Reflections of My Travel

Today was our first trip to the Dominican Republic and I was surprised to find Samana to be an absolutely stunning island. It is very green and lush.

It is also poor. We did a horseback excursion to Salto Del Limon waterfall. We got on a bus and rode about thirty minutes inland, past many tiny, rundown shacks. There were dogs all over and you could count every one of their ribs.

The interesting thing about bus rides on excursions is learning some of the location’s history. Samana was actually colonized by Americans; slaves that had escaped via the Underground Railroad.

When we arrived at the horse ranch, we were given a demonstration on cocoa. They picked a cocoa pod (?) off a tree, busted it open, and handed out the seeds for us to sample. Sadly, they did not tell us that the proper way to sample them was to suck on them, not bite into them. As the guide was telling us how sweet the seeds are, I was wrinkling my face at the bitter taste of the one I had just bitten into. The seeds are coated in a slimy substance, which is sweet, and that is what you are supposed to suck off. Next, they explained that the cocoa we are used to is actually made from grinding up the seeds once they’ve dried. They then passed around a plate of cocoa powder, mixed with a little bit of sugar, for us to sample. Yummy.

After that, we got fitted for our horses

or in hubby’s case, mule.

Unfortunately, it turned out to not be the horseback ride that I was expecting. Instead of us getting to ride to this waterfall, we each had a non-English speaking guide that led the horse the entire way.

The upside to this is that the trail was very muddy, rocky, and steep in places so, as an inexperienced rider, I would have been very intimidated trying to control the horse on my own. 

I did have a good time, though, especially when the horse, Luka, would pick up his trot a bit.

We were carried by the horses (and mules) for forty minutes or longer, up hills

and across rivers

until we got to another small ranch where we dismounted and continued on foot down a steep and rocky trail,

across a small waterfall pool,

to the beautiful 120′ falls of Salto Del Limon.

Truly, it was gorgeous. And, after such a wretchedly hot ride and hike, I was beyond ready to jump in.

The pool was clear, cool, and wonderful.

We swam around for thirty minutes or so and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

When we felt that we out to be going, we got out, redressed, and grabbed our guides to head back up to the horses. The refreshing feeling from the dip didn’t last long on the steep and ridiculously hot hike back up but at least there was a covered pavilion at the top for us to rest a bit while waiting for our other cruise-mates. Hubby even managed to get himself in on a friendly game of dominos with some of the locals.

On the ride back, we passed by women washing laundry on rocks in the river and their children playing nekkid in the water around them.

It was a glimpse of a very different life. Along the ride, I marveled at the fortitude of my guide, hiking effortlessly alongside my horse across steep and rough terrain in ridiculous heat. I tried my best to converse with him but my Spanish is not very strong. Hopefully he at least recognized the effort. Either way, he did his best to tell me all about our surroundings while we travelled and i did my best to understand and ask questions.  

When we had returned to the ranch, hubby asked the bus guide what the average wage was for the residents here – the equivalent of $250 USD per month. I was very happy that we had remembered to put some cash in our pockets before leaving the ship this morning so that we could tip our respective guides but I wish that we had had more for them. What a life!

On the bus ride back to port, we made a stop in front of a school where we were quite the attraction for the children coming and going through the gates without any adult supervision in sight. The bus guide got off for a few minutes and came back with a couple loaves of fresh, warm “English bread” so named because it is the type of bread that the original American slave colonists baked. He allowed all of us to take chunks of the bread, which was very yummy. It was a sweet bread, made with coconut milk. And it helped stave off our hunger until we made it back to the ship and, ultimately, the buffet.

We ran into the Alaskan couple, S&W, who had done an ATV excursion to a waterfall. Unfortunately, it sounds like it wasn’t nearly as nice as the waterfall we went to but at least they enjoyed driving the ATVs.

Since we were already wet from the waterfall, we grabbed some food and then went to test out the pool. In the five cruises we’ve been on, this is the second time we’ve gotten in the pool. It was actually a very nice pool but the chlorine and salt water combo was a bit much for me. We sat in the Jacuzzi for a few minutes watching the deck games before finding some loungers in which to nap. Sadly, the nap didn’t last long thanks to being right in front of the very loud steel drums but our room was mere minutes away and much more comfortable for napping anyhow. We napped straight through the early show and decided to forego the late show for a late dinner. We didn’t feel too bad since it was a singing/dancing Vegas review style show and those just aren’t our favorites. We ran into S&W and went with them to the karaoke lounge where both hubby and W were brave enough to get up and sing.