It wasn't until we walked into the small Caribe Tours bus station in Sosua that we decided exactly where we were off to. After leaving Cabarete, and Anne Grethe and Obdulio, early that morning, we had narrowed our destinations down to Santo Domingo or Jarabacoa. Our guidebook raved about the natural beauty of Jarabacoa, which is in an interior region referred to as the Dominican Alps. Honestly, they're spot on. I couldn't tell if I was in Switzerland, Italy, Ireland, Guatemala or the DR. The landscape was absolutely stunning, for both it's beauty and it's seemingly random placement.
After a couple connections, and a nice snooze in the Caribe Tours bus, we lugged our bags off the coach and hopped a pick up cab for the only hotel worth staying in; Brisas Del Yaque. As I've mentioned before, Beth and I prize AC and cable above all, and were thrilled Brisas had both. At this point, we were roughly five weeks into the trip, and both our minds and bodies were beginning to show a bit of wear. It often occurred to me on the trip that maybe the human body is not meant to live this way, because transience didn't seem to agree with me. Seeing the world as a vagabond explorer is thrilling and spontaneous in nature, but also tiresome and a bit exhausting, and hell on the digestive system. No matter how much fun I was having, I craved consistency, quiet and stillness. I missed my kitchen, my room, the rest of my wardrobe, and simply the sense of knowing where I was and how to get from one place to the next. Having to research every place we visited, coordinate buses, hotels, couchsurfers, taxis, meals, everything...it was a bit taxing after awhile. Please don't think I'm complaining, my mind and heart were so joyously happy, but my body just couldn't always keep up.
This became even clearer the second we collapsed on the bed in Jarabacoa...and decided getting up was the last thing we wanted to do. On top of this, Beth wasn't feeling well, and hadn't been for several days now. While I dashed out to get us a lunch of pica pollo and tostones, she laid down and checked out the cable situation. Honestly, I loved opportunities to move about independently. It made me feel like I was back in Guatemala, exploring Coban and Xela. I'm a pretty solitary person by nature, so roaming about on my own in an unfamiliar town didn't make me feel anxious at all, it actually relaxed me considerably.
After retrieving some food, eating on the bed (despite a polite sign on the wall asking us not to) and gorging ourselves on the People and Arts channel, we decided this was really all we wanted out of our time in Jarabacoa, and we were not going to feel guilty about it! Yes, it's beautiful, yes, Jurassic Park was filmed here, yes it has some of the most spectacular waterfalls in the country, but we wanted to be lazy and give our bodies a chance to catch up with us! The rest of the day was all about food, tv, the bed, and a little internet time to deal with the fiasco happening back home (bed bugs, you'll hear about it in the next post).
The next day, feeling revived, and embarrassingly sloth-like, we decided today we would give Jarabacoa and honest shot. We woke early, commandeered a couple motoconchos (motorcycle taxis) and set out for a Salesian monastery that supposedly had a pasta factory. We figured from there we'd ride up the hill to a series of pools and go swimming for a bit. Well, the monastery was a bust. Either the monks were all in seclusion...or it was just flat out empty. No pasta, either, total bummer. So, we continued on to Las Guazaras, a series of rapids and pools in what could basically be considered the Dominican highlands. Once we got there, we stripped down to our suits, jumped into the near frigid water and made some friends with a few local kids. They were thrilled to have some gringas to show off for, and started showing us all the best places to jump, dive and catch the current, and even did some bridge jumping as we feigned fear and shock. Naturally, we took a ton of pictures, had a blast splashing around with the boys, and even encouraged our motoconcho drivers to get in and enjoy the water. It was a great way to spend a morning, and an invigorating one.
Our plan for the rest of the day was to visit at least two of the three famed waterfalls, the most remote of which was the backdrop for the opening scene of Jurassic Park. However, as we settled down to lunch, those travel-weary feelings came over us again...and we settled in for another afternoon of relaxation. Honestly, neither one of us regretted not trekking up to the falls. The Dominican Republic abounds with beautiful sights, and we'd already logged quite a few fantastic waterfalls in our trip. This one probably was just as beautiful as everyone said, but we'll have to just trust the picture in our guidebook. We figured there was no sense in wearing ourselves down to the point of not being able to enjoy the rest of our time, and we still had a pretty fantastic morning at Las Guazaras to show for ourselves. Maybe on the next trip we'll try again :)
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