First is Damajagua. Just south of Imbert (guagua from Luperon to Imbert then a motoconcho to Damajagua) lays one of the most wondrous nature sites I have ever seen. Take shoes, shorts and a change of clothes because there is a lot of climbing to the 27 falls of Damajagua. Our guide, Gabriel, has turned out feet stuffed into worn leather shoes. His ankles bulge like his biceps. He has been playing in the falls since he was a baby. With life vests and helmets on, we make the ascension. The entire time, as we walk literally right up the middle of the waterfalls, I ask - where is the infrastructure? Why don’t they have stairs or trails or something? I soon realize I am looking at it from the wrong viewpoint. Going up is just as fun as going down. With hands clamped either on a rope or on your guides arms you walk up the stone expecting each step to just fly out from under you as the water pounds your ankles. There 27 falls, but we only do 12 of them (310 pesos/$8.85USD per person). The way back down involves 10-15 foot cliff jumps and water slides. Don’t think, just, jump. After three hours of playing in waterfalls, looking at water carved rock formations, floating in the most crystal clear fresh water looking up at the lush forests of the DR.
Waterfalls in the morning… hmmm… what should we do next? A tour of a rum factory, oh yes please. We take a motoconcho back to Imbert and then a guagua to Puerta Plata. With a guide book now I have maps and directions. We head for the Brugal Rum factory, the third largest rum producer in the world (Bacardi is one and Captain Morgan is two). After a short video and a tour of the bottling plant we stop for tasting and, of course, then buying of incredibly cheap bottles of rum. We get a passion fruit rum slushy togo, which is probably one of the best things ever. After a stop at the Amber Museum where we see little lizards encrusted in big hunks of amber and learn how to differentiate fake from real amber (real amber floats) it is time to head home and plan for tomorrow – a trip to the interior.
Mom & I on a Motoconcho to Damajagua!
Dad is off to Puerta Plata or Sosua or Cabarete while Mom and I are off to explore the mountains around Jarabacoa, but not before throws another snag into our plans. I am beginning to think that Departure really does not like it when we leave her. We manage to have spun the prop on our dinghy engine and the only spar we had was to the Mercury that went with the old dinghy. We give the prop to Raphael who plans to put some set screws in place of the ruined rubber. The traveling part takes almost a full day (10 am to 3 pm) as we must go from Luperon to Imbert to Santiago to La Vega to Jarabacoa. Transferring guaguas in big cities while trying to use a language that I have majoratively forgotten is quite hard and stressful, but eventually we make it and as a reward we decide to stay two nights in the Gran Jimenoa Hotel which is about a kilometer outside of town. The perk of this hotel is that it is literally perched over the Jimenoa river. It is a resort with manicured lawns and a restaurant that makes a great duck in wine sauce and an even better milk candy dessert. That isn’t even talking about the assortment of multicolored ranging to neon hued alcoholic beverages.
Our one day in Jarabacoa is spent exploring as much of the natural beauty of the interior as possible. We start with a hike up to the Salto de Jimenoa, the waterfall where the intro of Jurassic Park was filmed. Unfortunately the bridge was out so we didn’t get to far into the national park, but we were able to walk through the forests and view all of the different agricultural plantations. We went back to the tour company for an incredibly large lunch, which was appreciated after four hours of hiking and then we were to set off on horseback. Going through rivers and up hills on the back of a horse, that I am pretty sure only spoke Spanish, finally ended at another beautiful waterfall. This one you could swim in and climb around on.
One day of travel later and we were on the pristine beaches of Cabarete with Dad. We walked the beaches, went swimming, did some light shopping, but most importantly took in a wonderful happy hour (everything on the menu half off) at Casanova. With billowing curtains and Chinese lanterns hanging from the palm trees over our heads on the beach, the food and drink was almost as amazing as the ambiance. After a shrimp tempura, a seafood ceviche, and the massive seafood platter Dad ordered, not to mention the many mango mojitos and pitchers of Caipirinha, I was on my own off to find my football buddy from two weeks ago. I find him (David) and his crew of friends at a local road bar named Alfredo’s. When Dad and Mom go home the next day I stay, for another three with David and his friends. We go to watch the kiteboarders at La Boca, a beach where the river meets the ocean and the professional kiteboarders play with the wind as if it were a yo-yo. The beach which is sparsly used mostly by kiteboarders, Dominican locals, and gringo locals has a wood hut bar on it. All they serve is the parrotfish, chicken, or crabs they catch along with beer and coconuts or pineapples with rum. The best fish I have ever had in my life, a whole parrotfish cooked and spiced to perfection. I do believe La Boca might be heaven. I spend a few moonlit nights enjoying happy hour at Villa Taina, eating supper in Sosua at an Italian restaurant after we all crammed into Peter’s rental car, watching the harvest moon light up the crescent shaped kite beach, having pizza at Pomoderos, or just sitting at Alfredo’s enjoying his fabulous chicken and the blaring Bachata music coming from the political advertising trucks that rumble by. The last day in Cabarete I take in a cockfight in the truly Dominican town nearby. I know this may sound cruel to you, but American processing of chicken is much crueler. Anyway, we sit in two tiered wooden bird cage that is all circled around a sand floor where the plucked and groomed chickens fight to the death (with a maximum time limit of 15 mins).
Back at the boat the dinghy engine isn’t fixed and Dad and Mom lost an oar with the winds in the harbor. So after four days of playing in Cabarete I must leave the dream and head back to my boat. Luckily upon arrival I find the oar and Raphael comes back with the prop fixed (well he put in a new steel bushing, which barely fit). The only thing left was to get the bottom cleaned. Easier said than done – after two or so hours under the boat and a million barnacles later Mom and I immerge from under the boat bleeding with millions of cuts and wounds from those damn sharp barnacles. Luckily the bull sharks of Luperon harbor didn’t show up. We bring Mom to the harbor and after almost a month in Luperon harbor we are ready to head east, straight towards the Mona Passage, and finally to our last stop – Puerto Rico.
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