"Y yo quiero todo el mundo"

Our time in the Dominican Republic was one big adventure. We thought we were heading off to a relaxing beach holiday and we couldn't have been more wrong! The past three weeks were full of good and not so good adventures, some moments of fear, lots and lots of laughter and having fun and meeting amazing and lovely people.

Las Galeras

My last post was about the drawbacks we experienced in Las Galeras but our time there actually gave us so much more than that. We spent 8 nights in the remote pueblo, of which the first two at an Italian-Dominican couple's house. This was the couple that helped us when Annika was sick and gave us an insight of what life in the Dominican Republic is like. The most lovely Caterina was our organisator and translator both linguistically and culturally. It was great to hear her thoughts as a European woman and we valued our talks with her very much. Her husband, Rivier, took us horseback-riding and whale-watching, adventures I was not quite physically prepared for! He sang us a serenade, and used some white magic to answer some questions we had of our lives. (The answers will remain secret and to be only known by the people present that moment.) Their son, little 4-year-old Francesco, was the light of our day and I could have spent hours playing and talking Spanish with him.

Las Galeras has some beautiful, deserted beaches but we only got to visit a few (Playa Colorado, Playita and Frontón.) Next time, then.

A Spanish lady building a house made of tires.

Horse-back riding like a pro! At Playa Colorado.

Family trip to Playa Frontón.

Some of the Las Galeras village.

White magic happening.

El Limon

Our short, 3-night stay in the El Limon village had an adventurous start, when as soon as we arrived to the village we were recommended to leave to escape the demonstration the villagers were to have the next day. Well, we didn't and stayed safe in the amazing Samana Eco-lodge, away from all the hastle in the village. During the one day demonstration the villagers set up petrol bombs to blow up electricity cables and so cutting off all power from all the villagers for 2 or 3 months. They also cutt off the roads to and from the village so for the day no traffic, except a few motoconchos, could pass. The demonstration was against the electric company's ridiculously high prices which are apparently 3 to 4 times higher than in the rest of the country. Luckily our lodge used solar power only, so the demonstration didn't affect us at all. It was a strange day, sitting around in a bikini, listening bombs go off and people shooting 500 meters away. After it had all settled, we went to the street to see what had happened and it was quite a sight: cables torn down, glass shattered everywhere, people sitting around on the streets having beers, children playing around. Just a typical Dominican day, right?

El Limon had an amazing, long, brown colored beach but we only got to see it for a few minutes. Instead, we visited the cascadas, waterfalls of El Limón, and had a sweaty hike in the jungle, crossing rivers and slidigin in the mud since it was raining a lot! And what a sight it was once we finally reached the biggest waterfall! ¡Dios mio!

Hanging out at the eco-lodge.

Our hut.

The wreck and kids playing in it.

Surprise!

Tropical hygiene at its worst.

Las Terrenas

Again, just a stop for couple of nights in the more touristy Las Terrenas with no brach time but so much everything else!
A sweaty night at a dance club in the rhythms of bachiata, tasty Italian cooking and the best day in the Dominican Republic. From El Limón, we doubled our group size, taking Annika's work mate and our new Italian friend, with us. We experienced a new kind of calmness in traveling since, our Italian friend being a man, all the hissing and 'hola'ting and attention we had gotten from the local men stopped to almost nothing. What a feeling of freedom!

And what about our best day? It was visiting the impressive Los Haitises nationalpark! Mangrove forests, cool birds, caves with the indigenous people's, Taino's, petroglyphes. A great, English speaking (woohoo!) guide and cool stuff to explore. It was the most expensive trip we took but worth all the money spent.

The 'bat man'.

The god of rain, crying. Two suns and two birds.

I know that feeling, bro!

Just chilling.

Una familia loca.

Birthday celebration.

Santo Domingo

We only spent a night in Santo Domingo before our flight to Guadeloupe, and didn't really have time or energy to explore much what there was to explore. Noisy, busy, sketchy, trashy. We were not impressed. We were warned a lot about the city by locals who told us we should only stay in the Zona Colonial, colonial zone, since there we would be safe. We had a nice hostel, Island Life Backpacker's Hostel, and being completely sick of moving around and traveling, we just walked around shortly and saw a few nice colonial buildings.

Some of the nicer houses in Santo Domingo.

Things I will remember from the Dominican Republic:

- The people we met. The Italian-Dominican couple's family helping us, guiding us, taking care of us. Explaining things to us. Francescos yells of excitedness (oh, how I miss that little boy)! The other travelers sharing us their adventures.
- The nature. The jungle, the blue sea. The birds (pelicans, fregats, humming birds). The loudest crickets I've ever heard, so loud they hurt my ears. The fireflies in El Limón.
- The noise, the trash lying around.
- The easiness of public transportation.
- The scary moments: horse-back riding (or sliding?) in the muddy and rocky steep hills. The scariest boat ride ever in the huge, huge waves. Being sick in a foreign country.
- Speaking Spanish and starting to get better at it. So rewarding!
- Comida tipica, which I got completely sick of and maybe even a bit sick from.
- The music. It was loud and part of our every day life. The same songs over and over and over...
- Being part of a white magic session and getting to hear secret stuff of my future life. One of the coolest things ever!
- The local way of trying to attract someone's attention (like we are some kind of dogs?). Being totally exhausted of it.
- All the interesting stuff we learned about the culture. That they still use white and black magic. That, if you want to make a love potion (to make someone fall in love with you), you make tea of your dirty underwear and make your loved one drink it. True story. That a big part of the people can't read or write.

Our time in the Dominican Republic was not at all we had imagined. Not a relaxing beach holiday but something very different. What the country offered us best, was the company of the people we met and the talks we had with them. "Y yo quiero todo el mundo", "And I love the whole world", was only one sentence said by one of the people we met, but it really stuck in my head, and it was a perfect thing to say, in a perfect moment, at a perfect night to remember.

¡Yo quiero todo el mundo tambien!

Off to new countries and new adventures,

Riikka