Whale Watching

The community liaison office at the embassy organized a trip to Samaná Bay yesterday to see the humpback whales that migrate to the area. The trip included a marine biologist who explained whale behavior and answered our many questions. Since the whales are only around the bay for two months a year - to mate or to calve, I'm really glad we were able to go on this trip.

The dock at Samaná Bay.

Looking back at the town of Samaná.

Part of the peninsula.

Up close and personal.

Pretty spectacular. See the white area on the right? That was another whale that had just breached. It isn't a guarantee that a whale will be seen at all, so we considered ourselves lucky that this guy put on a bit of a show.

Waving goodbye. :)

Cayo Levantado, a small island where we had lunch.

This pelican, with his amazing eyesight, dove repeatedly to earn his meal.

The trip included the mini-bus ride there and back, boat transportation with information from the marine biologist, lunch, and some free time on the island. It was a long day, but so worth it. We probably saw 10 or 12 whales all in all, two that breached. 

I know that R and I will be back to the peninsula in the future just to explore. It's a beautiful place.

The Haitian Border

After visiting Lago Enriquillo, our little group pushed on to the Haitian border. We had heard there was an open-air market of sorts in a kind of duty-free zone and thought it might be worth taking a look. I had visions of orderly stalls with people selling handicrafts.

Nope.

Mostly the duty free zone catered to organizations purchasing large quantities of staples like rice and cooking oil. We saw what appeared to be missionary buses stocking up on supplies:

R was able to purchase a couple of bottles of Haitian rum (which turned out to be quite good):

And the border guards were quite accommodating. Our friends hadn't brought their passports with them (not really expecting a jaunt into Haiti), so we approached the border patrol and asked if it would be okay to go through the gate. "All American?" he asked. When we assured him that yes, we were all US citizens, he shrugged and basically said, "Go ahead." We were a bit shocked by his laissez faire attitude, but weren't about to argue. When we were leaving I tried to surreptitiously take a photo of these guards. When I enlarged the photo later, it was apparent they knew what was going on the entire time:

He's waving.

After buying a single can of Pringles for the road from one of the vendors, we began driving back to the hotel via the road south of the lake, and came upon a gorgeous view of the valley.

Lovely.

And then we drove through a charming little village, La Lista, and stopped to buy beer.

Unbeknownst to us, La Lista is a woodworking village!

...with little stalls of fresh fruit ...

... and lovely flowers ...

...and did I mention woodworking?

I loved this little village. The people were very nice and I was tempted to purchase a rocking chair in all of the available sizes. 

We drove through tunnels of trees,

and ended up in a little out-of-the-way place called Polo Magnetico, where an optical illusion makes it seem that your car is rolling uphill when it's in neutral. We found a little shop that sold organic locally-grown coffee, had a lively conversation with a bunch of Dominican men regarding the best way to get back to the road to Barahona, and finally made it to the hotel for dinner.

A really lovely day!

Lago Enriquillo

Our southwest Dominican Republic adventure continued on day two with a trip to Lago Enriquillo (a huge saltwater lake), a jaunt to the Haitian border, a drive through a charming little village called La Lista, and a quick side trip to Polo Magnetico.

First, Lago Enriquillo.

We rose on Sunday morning and had breakfast at Casa del Mar. One of the things that I love most about this lodge is that they pride themselves on anticipating the guest's needs. One of our group wandered out on to the patio, a staff member immediately noticed and brought coffee. Then came plates of fresh fruit as the others in our group came out, and finally a plated hot breakfast of eggs, toast, ham and cheese arrived. We didn't have to go anywhere, or order anything - the staff just brought it to us.

Our patio where breakfast was served.

...And the view from it.

We gathered our things for the day and walked up the hill to our car. Remember how I said that the road to Bahía de las Águilas was red dirt? Trust me when I say that our car was pretty dusty and dirty upon our return to the hotel the previous night. But Sunday morning? The staff had scrubbed the vehicle until it was so clean I could see my reflection. Now, that's an amazing hotel in my book.

We started out around 9:00 a.m. and leisurely made our way to the lake, taking in the scenery as we went. This part of the Dominican Republic is very dry, so there aren't a lot of crops, but we did notice sugar cane and bananas.

Sugar cane field.

Sugar cane being transported on a single track railway. It appeared that the cars remain on the track until sufficiently full, and then an engine is brought in to haul them away.

We soon found ourselves near the lake and spotted a sign indicating we were entering the national park.

There were stairs next to this sign leading to a shallow cave featuring Taino Indian petroglyphs, so up we climbed.

Rickety? Yes, indeed.

But the view was awesome with Lake Enriquillo in the background. Notice the cactus - not what you'd expect on a tropical island.

R and me.

The petroglyphs.

And a bit closer.

We traveled on to the lake, and were greeted in the visitor center parking lot by about 30 hungry iguanas, looking for a handout.

The literally came running when they heard the car approach.

But they were not aggressive and even posed charmingly. :) Notice the horn on the top of his nose? These are rhinoceros iguanas.

As we wandered toward the water, a local boatman offered to give us a tour of the lake, explain the history and point out interesting features. We readily agreed - the cost was about $50 for the four of us in our group, well worth it. (Basically, it was a private 45 minute lesson with area experts - fantastic, really.)

Lake Enriquillo is the largest lake and the lowest elevation in all of the Caribbean. It's a hypersaline (really salty) lake and the guide told us that more wildlife is now able to thrive in the environment due to the recent dramatic rise in the water level (making the water less salty).

A view from the boat.

Between 2004 and 2009, the lake doubled its surface area. These are palm trees that used to be on land.

Lots of waterfowl can be found on the lake. We saw dozens of these birds - both black and white.

In flight.

Other birds nest here, too.

Surprisingly, Lake Enriquillo is home to the largest population of American crocodiles in the Caribbean. When we were there, the guide pointed out that the females in the shady shallow areas were pregnant and would lay their eggs in the next couple of months.

Our friend, el cocodrilo.

She was actually very calm. The guide told us that the crocodiles were intimidated because of our size (which included the boat).

These crocodiles are endangered here. Apparently they are often killed - not for their meat or their hide - but just because some people think they're ugly. 

Next up: the Haitian border and other delights of day two.

Bahía de las Águilas

Over the long MLK weekend, R and I ventured to the southwest part of the Dominican Republic with our friends from A-100. We left the traffic and chaos of Santo Domingo after work on Friday afternoon and by dinnertime we were safely tucked in to Casa del Mar, a wonderful "eco-lodge" about 16 km from Barahona. Side note: We HIGHLY recommend Casa del Mar as a place to stay. The rooms didn't have telephones or televisions, and we didn't even try the wi-fi, but the staff was amazing, the rooms were great, and the view to the ocean was spectacular. We fell asleep each night listening to the waves.

On Saturday, I rose early and watched the sun rise over the ocean.

Just steps from our room.

We had decided to drive the two hours to Bahía de las Águilas (Bay of the Eagles), lured by the promise of white sand beaches and potential eagle sighting. The drive itself was pretty amazing. We drove through four completely different ecosystems, ranging from dry desert to lush palms. It's a rural area, so we ran into cows (almost quite literally), too.

There was enough ocean breeze to warrant windmills, something I hadn't seen since leaving Wyoming.

We drove down a red dirt road, heading for the water and the promise of the beach. Even though it was Saturday, there weren't many people around. We saw a few buildings that are probably well-used during peak season (although I can't imagine when that might be if it isn't January), but were deserted when we went by them.

We didn't actually see any eagles the entire day, but we did see this guy and a few of his friends hunting for fish:

The final push to Bahía de las Águilas can be made by either hiring a boat to take you, or by braving the rocky, steep road. The boatmen hanging around the entrance to the national park warned us that our car would never make it. We laughed and decided to risk it in our 4-wheel drive.

Before tackling the road, however, we stopped in to the Casa Chiquita restaurant and ordered lunch for later. We told the wait staff we'd like to have fajitas ... in about two hours. They were very accommodating and promised it would be ready when we returned from our excursion.

After a bumpy but completely passable drive, we made it to the bay.

This shows the rocky part of the bay, but mostly it was pure sand.

We wandered up and down the beach, looking for shells and wading in the water.

The water was an amazing turquoise, and there were only about 10 other people there.

After a couple of hours of Caribbean relaxation, we ventured back to Casa Chiquita and ordered a beer. Our fajitas arrived, hot and delicious, about 5 minutes later.

More to come about our trip to this part of the island!

Tres Ojos and Faro a Colon

An A-100 colleague and her husband are in Santo Domingo TDY and we've been enjoying the opportunity to get out and explore more of the city and country with them. Last weekend we headed over to Los Tres Ojos, just outside of Santo Domingo. This site is an open air limestone cave that was created as a result of tectonic plate activity. There are three lakes (or "eyes" - tres ojos), and they vary in composition - one is sulphurous, one saltwater, and one freshwater. There's a fourth that is completely out in the open and isn't considered an "eye."

Ths steps that lead down to the Lago de Las Damas. This is one of the three natural pools at this site and is where women and children were allowed to bathe in the past.

This is the shallow Lago de Las Damas.

Just outside of the Tres Ojos - this is a fourth lake out in the open. It can be reached by taking a small ferry across the second lake. The toll is just .50 cents, and yes, we heeded Chris de Burgh's advice and didn't pay the ferryman until he got us to the other side.

A carving on the grounds of Los Tres Ojos. 

I loved Tres Ojos. There weren't a lot of people there and it was such a surprise so close to the city. Just one more example of the geographic diversity of the island - really cool.

As we were driving back from the caves, we passed a huge structure set back from the road. There were flags from many world countries at the entrance to the walkway - the Americas mostly, but also Israel and China and others. Intrigued, we decided to stop and investigate.

What we found was Faro a Colón - Columbus Lighthouse.

This is where Columbus is purported to be buried.

Information from Wikipedia:

Columbus Lighthouse (Spanish: Faro a Colón) is a monument located in Santo Domingo Este, Dominican Republic, in tribute to Christopher Columbus.

Construction began in 1986 using plans drawn by Scottish architect J.L. Gleave in 1931, in time for the 500th anniversary of the Discovery of America, the monument was inaugurated in 1992. It was funded by the Latin American states^[1][2] and the total cost of construction was approximately US$70 million.^[3]

The monument's lighthouse-style features projecting beams of light, forming a cross shape, which are so powerful they can be seen from neighboring Puerto Rico.^[3]

Containing what are purported to be the remains of Columbus, the monument is both a mausoleum and a museum showcasing objects including a boat from Cuba and Columbian jewelry. Constructed of concrete, the monument is 680 feet (210 m) long.^[3] Its architecture is cross-shaped and represents the Christianization of America.

My understanding is that Pope John Paul II visited in 1992 and dedicated the building. 

The exhibits within ranged from really interesting - Peru's display, for example, included sculpture and jewelry - to disappointing: Canada's display was basically empty.

Amazing canoe!

To me, it's very stark and industrial - almost dystopian in appearance:

The corridor along the "nave" of the building - completely open-air (thanks, tropical island weather!). 

I love getting to know the island bit by little bit. Whenever the traffic starts to get me down, I think of the myriad opportunities to explore and discover this unique country and it immediately puts things in perspective.