We spoke to a few US ex-pats and they suggested that there is a nice day trip in the mountains near Luperon. So I (Rose) did some further discussion and decided that I would like to do this since there wasn’t a weather window yet. The route was abit sketchy as there aren’t maps with much detail and a lot of DR people really don’t use them (nor do I really know if they understand them). I shared this with others and ended up with 3 other couples that were interested. But then I needed to find a driver/van that was reasonable – so off I went to talk to them at the guagua area of town. I was able to get them down to $2200 pesos or around $66 US. So we were set.
So off we went for our 9-5pm Tuesday van journey. Well after getting lost a few times – fortunately up some acceptable dirt roads to some very beautiful vistas or pueblos. All of this was after our driver getting direction – I could imagine what it would have been like if we just rented a motorcycle or car. The 2nd time getting lost looking for Maimon — we ended up down another dirt road and this time asking directions a local man opened up his field fence asking us to come to his home. Well we decided that may not be a good idea even though we were hungry so off we back tracked to Los Hildagos for lunch and to calm our US nerves that weren’t used to not being in control and being able to speak their language.
So now happy – we continued on our journey thinking we could follow the map north to La Isabelle and continue around the coast area back to Luperon. So I showed him the map and name of the town – so off we went for more directions and down a another dirt road which ended up at a river. With huge eyes and open mouths, we asked the driver if this was okay for the van to cross this river to get to the other side. He nodded so off we went holding our breath hoping that somehow it would make the van lighter. We made it up the other dirt road on the other side. So we were releaved until another dirt road that ended at another river that initially looked like the only passage was via a small boat/barge that was walked across to take motorcycles to the other side. I immediately said stop as it looked like he was going to go down this hill into this major sand spit near the river that looked like we could get stuck. Then the barge tender told the driver that we could cross up the river abit. Some of us walked across the river to see how deep and how the dirt road was across the other side.
. He nodded so off we went holding our breath hoping that somehow it would make the van lighter. We made it up the other dirt road on the other side. So we were releaved until another dirt road that ended at another river that initially looked like the only passage was via a small boat/barge that was walked across to take motorcycles to the other side. I immediately said stop as it looked like he was going to go down this hill into this major sand spit near the river that looked like we could get stuck. Then the barge tender told the driver that we could cross up the river abit. Some of us walked across the river to see how deep and how the dirt road was across the other side before we believed he could do it as it would be a LONG walk home and I don’t think the owner of this full sized van would appreciate what the driver was doing to it! Well ½ of us went into the van and the other continued wading thru the water and watching this unreal event.
As it turned out we were on the bottom side of MiaMar Resort that we ate at via a Tiano tour we did on Saturday. I thought we were and others were surprised that I had this instinct. So now the driver knew where we were and it was like a horse going back to the barn! I remembered that their was a beach nearby so asked him to bring us there for one last stop. It was a great adventure but I’m not sure that everyone was prepared for it. I didn’t expect that the driver had never been to this area as it was so close to Luperon, DR. But wish the price of gas, I guess we should expect that they don’t just go for a Sunday drive like us US folks do.
Life is good! I like seeing non-touristic stuff.