Another busy week passes in the Dominican Republic. Today is a national holiday as they inaugurate the new president of the DR. Evidently it was quite the upset election so we are hoping it will be a positive thing for the country and the people. We ran into a fisherman this week and were hoping to buy some fish from him but he stated that he was using all of his catches recently to feed his family. Tough times here with Covid so we are hopeful the tourism restrictions will be rescinded soon so the locales can survive more easily. We started the week painting trash cans for Luperon. One of the sailors wanted to donate trash cans so that the town people will have places to put their trash. She worked very hard with the local government and successfully got them to agree to be in charge of the cans once we purchased them and painted them. This week will be distribution of the cans and then trash pick up day is on Tuesday. We are looking forward to working with the locals on this daunting task!
Our tourist destination this week was Santiago which is about an hour and half drive. We rented a car from Junior and on his way over to the marina, someone ran into him and wrecked the car. He then took us to his girlfriend's house and she unloaded her car and handed us the keys....talk about feeling guilty! She assured us it was fine so I prayed for forgiveness and we headed to Santiago. Santiago was very crowded, much like Puerto Plata, but instead of the thousands of motorcycles, Santiago had thousands of cars, buses and trucks. The main issue is that they drive cars, buses and trucks as if they were motorcycles! Bill did a little research when we returned home and found that the DR has one of the world's highest mortality rates related to vehicular accidents in the world! We think perhaps they should focus less on Covid and more on learning to drive in the designated lane! Other than traffic, Santiago did not have much to offer tourists but we did enjoy seeing the Monument to the Heroes of Restoration which is the center piece of the city. It was closed due to Covid so we could not climb to the top but we got a few good pictures from the bottom. Yesterday, we ventured over to 27 Charcos de Damajagua (27 waterfalls). We went with two other cruising couples and had a great time! Only 7 of the 27 falls were open to the public at this time due to Covid restrictions but after the hike to do the 7 waterfalls, we decided that 27 waterfalls probably would have killed us. Our guide would state, "only 20 more minutes!" about every 20 minutes or so which means that it was 20 minutes in Dominican time. Dominican time is measured in "just down the road" and "only 20 minutes" which translates to "whenever you get there, you get there." When we passed the donkey that was waiting patiently to be used to transport any injured persons back down the mountain, I decided to double up my efforts to stay upright on the path! Once we reached the first waterfall area, we jumped about 12 feet off of a cliff into the quite chilly water. From there, it was amazing views and waterfall slides back to the bottom. I am now just waiting for the bruises to appear! I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember....if you see a donkey waiting to cart your busted butt down a mountain, you might wonder why you did not have to sign a waiver......perhaps Bill should have researched "death by waterfall" instead of "death by traffic"..... (PS: Diana: I will try to post pictures of food more often!) Photos of 27 waterfalls contributed by Barefoot Sail and Dive
1 Comment
Allison Davis
8/18/2020 07:57:12 pm
I love the pictures of the water and you in your swimming gear! What a sweet thing to sponsor trashcans. We are so spoiled here.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
|