On the way into Santo Domingo, we passed this truck of water containers. Note the passenger.	*View down into the huge pit that houses the Three Eyes	Steve and Linda coming down the steps	*Barb and I on our way down	*Steps at the bottom of the pit
The first "eye"	Eye with Barb	And another view	Guide explaining that the diver works for tips	*Diver clamboring up the far side of the cave
*...up and up	...and up	*The third pool is "lucky" if you touch it	Everyone seems to believe it	Outside the Columbus lighthouse
*Another view by another photographer	Our bus parked outside the lighthouse	Nicolas de Ovando, founder of Puerto Plata	Barb and Andy near the Calle de las Damas	Andy on Calle de las Damas -- Columbus house in background
The Columbus house -- now a museum	Inside the Columbus house	Figures in the beams at the Columbus house	Hypocricy chairs (see text)	Hat vendor outside the Columbus house

Trip to Puerto Plata

We were so impressed with our guide/driver for our falls excursion (see below), that we arranged for him to take us to Puerto Plata.  We, being Steve and Linda from Seaman's Elixir, Carol and Gene from Magic Moment, and Barb and I.  Roughly 25 kilometers east of Luperon, Puerto Plata was founded by Nicolas de Ovando in 1502.  The oldest standing edifice there is the 2K square meter San Felipe Fort.   It was built by the Spanish in 1577 to defend the city from English, Dutch and French pirates.  In 1821 it was turned into a courthouse and jail.  It later fell into disuse, but was restored in 1974.  The fort overlooks the statue of General Gregorio Luperon, hero of the war that restored the rule of the country to Dominicans from the Spanish.   Outside the fort, I was happily taking pictures when a man with a donkey signaled that he would take a picture of me with the donkey.   Great!   Only two problems:  the pictures he took were off-center, and he then demanded 100 pesos!   Boy, did I feel like a sucker.

We saw the extensive and fascinating Amber Museum, housed in a 1919-built mansion.  One of the exhibits, a mosquito-encased amber, was used in the movie “Jurassic Park”.  I bought Barb a gorgeous pair of amber earrings here.

We also did a tour of the Brugal Rum Factory.  Brugal is the largest rum producer in the DR, and the third-largest in the world.  The tour ended with a daiquiri tasting and an opportunity to purchase fine quality rums at good prices.  We only bought one case as we are not sure where we are going to store the bottles on the boat as we are pretty well stocked already. 

We took the funicular (cable car) up to the top of Mt. Torres, Loma Isabel de Torres, a 2,600 foot mountain, which affords a spectacular view of a large expanse of the north coast.  At the top of the mountain is a large statue of “Christ the Redeemer”.   At the base of the statue is a gift shop, a café, and a 135,000 square meter park – the Isabel de Torres botanical gardens.   We had an enjoyable walk through the park, which features subtropical vegetation and 15 small brooks and streams and multiple trails to observe enormous ferns, overgrown flowers, fire-red gingers and giant hibiscus peaking through the rain forest’s shield.

Just before we left Puerto Plata to return to Luperon, our driver stopped at a large supermarket so we could do some power shopping, since we hadn't seen a real supermarket since Provo.  As we arrived back in Luperon we passed by the cockfighting ring and realized that the weekly cockfight was underway.  We asked our driver to stop for a few minutes and we all got a small but ample taste of the "sport".  Barb, Linda, and Carol all waltzed in, but the men soon discovered that whereas women are granted free admission, men have to pay, in pesos, of course, the equivalent of $30 USA per person (and turn in any weapons) at the gate.  So the men climbed up and watched from an outside (free) perch, joining the local young rubberneckers, while the women watched and took pictures from within.  Between fights betting occurs, and so feelings can get pretty intense during the contests, with the crowd shouting out encouragement in a manner that for all the world resembles a human boxing contest.  We watched only one contest, and observed that the losing cock was not killed but appeared to play dead once he realized that he had lost.  Later, we read in our guidebook that once a cock recovers from a match he usually comes back to fight another day.  The appearance of the cocks was a surprise, by the way.  Head, wings and tail feathers were retained, but the rest were plucked nude in order to avoid getting caught by the spurs.   If a cock starts bleeding badly, his feet are put in cold water and the bleeding stops immediately, or so says a book about the DR.

The pictures marked with an (*) were taken by Linda.

*Street in Puerto Plata	*Another street	San Felipe Fort	Another view of fort	*Our driver Jaime (left) and the museum guide
Barb at one of the turret openings on the roof	*Enjoying the spectacular view of the harbor	View toward the sea	Puerto Plata harbor -- a busy commercial port	*Stairs in the fort
A different kind of stairs	Vendors just setting up outside the fort	Another vendor	Sucker bait	*The payoff captured on film
General Luperon -- one of the DR's heros	*One of many displays in the amber museum	*An example of a piece with preserved insects inside	View from the bottom of the funicular	*On the way up
*Puerto Plata from the top	Looking east	The ramp to the terminal at the top	The terminal at the top	Statue of Christ atop a large hemisphere/shop
Ain't we artistic?	*In the botonical garden	*Garden	*Garden	Linda and Steve making whoopy
Inside the Brugal rum factory	Brugal	Bottling/Capping machine	If the machine fails to properly place a seal over the top, this fellow does so manually	This machine puts the bottles into a box. When they don't all fall into the proper slots, the man on the right straightens and inserts them
*Another view of the boxer	Carol and Gene on the observation deck	The end of one of the lines, and stacks of bottled and boxed rum	*Cockfight in Luperon	*Victory!
*The boys in the peanut gallery

Other Adventures

Between Altamira and Imbert lies Damajagua, an ecotourism attraction of cascading and plummeting waterfalls.   We walked through a canopied forest, along a path that repeatedly chris-crossed a small stream.   After about thirty minutes, we reached the first pool and falls.  We were accompanied by an acrobatic (and mischievous) guide, who helped us climb up and through the first seven of the falls.  After the first pool, the path was not mostly beside the river, but rather mostly in it.  We had to wade and/or swim through it.  On the way back we either jumped down into the pools, or sat on the smooth rocks and, arms tucked in, legs straight ahead, leaning slightly forward, slid down with the stream over the falls into the pools.  Great fun.  Spectacularly lovely walls along the narrow canyons carved over the centuries by the flowing water.  We were joined on the trip by Steve and Linda of Seaman's Elixir and Carol of Magic Moment.  Linda had purchased a waterproof camera just for the trip, but alas, it did not work, and so all we have are pictures taken later at lunch, and our warm memories of the unique experience at the falls.

In celebration of his 65th birthday, Roger, of Oma and Opa, made arrangements with the restaurant Casa del Sol to have a dinner "with all of the bells and whistles".   Casa del Sol is owned by a German woman and her conspicuously younger Domincan husband.  We couldn't reach agreement on whether Roger would treat us or we would treat him, and so we taught Roger a new phrase:  "Dutch treat".  The meal was delicious, and made all the more fun by the showmanship of the DR owner, who prepared a desert of bananas flambe and flaming coffee, all the while maintaining a humorous monologue (in Spanish) at a mile a minute.  Truly a memorable evening.

Rick, a friendly guy who came to Luperon intending to stay but a short time, but who has now been there long enough to know everything and everybody associated with the support system for cruisers, made arrangements for the restaurant El Belga to throw a pig roast at 1 PM on the Sunday before we departed.  The affair was by invitation only, since the pig was finite, and we were fortunate enough to be included.   As we have indicated elsewhere, we had stumbled upon El Belga before, so we knew the meal would be good.   And indeed, it was.  The name of the place, by the way, is a consequence of the nationality of the owner, a small wizen man originally from Belgium.  His wife, who says that he is teaching her how to cook, is a young pretty Domincan.   (We saw this "pattern" quite often in Luperon:  a white man getting on in years, not particularly in good shape or particularly handsome, hair thinning or mostly gone, belly spreading or mostly over the belt, paired with a young and pretty but subdued olive-skinned Domincan woman.  Their bearing, when they arrived at the marina restaurant, always struck me as having the same "feel" as that engendered by observing a grizzly bachelor arriving with his collie on a leash.   The owner is happy to have the companion, and takes it for granted.   The dog follows along faithfully, but doesn't seem particularly happy about the leash.  But of course, in the instance of the human pairs, we are certain that in every case they were deeply in love.)

Lunch after Damajagua	Luperon statue in Luperon	Celebrating Roger's 65th birthday	Wonderful b'day meal at Casa del Sol -- run by German wife and DR husband
Desert at the birthday bash	Banana flambe	Coffee and flaming liquor	Early morning walk	Nice home along beach NE of Luperon -- note helio pad behind palm
"Dog Shit Beach" -- dog owners' popular destination on outer harbor	Linda taking photos on D.S. Beach	Panorama of Luperon Harbor	Roger on a Sunday at the marina	Lady in green asked the singer to sing into the phone
Sunday at Puerto Blanco marina	Over-imbiber at the marina's Sunday party	Doesn't he look comfortable?	Sunday celebrants	"And then I told him..."
Friendly Rick (who came to Luperon to stay a week and just can't seem to pull away...)	Dancing to the Sunday band	Famous (among cruisers) author Bruce Van Sant	Special Pig Roast at El Belga restaurant	Guest of honor
Barb and another pig eater

Flag courtesy of ITA's Flags of All Countries used with permission.