Las Galeras

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 the gua gua driver was kind enough to let me pay for only one way.


So there I was back in "town" with no idea what to do or where to stay. I was so tired, I was half blinded I think, so I even considered just leaving and going straight back to Samana. I am so glad that my hunger drove me to "hunt" for food, so off I walked to the beach, where I saw a beach bar. And when I say beach bar I do not mean the usual beach bar full of drunk tourists! This beach bar was full of local people eating local food. It was so picturess down on the beach with white sand, and coco palms for miles. I sat as close to the water as I could get just admiring the view and taking in the breathtaking surroundings.

The locals approached me, and before I knew it I had food on the table, and good company who could tell me things about the area. An older gentleman told me he knew of a cheapish place to stay just up from the beach, so after dinner he took me there. It was a Bungalow with a view of the beach, with 2 huge double beds, and plenty of lizards and cockroaches…… I settled in and unpacked after debugging the place a little.

After a little nap which I was abruptly awoken by due to a cockroach deciding to sit on my face. I leapt out of bed and hit the shower. The water was warmish so I was happy. As I was washing myself I noticed a really strong and not particularly pleasant smell, and thought to myself if I was that dirty…… A little later someone enlightened me on the fact that the water was mostly sea water, with a pinch of fresh water. I just wish I had known this before I had washed all my clothes in it. The hotel manager called a trusted Motoconcho for me, and made arrangements that he would show me the sights the next day.

As early evening snuck up on me I managed to get to the beach and take some pictures, and have a little walk about in the village. Nine o’clock sharp I was outside one of the many bars/restaurants on the strip waiting for a German girl I had met earlier that day. We had agreed to meet that evening and go out for a drink together. I waited on the corner outside Paradise Bungalows, but I was stood up, after 30 minutes of hanging on a street corner which never looks good anywhere in the world, I decided to go in to the bar and wait there as I quenched my thirst and hunger.

There were already a few people in the bar, and plenty of staff. I quickly started talking to the owners themselves. There was John from US, and Deidra from France, both of them friendly as can be and a great laugh. It was the nicest and friendliest bar I had been in yet, and it almost felt like a home away from home. I quickly forgot the time, and the fact that I was getting up early to sightsee, as the drinks flowed, just as well as the conversation and laughter.
The next morning I got up and was feeling quite rested, so after showering and drowning the 3 cockroaches in my shower I met Luis, my guide for the day. I hopped on the back of his motoconcho and off we went to see Playa Rincon, which is the longest beach in the Caribbean. The road to the beach led us through a string of little villages, and spectacular scenery. The road leading down to the beach was a “little” bumpy, but was all worth it when I arrived at this stunning white sand beach, with palm trees as far as you could see.

The beach was inhabited by many; there were the coconut pickers, the tourists, the locals at the beach shacks, the fishermen, and the herds of cows and sheep. I have never in my life before seen cows on a beach! We drove along the whole beach as it is simply too long to walk, if you want to do anything else that day. It was straight in some areas, and had coves in others. It was stunning! Just a shame the sun was hiding so that the gorgeous colours of the sea did not show themselves.

After seeing the whole beach, and taking lots of pics, we headed back to the other side where the locals prepared fresh fish (fresh as in; cough 10 minutes earlier). She showed me what fish she had, and I just could not resist the lobster. She asked me how I wanted it prepared, and I told her to make it her way  As dinner was being prepared I took a boat ride up the river looking at all the wonders of nature. The boats man was fun and wacky, he jumped out of the boat to fetch crabs and anything else he saw that he though might interest me, so I dare to say he was more out of the boat, than in it. It was a great little trip, a little overprized perhaps, but worth it.

As the boat arrived back at the beach my dinner was on the table waiting for me. The lobster was grilled with butter and spices, it was served with fried plantains, and fried sweet potato. It was so delicious, that I was tempted to lick my plate, but to try to maintain some civilised behaviour I managed to constrain myself.

After lunch we headed up the hill again through the village above Rincon, and heading back toward Las Galeras. I had already seen an Iguana sanctuary I wanted to stop at on the way back so we did. As we arrived, it looked as though it was closed, but thankfully a really sweet American girl called Kat opened it all up again for me. She is living there in a tiny little shack with the bare essentials whilst doing her PHD on Iguanas. She showed us around, starting with the little baby iguanas that had only hatched a few weeks earlier, to the middle sized iguanas, to the big and old ones. We actually went into the penn of the larger ones, and it was great seeing them so up close. Although captivity is not their natural habitat, they still seemed very happy and comfortable there.

The Iguanario as it is called is there to enhance peoples understanding of this wonderful prehistoric creature, and especially to make the locals stop killing everyone they come across. The Dominicans kill it and boil it to use its oil, as that is apparently very good for your joints. Unfortunately Kat constantly finds herself in a situation where individuals break in to the penns and steal some. It is so sad, as seeing them up close just really makes you admire them so much.

After the Iguanario we headed down to the coast to see the Boca Del Diablo (Devils mouth). This is a blowhole made out of lava where the air gets pushed through and up at an amazing force when the waves crash in. Unfortunately I was expecting water to come up as well, so I was a little disappointed too find it was just air. However the air that came up was so forceful, that it lifted your clothes, and it felt as if you would get pulled in to the hole. It was fun, but scary, so I let the guide stand closest to the hole, and I kept a safe distance (a little scared I was)! As we had approached the Devils mouth we had gotten caught in the rain 2, and it looked like the rain was intent on trying to spoil my day (impossible of course having lived in Ålesund for 8 years). It started spitting again, so we decided to leave and head back to town, after 5 minutes on the bike, the rain was so hard and strong, we hopped of the bike and sought refuge under a big tree. We were both soaking wet, but still smiling, so as the worst rain died down we decided to carry on

After a lovely salt water shower (not) and a change of clothes I was good as new. I had had a wonderful day, and was ready for a fantastic evening. I had asked Kat if she wanted to come into town for a drink later, so I went to John’s and Deidre’s for another fun night. I waited for about an hour and a half before Kat finally showed up, so of course the jokes about me getting stood up again (and by a girl) were many.

As Kat was late I ordered food. I had promised the night before to try the ribs, as John was competing with Rockys Café in Sosua for the best ribs in the country, and I had eaten there. I promised I would truthfully judge who’s were the best in the country. John decided to make a bet with me whilst waiting for my dinner. It all started with him saying he doubted I could finish it all, and me of course responding I bet you I can, because I eat like a horse. So suddenly we had a bet going, which consisted of me getting drinks free for the rest of the night if I finished, and for me to pay for mine and his if I didn’t. Unfortunately I have a big mouth, and although my appetite is big, I was shocked when the plate of ribs arrived. I think there was half a piglet on there, nicely accompanied by chips, salad, and bread, and of course a drink…. I was getting full just looking at it.

When Kat arrived I had eaten 41/2 ribs out of 6, and my stomach was hurting, my eyes bulging, and I was cold sweating, so I decided to have a break. The break ended in Kat getting the rest of my food, and many laughs, and jokes all on me again! I even had a French man ask if I was pregnant. The night was great, and ended outside on of their bungalows with a nightcap, and a job offer to work with them from Jan-March which I unfortunately had to turn down. The also offered me a very good price on the bungalow if I wanted to stay for longer, so I promised to give them feedback the next day as I needed to speak to Keith who I wanted to see before leaving the country.

The next morning I awoke to a slightly sore head, a very swollen stomach, and a decision to move further down the coast to be able to meet Keith for the weekend.
I headed down to John and Deidre to say goodbye, and thank them for all their great company and to tell them what great people they are. It was a strange feeling saying goodbye to these people I had just met, yet I felt a certain sadness to say goodbye.

I got on the first Gua gua I saw, and for the first time I was sitting on the back of a truck in the open air where there was plenty of space for my bags, and a perfect place to get a full view of my surroundings back to Samana. My only complaint was that sitting on a plank after a day on a moped all day long the day before, and a day travelling on gua gua’s the day before that again did not feel too good on my back or lower down. But with the breathtaking view, all pain and discomfort was quickly forgotten about.

As I arrived in Samana in plenty of time before my boat ride across the bay, I was told that I would even have more time to wait, as the 1 o’clock departure had been cancelled, and the next one was at 5. I found myself a little pavilion by the sea, where I made myself comfortable, and enjoyed the hours by reading, eating, and watching people go by

Lessons learnt:

1. Life is short, embrace every moment
2. Change is always good, never bad
3. Nice people are evrywhere
4. Never make bet's you are not sure to win ;)
5. Be alert to your surrondings, and enjoy them!
6. Be spontanious

---

---

---