Dominican Republic 2022

·        Our fifth day in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic. I’d never really considered the DR as a travel location, because my (mis)conception was that the country was wall to wall exclusive all inclusive resort developments, just the kind of place we don’t want to go! And of course all of that is there, at least I assume so. But there is much more to the country, and we have found a wonderful corner of it.

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·        This is

·   our first trip outside the country since the pandemic began, and my first trip of any length since then.(Loring has managed to do his yearly wilderness backpacking trip both years, since their goal is not to see anyone at all for the two weeks) My only travels in two years have been four days in Philadelphia when covid #s were seeming to subside, and a recent overnight in Connecticut.

 For this trip we wanted someplace warm with a direct flight from home.

Las Terrenas is a small town on a peninsula along the northern coast of the country.  Our house couldn’t be better. The front door is on the street, of the main beach road of the town. The backdoor fronts directly on the beach, thru a small garden with an outdoor living room. (thatched ceiling, no walls.) Aside from the beach, it is where we have been spending most of our time. There ‘s a gate at the end of the garden, and then you are on the beach.

We are the only house in town that sits right on the beach. Up and down the beach from us are a row of restaurants, with tables right on the sand.  No need for shoes unless you are going to town!

I have only been on the beach and in the house today, so no shoes at all. Loring did venture out briefly to buy fruit, mangoes and bananas and a papaya, at one of the small mini marts just a couple of blocks away.  Most every day we go out for something. One day for sunscreen. One day for gelato!

The restaurants are great, every meal has been delicious. We haven’t been to the same restaurant twice, anad probably wont hit them all by the time we leave. We have had kind of fish dish every night, whole grilled fish, filets with a delicious sauce, shrimp and calamari in a sauce, etc.

Our routine here has been to have breakfast and lunch here, and dinner out. In other places we have tended to have lunch as our big meal out, partly because we had to go further for a restaurant.

So we’ve had cereal, meusli for Loring, special K for me, with bananas, or, eggs with a baguette. Oh, did I mention that there’s a French bakery down the street?!  Four or five different kinds of bread,  croissants, pain au chocolat, meat pies, fruit tarts…

The gelato place is only two doors down from our house. Yesterday we had gelato for lunch. Other days lunch has been bread or crackers, cheese, and some prosciutto type meat for the first couple of days. There is a big supermarket, about a fifteen minute walk away. We went there the first day and loaded up, and may go again.

The beach here is beautiful ând not too crowded. Palm trees provide shade. And the water, well it may just be the most wonderful ocean water I have ever been to. We’ve been to many many beautiful beaches over the years, but this one has the calmest waves I can remember. I am perfectly happy just floating around for an hour or so once or a couple of times a day.

The street outside is busy, with the majority of vehicles  motorcyles, some with up to four people including a kid or two.  After that, ATVs, and then cars, and a bicycle here and there. It’s loud on the street, but from inside the house you hardly hear it. The waves are louder.

Last night after dinner, we walked down the beach a ways, and came across an amazing sight.  There were a dozen or so men in the shallow water, each with a headlamp and a net. The headlamps provided an eerie light to the men as they each drew their net across the water. We are not sure what they were fishing for, and didn’t see anyone catch anything. Perhaps they are there every night, we will have to go see.

The people here are a mix of locals and visitors, and it’s not always easy to know which is which. There are very few people from the US. We’ve only heard English sporadically, and most of it has been British.  I have heard more French, after Spanish of course, then any other language.

Over the weekend it was somewhat more crowded, but not terribly so. More families with children. I am guessing that at least some were on day trips from Santo Domingo, two and a half hours away.

There are still some kids around, some with adults and some on their own. There were two boys that came selling something on the beach, and a few more adult vendors. I have been really surprised at the lack of hustling, on the beach and in the shops. No one   said let me know if you have any questions in the shops we went to, and the beach vendors were not at all insistent; a mere no gracias sent them on their way.

Before we left home more than one person Loring knows had said “be careful” referring to theft and other crime I’m sure. But we haven’t seen any of that. I’m sure it’s more prevalent near the resorts and other high end developments. But that is exactly the kind of place we don’t want to go! I don’t want to be insulated from the people that live here. And while this is a resort town, it is pretty low key and friendly. Don’t tell anyone, but we don’t even lock the gate to the beach when we go out. The owner told us it wasn’t necessary.

One last thing, down the street from us is one of the nicest playgrounds I have ever seen, with certainly the best view. (although I’m not sure how much that matters to the kids.) There are kids on the structures, and parents on the benches, and some adults hanging out who don’t even have children with them.

I will stop here for now, come back in a couple of days when there is more to report.