Dominican Republic

CARIBBEAN IN MAY
The May segment of my trip starts in the Dominican Republic with my five year old son Sebastian and will end when I get to my final Caribbean country, The Bahamas, to meet up with Sara and seven year old Lily.

We caught a ridiculously early flight from DFW to MIA followed by a four hour layover before catching our flight to Santo Domingo (SDQ). It was the only way I could use my AA points but it would have been nicer to have a few more hours sleep. Seb slept most of the way so he was well rested when we arrived in the Dominican Republic, but I was a little sleepy.

We didn't need visas for any of the countries on this trip but there is a mandatory Tourist Card to purchase at the airport in Santo Domingo (US$10) before you're allowed to pass through to immigration. There weren't a lot of tourists on our flight so it didn't take long to complete arrival formalities and find the Hertz desk just past customs. We rented a Fiat Panda for three days, without GPS but with automatic transmission, and headed towards the city in pouring rain with standing water everywhere. A wrong turn took me off the freeway and into the downtown area and because of the rain, flooding and traffic it took an hour to get back on. I made the mistake of trusting Google maps with my route and it ended up taking me through a winding road that eventually deteriorated to the point that I had to turn back and try another route - another hour plus wasted. The rain persisted almost the whole drive but when we finally made it to Cabarete after six hours all was forgotten when we arrived at the beautiful Millennium Beach Resort (booked on hotels.com for USD$100).

Millennium Beach Resort & Spa

Cabarete Beach

The resort has an infinity pool overlooking Cabarete Beach where kite boarding is immensely popular. The beach itself is very nice but because of all the kite boarders there are only a few places roped off for swimmers. Cabarete is a windy place and it rained hard every day, but never for very long. Most of the time it was sunny and warm but the fast moving clouds made it difficult to predict when the downpours were about to come.

Cabarete ticks a lot of boxes for the perfect place to spend a few days - great beach, lots of inexpensive restaurants on the beach, decent shopping, a reliable ATM with a security guard, a liquor store, interesting caves and waterfalls nearby, not too many tourists (although this wasn't peak season) and a really relaxed atmosphere. One of the few frustrating things was the maximum withdrawal amount from the ATM (RD$2,500 or about USD$60). I found myself at the ATM everyday trying to make sure I have enough currency to keep us afloat.

We took a different, much quicker, route back to Santo Domingo through Nagua and south through the toll road (about USD$10) only taking about 4 hours including some messing around close to the airport where the signs don't make it obvious where the turnoff it located. We had one night at the Hilton on the Malecon near the old colonial city center but the rain and flooding meant that we didn't get much time to explore the Zona Colonial UNESCO World Heritage Site but we did see the first cathedral in the Americas - La Catedral Primada de America.

The view of Santo Domingo from our room at the Hilton

La Catedral Primada de America

We caught a bus to Haiti the following morning. Caribe Tours runs a luxury bus between Santo Domingo and Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. The price is somewhat confusing because there are three different parts to it - the bus ticket costs USD$41 ($20 for kids), there is a tax of USD$20 per person, then another tax of RD$200 per person which no-one seems to know what for but everyone pays. I think it relates to some kind of border charge but I couldn't get a straight answer from anyone.

The bus is perfect because it has a toilet (always a plus), shows bad American movies overdubbed in Spanish and serves lunch and drinks. The scenery on the route is interesting, especially close to the border where the road winds around Lake Enriquillo, which is the largest lake and lowest point in the Caribbean (27 meters below sea level) and the lowest point on any ocean island. There are few towns so there is little pollution which makes the scenery that much more impressive.  It was a long trip though - about five hours to get to the border, three hours to cross the border because of the huge customs line on the Haitian side and another three hours to get to the bus depot in Haiti.

I was impressed with the Dominican Republic - it was relatively easy to get around, I had no issues with the rental car or finding gas stations and the countryside is fantastic. Santo Domingo has so much to offer for history buffs as the Columbus brothers spent a lot of time here and Bartholomew Columbus is credited with founding the site in 1496. The beaches and resorts are top notch and then there's the rum and cigars. I don't like to call favorites but Republica Dominicana exceeded my expectations and is one of the few places that I would definitely want to return to.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC QUICK GUIDE
Capital: Santo Domingo
Currency: Dominican Peso (USD$1 = RD$42)
Language: Spanish
Drives on the Right
Beer of choice: Presidente