Buenas dias. It's Monday now. I woke up early around 8:30am and had a piece of bread and a coffee (which was included with the hostel stay). I made a reservation to take a guagua (bus) at 10am which will take me from Santo Domingo to not exactly my next destination but close enough - Last Terrenas. The Dominican Republic doesn't appear to have any public transit system. Instead, they operate on private means of transportation including busses. The bus company I made a reservation with is one of the biggest ones in the DR, called Caribe Tours. The cost was 320RD pesos (~$8CDN). The terminal is about a 3km walk from my hostel and it's raining today. I'm lucky my backpack is waterproof. The Caribe Tours bus company didn't have a direct ride to Las Terennas and the closest place I could get to was a city called Sanchez. Sanchez is about 15km to Las Terennas and the plan was to take a local guagas or moto concho (motorcycle taxi) to Las Terrenas.
The trip from Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas took about 3 hours. I was asleep when the bus stopped at Sanchez City and I rushed out of the bus while collecting my backpack, my books and my sleeping bag liner (which I used for a blanket - the air conditioning in the bus was freezing!). When I exited the bus, I was so disoriented and there were 5 people screaming at me if I want a taxi. I realized after there was a bus leaving for Las Terrenas and they were asking me if I wanted to take it. Before I knew it, one of the drivers grabbed my backpack and was going to put it on his motorcycle! I panicked so I grabbed my bag in defense going into "fight" mode - I didn't know if he was going to just drive away with it and someone grabbed my shoulder and told me it's ok and he will take me to Las Terrenas. On a motorcycle?! Ok.. if I knew the ride would be up and down a mountian, I would not have accepted .. but naively I did.. it was a scary yet fun ride to say the least. The ride was about 15km on the back of a motorcycle and it costs me 200RD pesos (~$5CDN) .. whatever.. I just wanted to forget that thrilling yet scary experience +_+.
On the drive to my hotel, I was in awe when I saw the beaches of Las Terrenas. The beach seemed to go on forever as far as my eyes could look. It was a beautiful sight and it made me forget about my thrilling ride to get here!
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| Hotel Palapa (don't waste your time here!) |
I got to my hotel (Hotel Palapa) in one piece as planned. I reserved it on the internet and it cost 1300 pesos (~$35CDN) per night without air condition and it totally sucks! The rooms could be a lot nicer if they put some work into it like... a new washroom! Maybe I will look for another place tomorrow. The bar is pretty cool though. It overlooks the beach and the people are friendly. The hotel had a pool. I don't understand the reasoning for a pool when they were seconds away from the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen in my life!
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| Barrio Latino |
After settling in, I rented a 150cc motorcycle to tour around the city. I didn't think twice cruising the streets wearing shorts and no helmet but I played it safe and didn't go too crazy on the bike. If I didn't have a motorcycle, the walk from my place to the city center would take about 15 minutes to walk or I could take a guagas (which consisted of a mini van with the side door always opened) stopping to pick up or let you go out wherever you wanted. They would honk at you to get your attention to pick you up. You could also take what's called a moto concho which is a motorcycle taxi, like the one I took from Sanchez to Las Terrenas. The cost to go down the street is about .75 cents. For lunch, I had a burger in a bar called Barrio Latino which was situated in the heart of the city. During lunch, it started to pour (actually it was the hardest I've ever seen rain come down from the sky!). I raced home to dry up and rest...
Las Terrenas used to be a small fishing village but I've heard it's gotten more touristy over the years and there are many restaurants, hotels and adventure shops selling excusions like 4x4ing, sailing, snorkelling etc. Most of the stretch of Las Terennas is along the beach. The town has a very European vibe to it and you can get by speaking french because every other person here speaks french! The story goes that during World War 2, they allowed Jewish immigrants to migrate here to escape persecusion from the war. Europeans and even Germans defecting also migrated here and made it their home. Its a cozy little town and I like it a lot.. Minus my hotel Meh!
In the evening, I had some time to relax at the beach .. the beaches were clean and gorgeous! I decided to stay in tonight because it's pouring rain, otherwise I would have gone out to check the local dance scene. Actually, the real reason I didn't go was my shoes were soaked from biking in the rain in the daytime! :(
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