Over Labor Day weekend I had gone to the Dominican Republic! Cheap flight, cheap resort, and couchsurfing. This is how I afford my life of luxury <3 font="font" size="3">.
We flew into Santo Domingo on Thursday. Sort of last-minute, our couch-host told us he wouldn't be able to host us since he was still in Haiti and his girlfriend was busy, so we sent out an urgent last minute request. And thank the CS gods, the most amazing people respond when you're in need :) After realizing we had gotten ripped off by the airport taxi (equivalent to $40 when it should have been like $20), we got to Alexei's place in the middle of the city. And by "middle", I mean MIDDLE -- right next to the highway with 24/7 traffic. Alexei grew up in this apartment... so he had gotten used to the constant honking throughout the night. It might have been a little rougher to get used to for us (such spoiled suburban kids we are).
Alexei. A local celebrity. Every corner we took, he ran into someone he knew. He's a real man of culture in Santo Domingo, a local poet. We followed him on his errands on which he stopped by a paintball store to pick up paint for a live art act he would be performing in a couple of days, perused by Columbus's abode and historical buildings and churches, took us to a bookstore with one of his books on shelf, met up with friends at an art gallery bar type thing, and ended the night at the Spanish Cultural Center with free wine and great conversation (turns out one of his friends is friends with our original CS host's girlfriend! Small world.) Hello culture.
The next day we hopped on a bus to Puerto Plata. 3.5 hr ride through beautiful lush countryside. And it was air conditioned. Who can complain? The bus stops even had free wifi ;) We get to Puerto Plata and take a cab to our resort, Riu Bachata.
Our resort. For $45 a night, gave us this: unlimited food with buffets that differed each evening and different cuisine restaurants, beautiful beach front with free beach lounges, excellent customer service, breathtaking views and sunsets, unlimited local alchohol, and a 4-bottle alcohol dispenser in our bedroom. Yeah. That's right. Lux.ury. Pretty much didn't want to leave.
Although I had read on forums that it was "dangerous" to leave the resort and take local transportation.... pish posh. One day we headed to the "27 waterfalls". Um, awesome. While there were large tourist groups of like 30, we got our own tourguide for the 2 of us. And he was amaaaazing. Even chunked a rock at a mango tree to get us some ripe mango for us to eat, found us some local nuts to try, and shared his knowledge on the flora we passed and let me smear some clay on my face for health benefits. Oh and we either jumped or slid down 27 waterfalls (well, like 23... I think a few were dried up). For anyone going to DR, deeefinitely super recommendable.
We then made our way to the city and walked around Puerto Plata for a bit. Won't lie... getting constantly haggled was annoying. But either way, had an authentic DR meal (Beef tripe, fried plantains, chicken, rice, pineapple juice, and El Presidente...) by the beach while a taxi driver told us his life story on how he machete'd a guy for raping his daughter... :-X
We then took a local taxi van (not called a "taxi"... I forget the name, but it's the vans/taxis packed with people that are way cheaper than the TAXI taxis [only a buck or so in comparison]) to Sosua beach. I'd heard that Sosua was a tranquil nice beach and not so touristy. Granted, it was in comparison to our resort beach with tourists, but yes, definitely a more local spot. After a dip, we decided to catch a van back to the resort before it got too dark.
Our last full day at the resort, I went scuba divingggg!!! I had taken classes in Cincinnati and just had to complete my certification with 4 open water dives. I did 2 of them there. For the first dive, we boated out to a coral reef -- super cool! My instructor was amazing and pointed out the things I wouldn't have caught with my naive amateur eye. The second dive was a ship wreck... a little less exciting because there wasn't much sea life there, but still neat :) I had previously been anti-scuba diving because there's something claustrophobic and terrifying about being under water. But my managers at work had actually convinced me to try it, and I'm glad I did. New fan.
Our second to last day we headed back to Santo Domingo so we could catch our flight in time the next day. Turns out, I had told our couch-host Chris (the original guy I had contacted who was in Haiti) that we'd be there a day later... silly vacations and not realizing what dates are what. Thankfully, he was home and was still able to host us :) Nice relaxing evening to wind down the end of the trip...
