![Picture](/uploads/8/2/8/1/8281240/9900482.jpg)
Our visit to the Dominican Republic was short and sweaty, I mean sweet. Luperon was our only stop and we just stayed long enough to pick up Daniel and see the sights. We arrived on a Friday morning just as the sun was coming up over Luperon Bay; a big harbour with a lot of boats, many of them looking as though they hadn’t moved in years . As we motored through the water we could see a layer of oil on the surface, garbage floating between the boats, and at least three wrecks washed up in the mangroves. By 9 am there was no wind and the temperature was rising fast. Potential vacationers beware - Luperon is not exactly a tropical paradise.
When we arrived at the dock we were pleasantly surprised to find Daniel waiting for us at the customs portable, surrounded by a gaggle of single ladies in the market for a Canadian husband. After paying far too much to visit the country for a weekend, I was sent to the offices of the navy to meet with the Comandante (military captain) to get final clearance for the boat. El Comandante turned out to be the very serious, no nonsense sort. He spoke perfect English without an accent (secret sources told us that he had gone to school in America), wore aviator sunglasses at all times (even inside his office), and looked to be about sixteen years old.
Luperon is a very small place and we walked through the main town in about half an hour. Our only trip on the island was to a guided tour of a naturally occurring water park of sorts. Not far from Luperon is a series of 27 small waterfalls and rapids that you hike to and then jump from or slide down. It was a lot of fun and we were in desperate need of some cooling off after a few days in the oppressive heat of Luperon Bay. It was on this trip that we took our first ride in a “car publico”. It is basically the same system as the van, the driver waits around until the van is loaded up and you sweat while you wait, except that it was literally a car with five seats. We managed to get four grown men into the back seat (Daniel had to hold his right arm up in the air in order to fit in) and Adam and I squished into the front. Adam got to sit on most of his seat and I sat on the emergency break. It was not the most comfortable ride but it was interesting.
After paying a few more fees in order to leave the country and a final visit to the Comandante (he didn’t have the glasses on when I arrived at the office but he excused himself to put them on), we said good-bye to Daniel’s crestfallen admirers and the heat, and sailed on for Cuba.
When we arrived at the dock we were pleasantly surprised to find Daniel waiting for us at the customs portable, surrounded by a gaggle of single ladies in the market for a Canadian husband. After paying far too much to visit the country for a weekend, I was sent to the offices of the navy to meet with the Comandante (military captain) to get final clearance for the boat. El Comandante turned out to be the very serious, no nonsense sort. He spoke perfect English without an accent (secret sources told us that he had gone to school in America), wore aviator sunglasses at all times (even inside his office), and looked to be about sixteen years old.
Luperon is a very small place and we walked through the main town in about half an hour. Our only trip on the island was to a guided tour of a naturally occurring water park of sorts. Not far from Luperon is a series of 27 small waterfalls and rapids that you hike to and then jump from or slide down. It was a lot of fun and we were in desperate need of some cooling off after a few days in the oppressive heat of Luperon Bay. It was on this trip that we took our first ride in a “car publico”. It is basically the same system as the van, the driver waits around until the van is loaded up and you sweat while you wait, except that it was literally a car with five seats. We managed to get four grown men into the back seat (Daniel had to hold his right arm up in the air in order to fit in) and Adam and I squished into the front. Adam got to sit on most of his seat and I sat on the emergency break. It was not the most comfortable ride but it was interesting.
After paying a few more fees in order to leave the country and a final visit to the Comandante (he didn’t have the glasses on when I arrived at the office but he excused himself to put them on), we said good-bye to Daniel’s crestfallen admirers and the heat, and sailed on for Cuba.