If your’e planning to experience powerful and unforgettable emotions while having a cool trip, then the Dominican Republic will be able to provide you both. While having a chance to book cheap hotels and have the best travel insurance packages, the land is just an ideal spot for an adventurous vacation.
Getting to Dominican Republic
The idea of getting here on a plane needs to be replaced with a chance of having a ship voyage as while watching the charming Sea you can always have a chance to catch the most varying shades of green and blue, some even call the sea to have a “creamy blue-greenish ” color. That will go.
As if you’re scared of a voyage you can always relax with a glass of Mama Juana– a special and unique drink made of roots and rum. It;s believed that this drink cures entirely everything, including sexuality problems. And if you plan not differ from the locals just keep in mind the following simple phrases: Pariva (glasses up), Parbajo (glasses down), Andentro (straight into… the stomach I guess).
The semi-island Samana
The semi-island of Samana is indescribably beautiful. If you’re just in love with natural wonders, then the green, natural mountains and jungles will welcome you the way desired. When going deeper into the island the waterfall Lemon comes right in front of you. Not to get tired some tourist prefer to have horse-back riding trips (for this reason you might want to get a different kind of insurance). The horses are pretty wild here, so I would suggest you to keep hold while on ride, the tricky trails are also influencing the attitude of horses.
Going back to the waterfall we should say that it’s huge and loud. Under the fall there’s a natural pond. The water of it is clear blue, it’s deep and icy. And it might be not surprising that the most favorite activity of the locals here is the idea of jumping into the pool from unbelievably high peaks. And it’s a must to learn that in Spanish the word “salto” means both jump and waterfall. So do not get mixed up when somebody offers you a “salto”.
Trip to Mari Vanna
The best excursion here is the one to Mari Vanna and the Wall of the Rain. If fully proves the vacation to Dominicans to be a separate paradise, absolute heaven. It’s the spot that gives a chance for adventures and extreme. The way to the location is most likely being led with a tropical rain (a typical situation for the island) and the final location for it is the one called National Park of Los Haitices. It’s located on the semi-island Samana and it’s believed that this the spot where the pirates used to hide their treasures as it was being surrounded with whales and people were scared to come close. The pirates are gone by now, but the humpback whales still look after the treasures from March to January.
The tropical rain gives a feeling as you’re standing under the waterfall. Not to get that wet, the locals are familiar with various kinds of hiding caves, where you can wait until the rain stops. Earlier it was rather scary to hide in one of those, as it’s here were the man-eating tribes used to stay. The walls of the caves are decorated with various kind of tribal ceremonies. Unluckily you can not make photos of it, but still you can at least enjoy those yourself.
Wildlife
There’s just so much of animals, birds and sea animals, that you do not get a chance to have a look at all of them unless you’re a careful viewer. If you here a loud and sharp voice then be prepared to meet various colorful and bright parrots, mean pelicans guarding the beaches and small birds just cruising above your head. And the most fantastic thing is that they’re not even scared of you, they usually come close, stare at you and then fly back in a quite slow motion.
Luckily there are no predators on the mainland. But as a substitute there are bunch of mosquitoes. And on the Western part of the island there are enormous centipedes. Well, if you are not even thinking of getting to the West, you better start thinking of ways how to reveal the mosquito bites. Well, the locals assume that the best recovery method is the coconut milk. And if you are fast enough to drink it in advance, then the mosquitoes will not even bother you at all.
The Wonders of the land
Among the most interesting wonders I would like to include the sea stars. Here the natures was generous enough to provide the largest variety of these creatures. The tourists are just fond of taking pictures with those. They are not slippery as if assumed from the photos, but instead those are bright, comfy and rubbery.
The sand on the beach is that white one giving a desire to spend hours under the sun. As if tired of the water you can have a walk in the cities- Otro Banda– the city of meat, Altos-de-Chavon a medieval city of the world-known masters, old Santo-Domingo.
If coming in a group you can arrange yourself not a single room for each in a hotel, but an entire bungalow complex with all of the palm trees, villas and much more. And in this case you’ll get a chance to book rooms for a rather reasonable prices.
As if you’re wondering what to take from this paradise back to home,I would suggest you the following list: rum, Larimar blue stone (which is a local exotics and you cannot find it anywhere else in the world), amber stone, bright and positive paintings of the locals, aromatic cigars and local dolls. Among the bigger items you might prefer to take local instruments and cooking books.
P.S. Do not forget to taste the dishes of the local cuisine. Those are pretty simple, but tasty enough.
Images
http://www.soulofamerica.com/cgi-bin/slideviewer.cgi?list=domrep-sites&dir=&config=&design=soadesign&refresh=&scale=0&slide=25
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/mexico/oaxaca-santo-domingo-church.htm