab them and check in.

fortunately, it all worked out and they were delivered at 8am the next morning. *sigh of relief*
we briefly discussed a 'backup' plan if the passports didn't show.
c suggested the florida keys and i suggested miami.
we'd been ok without passports here.

so we were off.

the first stop: santo domingo (the capital city)
located on the carribean sea.

highlights and thoughts on santo domingo:

sometimes called 'city of firsts". santo domingo has the first cathedral, monastery, university
and hospital in the new world that date back to christopher's columbus' arrival in 1942

first paved street in new world, 1502

building in the zona colonial (colonial zone)

i was serenaded my first night in S.D as c and i were sitting at a cafe table outside at pat'e palos waiting for our dinner. it was very romantic and a perfect way to start a trip. i'll never forget it. (thx c)
stayed at the coco boutique hotel. it was exactly what we were looking for - something local, unamerican, hip and yes, affordable. kudos to c for finding the night before we were to leave.
little to no english spoken at most places we visited in the D.R. - brush up on your espanol if you visit

the D.R. shares the same island with Haiti and it was much larger than i imagined.
since we didn't have unlimited funds to fly from one place on the island to another, we traveled like the locals. we took caribe tours from santo domingo to playa dorado on the north coast.

the trip took 4 hours total and cost just $25. i should note renting a car in the D.R. is not recommended.
after seeing how locals drove, i was so glad we listened.
much to our surprise the cross-island buses were really comfortable.
they had a.c. and had plush velour seats, and lots of dominican music. *grin*
during the long drive, i finished up the 2nd book in steig larsson's trilogy.
intense is the first word that comes to my mind when i think of that story - whew!!

i should note i convinced c to take this 4 hour bus ride to the northern coast do ONE thing.
i wanted to visit 27 waterfalls or damajagua falls as the locals call them. i've had never swam in real waterfalls and i was determined to since this island is choke full of them. c was up for it but also wanted to try to get a little surfing in at cabarete, which we simply didn't have time to squeeze in. next time.

because we wanted to be close to the national park where the falls were, we stayed in an area full of
all-inclusive mega resorts which by far was our most boring and 'stale' hotel experience there. food was horrible and was was full of east coast canadians and americans who smoked like chimneys and preferred not to venture out of the walls of the hotel (or compound as c and i joked).

one very nice couple we met from alberta said "we'd never venture out onto the streets". this was all before they learned we'd been travelling all over the island. for the life of me, i can't undertsand why people travel across the world and then stay in a hotel and never leave. they could do that in their own country for 1/4 of the cost. just doesn't make sense to me. so with that said, one night at this mega resort was plenty. i should mention our room was ocean front and the beaches were very nice. we enjoyed laying in the sand and relaxing before the waterfall adventure the next day.

so on to the waterfalls which is by far the highlight of my trip. c and i were picked up by arriba tours and taken tot he waterfalls where we were given helmets and life jackets. we had done our research and were prepared with water shoes too. so off we went. i want to share without giving too many details that
these tours would NEVER be allowed in the states - too dangerous and too much liability.

note: c told me after we went that a few people have died on these waterfall tours and i did some research tonight and it's true. i won't go into details about the deaths, but if it's been raining, it's safe to wait a few days for water levels to go down and the current to slow. some folks are trying to close the tour operators down but it brings so much revenue into the country, i don't think it will ever happen.

got the gear on and ready to go!

we were like teenagers - so excited

the 1st waterfall...
we went THRU the falls to get to the next pool

one of the 9 falls we toured
pix doesn't do it justice

the last waterfall, we had a choice of jumping or sliding.
i chose to JUMP this one! (appx. 6 meters high).

since i didn't have a REAL water camera (just a housing to go over our
point and shoot digital camera), i've pulled these off of the internet to share.
these photos do the falls a little more justice.

the falls were simply BREATHTAKING!
if you ever go to the D.R. and want an adventure, don't miss the 27 waterfalls.