Vacation 2

Time off - Sabana de la Mar/Samana

Last week-end I went with a friend of the hotel to the north/north-eastern part of the island, to visit a place that none of us had visited before. We left the hotel on Friday afternoon, around 15:30. After four bus-changes we ended up in Sabana de la Mar, a coastal village where one can take a "ferry" over to Samana. Unfortunately(?) we had to spend the night there, because we missed the boat, arriving at around 19:30. We found a hotel in the middle of the village that cost us 300 pesos for the night, around 9USD. A bargain!! OK, the hotel wasn't a 5-star luxury resort, but we only needed a place to spend the night. That evening we only went down to have a walk around the village and something to eat before we went back to the hotel to sleep.

The following day we woke up early to get to the "ferry". After buying the tickets we had to get on board a small motorboat to get to the larger one that was going to take us to Samana. They loaded on whatever possible on that small boat, apart from people and suitcases! My friend and I were joking about that they even were going to load two motorbikes that we saw, and guess what, they did! Finally on board the bigger boat we sat on the top floor to enjoy the view and the nice weather. When we were getting close to Samana I started to feel that I had burned my whole upper body! My arms were flaming red and my shoulders were burning! Not the nicest thing..

In Samana we stopped to buy ice cream before jumping on a roofed "motoconcho" and I so felt like a tourist at that point! With my burned body doing what tourist normally do. The "motoconcho" took us to the market area, where we jumped on in the back of a truck. After stopping at El Limon we got to our final destination, Las Terrenas. During the trip on the truck we talked to lots of people. Everyone was friendly and told us stories, before they jumped off. Everything was pleasant until a group of Haitians and a high Dominican man jumped on. In the beginning we had fun, they were singing and rapping, but later the Dominican man became aggressive and started to become a nuisance. This went on until he decided to attack me. I pretended that I didn't listen to him until it became unbearable and my friend and I had to jump off the truck. Luckily we already reached where we were supposed to.

Thanks to my Lonely Planet-guidebook that I bought before coming to the Dominican Republic we found a French restaurant by the beach. We sat down and ate lunch, while planning where we were going to spend the night. After lunch we went to the hotel and checked in. This time the "hotel" was a bit more expensive than the last night, but we lived more comfortably and had breakfast included. Thanks again, Lonely Planet! We went down to the beach, just a three-minute walk from the place where we were staying and spent the rest of the afternoon there.

Later on, when in the hotel, we found out that we had to go to Playa de los Pescadores to find the best options of good restaurants and clubs. We had dinner in a very nice restaurant by the beach. I ordered a pasta carbonara and got the biggest portion of pasta that I've ever had! Although too much food and tired of too much travelling, we went out after the dinner. We started in a bar full of Haitian hookers and European men searching for pleasure, and ended up in a Dominican night club. We had other opportunities of clubbing in the area, but they were very touristic.

The following day we had a very good breakfast in the hotel, before starting the LONG way back to Punta Cana. We spent a couple of hours at the harbour of Samana, before going on the boat that was going to take us back to Sabana de la Mar. Due to the sun burn on our bodies, we decided to sit under the sun deck, with a roof covering us. On top of that, the trip over the sea was a nightmare! The sea was rough and constantly rocked the boat, during the 1 hour and 30 minute trip. I had to concentrate HARD on all the beautiful things in this world so I wouldn't be sea sick. I wasn't the only one though and it was fun to see everyone around us. No-one was saying a word..

Three guagua-rides later I got back to my apartment, exhausted. And sun burnt. Still, this was the best experience so far. I find it difficult to beat these days off, but I will try.

This is it for now; updates on how work is progressing are coming soon.

Til’ then, take care