The wind was still taking a sabbatical so the muggy conditions had to be battled using unconventional techniques: note how Jesse could only get enough air flow by keeping the van door wide open whilst
barreling down the highway:
After about 45 minutes and a delicious papaya smoothie at a roadside stand, we pulled into a little grassy parking area. A simple shack stood between us and some beautifully manicured gardens. We were at "Dudu Pools" a private recreation area with natural freshwater pools, caves, gardens, ornery ostriches, and a non-regulation outdoor volleyball court.
We were there to jump in the pools.
After we paid our 100 peso entry fee ($2) we walked through the shack to see this list of banned items. No guns, knives, or hookas. Hmmmmm. Hookas? Is that really a common thing to pack in with you as you jump into freshwater pools? Apparently so. I still have so much to learn about the Dominican Republic!
The pools were incredible. Water temp was about 66 degrees F, so cool enough to refresh our sweat drenched bodies, but not too cold. There was a do it yourself zip line that was really fun. Here is Cambria just after takeoff:
About 35 feet off the water, the drop from the zip line to the water was high enough to get your heartbeat up and roll the windows down a few times before smacking the emerald water below:
Not content to simply zip line into the pool, Cameron ran off the cliff and hucked an impressive gainer. This spot is about 40 feet high:
After our refreshing session at the pools, we continued east along the coast. We pulled into a little beach area called La Entrada. Tourist population: zero. Local population: 12. So we effectively increased the population by 50%. Here you can see Ron Burgundy, aggressively parked on the beach, comfortable in its natural surroundings. You can also see the spot where we dragged the plastic table out to have lunch:
This was the scene on the beach during lunch. Epic:
If you like coconut groves and clean whitesand beaches, you would be in heaven here:
Before we committed to this spot for lunch, Jesse went across the street to the little mangrove spot to check on the quality of the fish:
Turns out that the local fisherman had just caught the parrotfish and was in the middle of de-scaling them when we walked up. As fresh as it gets. Jesse asked a few questions in Espanol, checked the fish, and nodded his head. We had found our spot:
The lunch table. No further description necessary. One of the best lunches of our whole trip:
Jesse had been talking about "triple fried parrotfish on the beach" since we were in France together. He would get visibly excited just talking about it. Cambria and I were a bit skeptical, given our experience in Fiji, where you don't shoot parrotfish because they either taste bad or have siguatera or help keep the beaches sandy or all of the above. Jesse, as usual, was totally right on the money. These were some of the tastiest fish we'd had all trip:
During lunch, a family rolled up on the beach in a pimped out station wagon about 50 feet down from us. They were blasting some high quality salsa music. They started dancing in front of their car. Then the dad stripped down to his "Dominican Swimsuit" which are just tightee whitees. Here is Jesse checking out the party scene:
The man in his Dominican Swimsuit:
I couldn't help myself. I had to go dance with these rather hefty ladies. In truth, Jesse dared me, so in order to maintain manhood and fearless image, I danced it up:
After lunch on the beach at La Entrada, we went to a gorgeous spot called "Preciosa." Full forest all the way down to he beach. Here is the path we took to get down:
The beach was deserted. See that point off in the distance? Just in front of that is a shipwreck. The good kind. A 16th century Spanish galleon. It is covered in sand and has not been excavated by treasure hunters yet. Who knows how much treasure is out there:
The view in the opposite direction. Incredibly picturesque:
We had a great day in the DR. Our surf muscles got a much needed rest for the upcoming swell.
No comments:
Post a Comment