Last weekend, we ventured to Cana Hondo Ecolodge in San de la Mar and National Park Los Haitises. We rented a car and drove northwest about 100 miles which takes over four hours due to the roads and terrain. We left Punta Cana and made a stop in Higuey where we visited St. Mary's Cathedral and had dinner at a local restaurant. The mangu was fantastic! The drive north went through several small villages and into the mountains. These are the places where you experience the real Dominican lifestyle, and were I felt what it is that the native people love about their home.
Our final destination was nothing short of magical. We arrived in a small village on the Samana Bay on the northeast side of the Dominican Republic. Among other things, we took a boat ride through a mangrove forest, visited caves once occupied by the indigenous Taino tribe, hiked through humid forests & fields of sugar cane and cattle, swam under waterfalls in the crystalline water of the Jivales River, and met a young man named Raphael who is part of The Green Brigade Environmental Group from a nearby village.
