On Thursday we took a very different type of excursion. This one was billed as an “Outback Adventure” but actually gave us small snapshots of the true Dominican life.
We left midmorning from or neatly manicured, posh resort –
Posh poolside settingsOur room is in the small cabana to the left. The little chain of flowerpots down the side of the corner of the building is actually a downspout. Water flows from the gutters and through the little bottomless pots.
Neatly manicured golf coursesAnthurium – in the lobby and on the grounds.On the resort groundsThe landscaping on the resort is beautiful.Our very elegant tour bus – okay, not so elegant.
and headed, with our guide Eddy, to the residential back roads of Puerto Plata. Wandering through the narrow, bumpy, partially paved roads
They raise a fair amount of cattle, but the beef is pretty lean and tough.Lush forests
and through the lush,
forested countryside
This is Papo. He is a gracious old gentleman who let us tour his house and property, meet his family.
we eventually arrived at the home of a smiling, congenial, old gentleman named Papo. We spent the next while meeting his extended family, touring his home
We toured Popo’s home.The livingroomThe bedroom
The kitchen is in a separate structure behind the main house.
and small farm and learning about his way of life.
Breadfruit – about the size of a large cantaloupe and used much like we use potatoes.A close-up of breadfruit
Cocao – I’m not sure what the picture that I called cocao was in the last post, but this is actually cocao and lots of it. At the end of the tour we were served cocoa made from boiling the dried cocoa beans with sugar and cinnamon – the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. All from ingredients on the property.
This is a cocoa pod broken open – you can see the inside is packed with layers of seeds about the size of a large marble.Bananas everywherePapo’s property was not much larger than the plantation we toured before, but they grow pumpkins, yams, pineapple, bananas, cocoa, beans, coconut, coriander, chickens…
The house next door. When asked about the barbedwire fences everywhere, Eddy explained that it was just the Dominican way of setting boundaries.
For me, the most interesting takeaway of this part of the journey was that the majority of the Dominican people are monetarily poor and live very simple lives, but they are rich in the things that matter. They have everything that they need. Their homes are mini plantations providing almost all of their nutritional needs and building needs. They are surrounded by extended family and neighbors who help each other and enjoy each other’s company. Their life is good.
Our next stop was also very interesting. We visited an elementary school near Papo’s house.
The children stood and recited a poem welcoming us to their class.This classroom was a combination of grades K – 2. the children were friendly and incredibly well behaved.
The children greeted us with smiles and a poem recited in English. The classroom we visited was quiet and the children were well behaved and actively engaged in learning.
There are not enough schools and so the children attend school in shifts with 3 shifts per day and a shift only lasting 4 hours.
We were told that the current president of DR, President Danilo, is working very hard and pouring a lot of tax dollars into building new schools and upgrading the educational system. He wants to make education for all children mandatory and to increase the length of the school day to 8 hours.
Danilo is the President and Margarite is the Vice President of the Dominican Republic.
Eddy obviously has great respect for the current president and explained that, unlike many of the past presidents, President Danilo is working to clean-up the corruption of the government and to improve the lives of the Dominican people. He has a 90% approval rate. That’s pretty impressive.
*A brief history lesson: the Dominican Republic gained independence from Haiti, 130 years ago, but then struggled under an oppressive dictatorship for another 70 years. They over through the dictatorial form of government and have had a stable, democratic republic for the last 60 years. They have a very good national healthcare system and free public education. Tourism is there main source of income followed closely by mining, agricultural exports and a rapidly growing textile industry.
Some other random pictures taken along the journey:
A Haitian village near Puerto Plata. Illegal Haitian immigrants are a big problem in the DR. Different population but the problem sounds familiar.Cock fighting is a big passtime in the Dominican. Not something I agree with, but a definite part of their culture.
Okay, enough learning. It’s time for lunch. We traveled next to the Outback Camp where we were served an authentic and very delicious Dominican lunch – YUM!
Eddy and Rosa at the Outback Camp where we ate a delicious Dominican lunch.Other local inhabitants
We wandered around the grounds a bit and then headed for our last stop –
a private beach with miles of golden sand and beautiful blue, clear waters.
We ended our excursion on a beautiful secluded beach for a swim, walk, chair massage, rum punch – Yeahhh!Kite Surfing is a very popular sport in the DR. It is so amazing to watch them turn, flip and skim across the water – like a water ballet!
They provided chair massages, boogie boarding, and, of course, rum punch and Presidente (the local beer). A was a great ending for our last and very interesting excursion.
A last thought: This is our fourth trip to the Dominican Republic and we love it here. The people are friendly, happy and always willing to share help, information, you name it. The island’s north shore is beautiful setting to get away and has been a perfect place for us to unwind, relax and center – just what we needed.
Today we traversed the beautiful Dominican countryside on yet another adventure. This one included zip-lining, horseback riding and a tour of a tiny but diverse plantation – and all of this before lunch albeit a very late lunch!
Dominican CountrysideMore verdant and beautiful countryside.
Our journey took us through the pretty town of Puerto Plata – one of the bigger cities on the northern side of the DR – to just outside the tiny village of Imber.
The weather was overcast much of the day, unlike the last several days which were beautiful – go figure. Despite the mud and gray skies, we had a great time.
Zip lining was first on the itinerary. Unlike zip lining we have done in the past where you hike to the edge of a chasm and step off, several of these lines included a lot of stair/ladder climbing which we were not prepared for mentally or physically.
Lots of stairs and lots of exercise!Our first zip line platform of the day.
Nonetheless, we pushed through climbing to great heights and then stepping off into even larger, longer chasms. Why? Because it is exciting, fast and fun!
Zip line view – the two cables we zipped on look thin but were very strong – thank goodness!Zip lining – Edwardo, Tom, and me in our lovely zipping gear.
There were six lines total and some of the longest we have experienced.
Lush and beautiful
It was great.
The next thrill was horseback riding. For all of our 44 years of married life, Tom has held to the axiom, “Horses and I have an agreement – I don’t climb on their backs and they don’t climb on mine.” Knowing this long held philosophy, I was stunned when he informed me that this excursion included riding along a hilly trail through wood and stream on horses. But that is exactly what we did.
Proof that we really did ride!
For some reason the guide picked the orneriest horse of the bunch for Tom, and he (Tom’s horse) spent the entire ride trying to nip the other horses, blaze his own trail, and scrape Tom off his back along fencepost and tree. My horse just wanted to push ahead of all the others and to run – a plan that I worked very hard to quell! With bones, teeth and nerves rattled, we both made it through. Needless to say, this was not the highlight of the excursion and we have both avowed/reavowed to forgo any future horseback riding!
The last part of the excursion was a tour of what was billed as a “plantation”. It was about a quarter of an acre but boasted pretty, little gardens
Very ZenSo peaceful
and a variety of fruit trees. Our guide, Javier, led us through pointing out the different trees and bushes and telling a bit about each.
Banana trees
The grounds of the “plantation,” though small, were beautiful with ginger everywhere.Cocoa Beans – Chocolate – Yum! Although, probably not too good in this form.Pineapple close-up. I’m not sure what the little guy in the lower corner is.
PaprikaPaprika close-up
The small rest stop where we feasted on fruit from the plantation was surrounded by flowers.
The tour ended with beverages and a sample of several of the fruits – juicy and delicious.
We then waved goodbye to our guides and Imber and headed home to a very late lunch and this time Mai Tais.
Tom and I have been in the small resort of Blue Bay Villas near Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic for just over a week. As usual, it has taken several days to gear down to “island time” – to unwind – to let go of the “hurry to get everything done” mentality that is our life in Virginia Beach, to the, “We don’t have to do a __ thing if we don’t feel like it” mentality of island living.
Miles of golden sand beaches
As is our norm while on vacation, we have gotten back to walking 3 – 4 miles a day (huge progress from the barely ½ mile Tom was able to do in December – yea!!!). Sometimes we walk along the streets and other times along the miles and miles of golden, sandy beach. Then it is sun time, reading, listening to the waves, Zen time for the rest of the day.
A pretty little lagoon on the resort grounds.
Yesterday, however, was an excursion day! One of my very favorite things in life – snorkeling! Tom and I, both being Pisces, love the water and aquatic life, so we spent several hours in perusing the beach and the reefs off the coast of Sosua, DR – an exciting and wonderful experience!
Sousa is a tiny and beautiful little town about 30 minutes’ drive from our resort – a tiny, sparkling gem of the DR.
Sosua
Waiting for the boat
There was only one other couple in our small group – Christa and Christion – a lovely couple from the Italian (southern part) of Switzerland. Along with Julio, our guide, we spent just over an hour exploring the reef,
Julio and Christion
Preparing for our adventure
feeding bananas to the fish,
Tom and I feeding bananas to the fish.
* They really like bananas and came in swarms. We could feel and hear each bite – pop, pop, pop – very cool!
Me and ChristaLovely Coral
Home too such a variety.Schools of beautiful fishTom holding a sea urchinCoral Habitats
and absorbing the wonders of another world.
(Excursion photographs are courtesy of Juan – a photographer who captured our experience on camera – thank you Juan.)
Arriving home midafternoon, the rest of the day was spent recuperating with Pina Coladas – life is mue bueno!
The Kremlin, Red Square and St. Basils Cathedral – and yes, it’s real!
On June 14th, we bid farewell to St. Petersburg and flew to Moscow.
What an amazing city and nothing like what I expected before we began this trip! Yes, I knew about the “onion domes” but I didn’t expect them to be everywhere! (Oh, and just for the record, they are supposed to resemble flames and not onions, according to our Russian guide, Natalia.) Also, I had no idea that the Kremlin was so beautiful or that Red Square is a huge rectangle with gorgeous fountains, gardens, pedestrian walkways and arched bridges… I guess the pictures I had in my mind were of the depressing, carbon-copy, Stalinesque apartment buildings that come to mind when I think of communism. Don’t get me wrong, there were lots of those, but what captures your attention when you are in this section of Moscow is the fairytale buildings, statues, and fountains scattered everywhere you look. Also, the cleanliness amazed me. We were told that it’s not like that in much of the city, but there was no litter or graffiti anywhere in the area we were in. I couldn’t say that at all about Paris, Madrid, Prague or any big US cities that I’ve seen.
Anyway, our first stop was in front of St. Basils Cathedral to take, what Kori referred to as “Our family photo.”
Family Photo
You might have noticed that the sky was gray and that most of us were wearing jackets. When we arrived it was misting a bit and our guide apologized adding, “Our summer is very short in Moscow and it was yesterday.” We all thought that was funny. The weather didn’t improve much during our stay, but despite the weather, Moscow was/is beautiful.
After the photo-op, our bus took us to the Tsereteli Art Gallery – I know you are thinking, “Not More Art!!! but this place was great! Zurab Tsereteli (a contemporary Russian artist) is still alive and, though in his 80s, still creating his wonderful art. We only had time to see “Apple Hall” display but I would have loved to see more.
Zurab TsereteliWhat an amazingly talented and prolific artist!The Tzars and Tzarinas corner.This is Tzar Nicholas II and his family. The scene depicts the time of their execution showing them with closed eyes as in the moment between life and death.Such grand work.Thus Apple Hall – There was a whole Adam/Eve/Temptation thing with the apple sculpture and some pretty dicey displays inside the apple.I love the detail and the expressions of the statues.This guy was just funny and made me laugh.Both pieces are by Tsereteli
The gorgeous stained glass mosaics in the museum café are also Zurab’s work.This picture is from the internet and shows Tsereteli with his statue of President Putin.
Zurab Tsereteli’s work is displayed worldwide.
The Tear of Grief Memorial
This magnificent work of Tsereteli’s was a gift from Russia to the US in commemoration of the terrorists’ bombing of the World Trade Center and the September 11, 2001 attack.
The Tear of Grief , also known as To the Struggle Against Terrorism Memorial,now stands on the peninsula of Bayonne, New Jersey.
We had been on the go since 6:30AM, so we headed to the hotel and got the rest of the day off. By the way, this was the view from our hotel window.
The view outside our hotel window!
Our view at night – so beautiful, so peaceful.
For the evening Tom and I had special plans. Our younger daughter, Traci, works for a company called White Swan which sells uniforms (scrubs, chef apparel…) and she has a customer in, believe it or not, Moscow! His name is Albert and she had arranged for us to have dinner with him.
Albert picked us up at the hotel and we spent a lovely evening seeing a couple of his stores (since we are in the uniform business also), eating at a intimate and wonderful sea food restaurant, talking business and business practices in Russia verses the US, talking politics, families, dreams for the future… Albert loves America, hates Putin, and was open, friendly and charming. Both he and the evening were delightful!
Tom and AlbertAlbert and Charli
Bright (well, not so bright) but early the next day we were off again – that was hard since we hadn’t gotten back from dinner with Albert until 12:30AM uuug.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior – a symbol of the strength and tenacity of the human spirit.
We visited Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and Natalia talked about its amazing history.
Completed in 1812 this magnificent Russian Orthodox cathedral was the center for worship, culture, education and enlightenment. In fact it was the setting for the premier of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.
I talked before about Stalin’s distain of religion. During his reign of terror, Stalin ordered the demolition of thousands of churches and synagogues. This was one of them. The Palace of the Soviets was to be built in it’s place but there were not enough funds for the project so instead they built a huge swimming pool in its place. Yes, I’m serious. Natalia remembers swimming in it as a child having no idea that a church had ever stood here.
*Yet another history lesson: Statistics show that during the German siege on Russia, nearly 1,000,000 Russians died of starvation, froze to death, died of disease or were slaughtered by the German Nazis. During Stalin’s rule, 1934 -1940) it is estimated that, in what he saw as the cleansing of the race, Stalin was responsible for killing another million+ of his own people. The tyrannical socialist régime of the Soviet Union continued until 1991.
In one of our tour’s daily itinerary sheets it was written, “You may think that Russians sound angry or look sullen. In fact, the face that a Russian shows the public is very different from the face he shows his family and friends. Russians lived for so long in an environment of suspicion and distrust that they adopted attitudes and mannerisms for their own defense. When they are among family and friends, they are warm, caring, smiling and laughing.” I think that the more open, friendly face is slowly becoming the face of Russia. We saw it in Albert, the staff in the hotels, in restaurants and shops – a measured change that will grow as new generations grow up in a world very different than what their ancestors endured.
We are so incredibly lucky to have been raised in a country where we have had the freedom to be ourselves, state our opinions/beliefs, practice our religion, be who we want to be. It gives a whole new respect for the words “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Take a minute this Independence Day and be thankful that our country was founded on those truths.
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior was rebuilt to the exact specifications of the original as was the Grand Choral Synagogue and thousands of other buildings that had been demolished by both Nazis and Soviets. This church’s reconstruction was completed in 2004 – hope for a better future.
Our next stop – The Kremlin.
The Kremlin – covers 64 acres. A massive fortress – The Kremlin
The word kremlin means fortress and at the time this kremlin was built (1482 – 1495), every city had a kremlin. Moscow’s Kremlin covers 64 beautiful acres and is the seat of the Russian government.
We started out in yet another museum, but the Tretyakov Museum allowed us a glimpse of Russian art that we hadn’t seen in other museums. I loved the art here with its vivid colors and the expressive faces of the people in the paintings.
The Tretyakov Museum
Unknown Lady by I.N. Kramsoy – The paintings had the detail of photographs.Inconsolable Grief – You don’t get the impact looking at the picture, but looking at the actual painting I felt this woman’s overwhelming and inconsolable grief.Morning in a Pine Forest by P.M. Tretyakov – and our wonderful Russian guide Natalia.
Ivan the Terrible by P.M. Tretyakov
Morning of the Streltsi’s ExecutionSiberian ExileRepin’s Portrait of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy
We then walked to the Moscow State Historical Museum. It is huge and beautiful. Unfortunately there were no photographs allowed and, since we were in the Kremlin, I didn’t think it would be wise to try and sneak any. Actually I pretty much follow the rules most of the time…
Moscow State Historical Museum
Moving right along, we saw some of the other sights in the Kremlin including the worlds largest canon,
The worlds largest canon has never been fired because the canon balls were to heavy to load into the canon – very funny.
and the magnificent Assumption Cathedral
The Assumption Cathedral
– yes, there is a church in the Kremlin. In fact there were at one time twelve of them, but only six of them have been rebuilt.
Pretty amazing
I’m ending this post with photos of the wonderful Red Square, which I found absolutely breathtaking.
As in most nations capitals, the Kremlin has its Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to honor those who died fighting for their country.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
We were there just in time to see the changing of the guard.
The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
By this time we were pretty hungry so we headed off to find a quaint local restaurant.
Okay I admit it, we really did eat at the Red Square McDonalds.
Then it was off to wander Red Square. What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
So Lovely
The Red Square version of the Bridge of Love. The trees are sculptures on which lovers affix their padlocks. They then throw the key into the river to demonstrate their never-ending love – very romantic! (click for a closer view)
The gardens of Red Square are spectacular!Gorgeous BegoniasRed means beautiful and Red Square certainly lives up to its name. Sculptures and fountains everywhere.
and the wonderful St. Basil’s Cathedral.
And so ends our European Adventure. It far exceeded my expectation and wildest dreams. I loved the history, the art, the architecture, the culture and especially the people.
Thank you for joining in our journey. Sharing it with you so enriches the experience for me. I love writing about it and I love hearing from you as we travel. So thank you again.
One quick PS – on the plane ride home Tom and I watched The Monument Men. If you liked the history parts of the posts, you really should see it. It’s a true and amazing story.
So for now, dos vidonnia – I can’t write it in Russian, but the meaning is, “Until we meet again.”
CharliExplores 