Caribbean ferries from DR-Puerto Rico I had to show up at the docks 5 hours before departure, due to customs and check in….. And I can now understand why! First I stood in line to check in for 1 hour, then in customs they pulled everything out of both my bags that I had carefully packed only hours before. Then they took all my fruit and food of me, then stuffed everything back in, so half of it did not fit. Then I wandered off to passport control…. Oh what fun. First of all I apparently have a fake passport, secondly [View Full Entry]

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It is a wonderful country where modern meets traditional. One minute you feel like you are stepping 50 years back in time, whilst others you are back in the present. It is a country where nature is still so untouched and unspoilt in many places, and yet so exploited by tourism in others. This is the country where woman are women, and men are men. Men spend their Saturdays drinking and catching up, and the women spend all day at the beauty salon. No matter how poor they are, they will always manage to find money to spend on themselves, even [View Full Entry]

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On the bus ride to Santo Domingo, Keith and I exchanged many messages, as we both seemed to be running later than late. And I was soooooooooo cold. The AC was on full blast as usual, and I was sitting there in my wet bikini and tiny beach dress. Amazingly enough I did not become ill! Two hours later than expected I turned up at the Condominium Parque Hotel near Zona Colonial (same hotel as I stayed my first nights in the country). Keith and I were sharing a room, so I went and unpacked and waited for him, who was [View Full Entry]

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Bayahibe As I reached Bayahibe, I gave Cisco a call, to pick me up and help me find somewhere to stay. He picked me up on his motorbike, and off we went, trying the cheaper options first, and finally ending up staying in the only hotel in the village. It wads a beautiful room with a view overlooking the bay, and at a cheap price as the AC did not work, great for me, as I never use the Ac anyway I got settled in and agreed to meet Nana and Cisco for drinks at the local Colmado later. The Colmado [View Full Entry]

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The boat ride took a few hours, and the boat was quite crowded, but it was great. I sat on the roof of the boat letting rays of sun darken my skin a little more, or was I just getting red perhaps. As we arrived on the other side my aim was to get to Playa Limon before night fall. As the ferry docked, I quickly realised there was only Motoconcho’s, which could be a little difficult for me with all my bags. After plenty of discussion by all the drivers and me, I was persuaded into going with one moped [View Full Entry]

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Paradise on earth! I arrived in Las Galeras early afternoon, and the village consisted of one street, ending on the beach. The gua gua driver said he could take me to the hostel for as cheap as a taxi, so I bargained with him, agreed on a price and off we went. When the book said that the hostel was a little out of town, I did not realise it was miles out of town. They wanted to charge me 40 dollars, and that did not even include hot water! So I hopped back into the taxi and left! At least [View Full Entry]

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My Gua Gua Journey to Las Galeras. I hopped on the Gua gua that was going along the North coast. A Gua Gua is a mini van that allows 25 - 30 passengers on board (should only fit 10 at the most)! The guar gua gets filled to the rim, and often have people even hanging out the door. The door is in general left open, so that people can easily get on and off. There is no space allocated for bags or luggage. Often you find yourself in the situation that you have someone under you, some one halfway on [View Full Entry]

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I settled into my daily routine at the hotel and at the church rapidly. At the hotel I translated anything the owners needed. As I like to keep busy I also gave myself the task of cleaning the former restaurant kitchen, and helping the cleaning lady to heighten the standard of the cleanliness of the rooms. As there is not much to see at all in Sosua, apart from the lovely beach, I kept myself busy and useful (well I think I was being useful at least ;) ) I would try to go to the church in the mornings [View Full Entry]

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The owners of Coco hotel and I went to Cabarete for the weekend. Cabarete is a fantastic place where all the actions is on the beach. It is a surf paradise, so looking out at the sea (surfing and wind surfing) and up at the sky (kite surfing) is a celebration of colours. The beach is long and wide, and has beautiful yellow sand. Along the middle section of the beach, there are bars in all shapes and forms. Restaurant in the day time, bar and restaurant in the evening, and bar, nightclub in the night  The atmosphere is chilled [View Full Entry]

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I awoke to Sosuá. A little but very busy town. I have to say it almost resembles to the Canary Islands, just with less cheap girls but there again more “chicas” who charge for sex. There are bars and clubs everywhere, and girls on every corner. The corners the girls don’t inhabit are occupied by men who carry wads of money and shout out change to anyone who passes by. I wondered around trying to find out where I was and where I could go as I had heard they had some great beaches here. I wondered down the “strip” and [View Full Entry]

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