The Things You Do For L*O*V*E

First horse he's ridden in about 15 years

Last week, ideal weather was forecast for our journey southward to Curacao where we plan to spend hurricane season 2014.  The day before we were going to leave, new cruiser friends of ours, Mike and Cate of s/v Horizon, pulled into Boca Chica.  We were happy to reconnect with them and my Captain proposed that we stay put longer since we still had plenty of time to go south. I agreed to delay our departure on the condition that we get off the boat and tour more of the island.
   
The Captain doesn’t like to drive in the islands mainly because the locals maneuver their vehicles like maniacs. Never the less, we rented a compact car for a few days and he braved the roads with one hand firmly on the horn, as is customary in the DR. (He loves me.) I was co-pilot with a map in my lap.

El Salto de Jimenoa

The first day we headed toward the mountainous town of Jarabacoa. The ride there was interesting with small stationary vendor stands along the highway and mobile vendors at every stoplight. Jarabacoa was more touristy that expected and we took in the sites of El Salto de Jimenoa and La Confluencia after having lunch. It rained quite a bit that day, so when we took an alternate route back there was debris on the road from landslides in several places. That route also went through a small town full of greenhouse after greenhouse that produce flowers for the florist industry worldwide.

After the rain on the mountain highway

   
The next day Cate and Mike joined us to drive up to Samana, a peninsula on the east coast of the DR. I was co-pilot again, but this time I got distracted by the conversations and somehow we missed a turn in the first twenty minutes. That mistake took us into the capital city of Santo Domingo AND its bumper to bumper traffic. The Captain was not happy. (He loves me not.) While stopped in traffic, I asked a uniformed person (police?) if we had missed our turn. He indicated that it was behind us and began to direct the cars behind us to back up so we could back up to exit! But just then the cars in front of us moved forward, so the Captain pressed on.

The paved road before the rutted dirt road at the dump

Approximately two hours later we had turned around and were near the correct exit.  I didn’t dare miss it again, so we turned at the first sign for San Isidro where the route we needed intersected the highway. (Wrong.)  At this point, with four college educated adults in the car, Mike asked if we wanted to use their cell’s GPS. (Duh.) We all breathed a deep sigh of relief upon hearing the assuring automated voice. Unfortunately, that moment was short-lived and our stress quickly returned when we realized that there were no roads on which to turn given by the GPS prompter. (“Recalculating…”)To make matters worse, many of the roads in that area were dirt and deeply potholed.  At one point, the GPS directed us to turn onto a road that appeared to be a huge garbage dump, “Turn right and proceed for three kilometers.”  The Captain turned left and somehow we finally made our way to the highway that lead to Samana.

El Limon

Our goal in Samana was to hike to the El Limon Waterfall which was located easily thanks to ample signage in this ultra touristy area.  When we were nearly there, Ramon pulled along side our car in moving traffic to insist that he’d show us the way.  We wanted to walk to the falls, but after an exasperating discussion with Ramon in half English-half Spanish they put us on horses with individual handler-guides and off we went. I’m fine in the saddle, but the Captain, although experienced, was reluctant. (He loves me.)  Mike and Cate were ready and willing for adventure. It was after all, a memorable excursion- one we’ll no doubt laugh about for years- and the falls were a powerful site, but muddy from the recent rains.

Los Cuatro Amigos