Back from a delicious trip to the Dominican Republic. I headed out for a last minute trip to the DR. My boyfriend runs a 100ft yacht and they had to hang out there for a week because of bad weather...........So I hopped on a one-way ticket to meet him and his crew.
Here's a sneaky peak.
Beautiful colonial homes
Had such a lovely time, exploring this beautiful island in the Caribbean! We stayed 3 nights in Santo Domingo in the old town, Zona Colonial. Loved exploring this Unesco World Heritage part of the city with its historical sites and buildings, nooks and crannies, watching men playing dominos and listening to musicians in the squares.
Found a great cafe that made handmade espadrille shoes and had fantastic local art.
Obsessed over the stunning tile floors and old doors!!!!
Caterdral Primasa de America in the historical Parque Colon.
Super yummy gazpacho and the local Presidente Cerveza!
We enjoyed a free live jazz concert with deep beats of African influences, ate local food and sipped on Dominica rum and cigars. Will definitely be back to Santo Domingo! but now it's off to explore what the island has to offer.
We headed north to the town of Las Terrenas and found what was once a rustic fishing village to be a small bustling town by the sea, Everyone rides a mocho concho, (motorcycle) and they are BOOKING past you.
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White knuckling it at times going over the mountains, we wondered if our tiny rental car would make it up the pass but we carried on and thank god made it the other side!
We traveled through lush plantain fields and fertile valleys, through tiny towns and dodging motorcycles all over the place!
You’ll see kids sitting in the front of their parents, like a 1-year-old and sometimes up to 3 people on a seat, you can hop on one of the many motor cabs as well for a small fee.
I didn't take this picture but it wasn't uncommon to see 3 or 4 people including kids on these tiny motorcycles!!!!! no helmets and just whizzing by you.
Once you get past the hecticness of the motorcycles buzzing in every direction, dodging stray dogs and chickens crossing pot-holed street, you find the most beautiful, happy friendliest people; many living in poverty, with stunning lush vegetations and jungle landscapes.
Once we got into Las Terrenas we headed straight to one of the many beach side bars, with tan colored sands and pretty tall palm trees and ordered a couple of Capiniras.
We found a great B& B run by a sweet french lady whom had been there for the last 18 years and built this sweet bungalow hotel, Iguana hotel with individaul bungalows, a lovely pool and THE best breakfast with tropical fruit and my favorite passionfruit! which she and her family had a plantation.
Our sweet bungalow
Breakfast area and pool!
For dinner we ate grilled Langasteen and shrimp. There is a large expat community of french, and italians- so good food wasn't a problem and between the endless rum and mojitos we found a Beach bon fire and old Italian men playing Bocci ball on the beach.
I didn't’ sleep that well thanks to a little M*&Fucker of a frog-Coqui…that even through ear plugs and a pillow on my head I could still hear the F$%ker more rum to drink and pass out!!
Stunning beach about a 10 min walk from our bungalow.
We drove to Samana where to boat was dock and did day trips from there.
We checked out Las Galeras, a tiny end of the road town with beach bars, local Dominican food and lively music. Stopped at a empana hit and drank some fresh coconut water while they made them fresh.
The next day we drove to Playa Rinco, one of the most amazing beached I've been to. One the way stopping at any local food stands we saw. This one was a beautiful old lady was making some type of dough over an open fire. Had no idea what its called but it was a little sweet with cinnamon. She was so sweet. .
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what a beauty!
Drove over the hill and Wow saw this view!! Playa Rincon.
AMAZING color of the water.......
Coco Loco, fresh coconut water and local rum!!!!
Chilled out the whole day, drinking rum, swimming and lounging in the sun. Ate at a community of beach shacks on the other end of the beach. Fresh fish, beans and rice and plantains. YUM!
There were about 6 beach shacks and they share this communal kitchen. The fire pits/oven are made out of plaster and they grill the fresh fish or seafood. I, unfortunately didn't get a photo of our meal.
We decided to stay around the marina for the next few days the boat ready for our trip back to Florida. Meet some great boaters that told us of a cool eco lodge in a National Park around the corner from us. So we stocked up the tender with plenty of Champs and local beer and headed out there for the day.
Samana Marina
After about a 2 mile hike to the eco lodge.
We had a lovely lunch with the crew and our new friends
Trish and Mike.
After lunch we took a quick dip in the natural pool that was super chilly!!
We did some last minute provisioning at the local market, that was AMAZING, I could have spent all day there.
Finally the weather cleared and we were ready to depart and head back to Florida! Though I could have stayed longer.
I absolutely loved my time in the D.R and loved the beautiful people. I will definitely be back!!
So now it's back to work and I got a super busy month, besides fulfilling orders I'm getting ready for Yoga Fest on Feb 25, here in Fort Lauderdale with new yogi jewels, getting back to clay with some new wall hangings, ceramic spoons, sculptures and more. Check back with us soon and see whats happening at The Global Galavant.
Talk soon. XO
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