Los Haitises National Park

Our first big activity in the Dominican Republic was Los Haitises National Park for which we had a guide named Halle.

We woke up early in the morning to catch a moto-taxi, or "moto-concho", down the 10 kilometer road to the park. The trip up the unpaved road was gorgeous! Unfortunately we were all hanging on too tight to get any pictures.

We started our day by going on a kayaking tour, which we wanted to do early because we were told that that would give us the best chance of seeing manatees. While we didn't see any manatees it was still an amazing trip. It started by going down a small river through the mangrove forest, similar to what we experienced in southern Florida. But it was much more fun to be out on the water.

There were many of the same birds as in the Everglades as well as crabs that were living among the roots of the mangroves. Unfortunately we once again don't have very many pictures of this part of the day, this time because we were all trying to avoid getting our electronics wet.

When we came to the end of the river it opened up in a small bay called Bahia de San Lorenzo, which is in the larger Samana Bay. We stayed in the Bahia de San Lorenzo, which was nice and protected and smooth for kayaking. We may not have seen any manatees in the bay, but we did see several dolphins. They were swimming fairly close to us and we hung out for a while just watching them. This time we didn't get any pictures because we were enjoying just watching them too much.

After hanging out with the dolphins for a little while we moved on to a small island where we docked to eat fruit and enjoy the surroundings. Halle brought us bananas as well as a guañabana, AKA soursop. Both were delicious. 

 

 

After the kayaking trip we had a few hours to hang out and get lunch at the Caño Hondo eco lodge while Halle took another group out on a boat trip. 

Caño Hondo is a huge hotel that is built into the side of the mountain. It had amazing architecture and amazing views. They also had a delicious lunch. 

 

The other major perk of Caño Hondo is their pools. They diverted the river into a series of swimming holes coming down the side of the hill. They were gorgeous and a lot of fun to walk around. The day wasn't as warm as we had expected though, and the water was quite cool so we didn't end up swimming. 

 

Anna considered booking us to stay at this lodge, but they said they were full. Which was a little funny because it seemed quite empty. Overall we were all happy with the place we stayed in town, and we got more of the local feel there. 

For the early afternoon section of our trip we took another boat ride with Halle, this time on a bigger motor boat. We went back  down the river and through the bay to caves in national park.

The first cave we stopped at was well known for its pictographs. The cave is full of them and they range in subject from ancient tribal gods to crosses representing the colonizing Spanish. There are also pictures that are thought to represent a slave being beaten.

 

 

The massive cave was cool in and of itself. There is evidence that native people took cover in the cave during storms. It was absolutely massive and a fair amount of natural lighting, so even Kathleen who tends to get claustrophobic felt comfortable in there. 

The second cave was right on the water and had the feel of the ideal cave for a pirate to hide treasure in. We docked on a beautiful beach. 

 

From the beach we took several cool boardwalks into the partially flooded cave. 

 

This cave was also gorgeous and had interesting ancient carvings. The cave is also known for being home to many bats, but we didn't see any of them. Their main roosting area is further back in the cave and is off limits to visitors. 

 

For the last part of our day we went on a fun hike on a trail that Halle and a Peace Corps volunteer helped to build a couple of years ago. It was absolutely stunning. The trail went through one of the filming locations for Jurassic Park. 

And in true Dominican fashion we went stopped and tried all of the different fruits along the trail as we went. 

 

Coffee

 

Bija, primarily used as a dye but also to add flavor to meat dishes.
Also apparently used in some skin care products. 

Star Fruit 

 

Chocolate. The white fruit around the chocolate is absolutely incredible and super sweet.
One of the best things we tasted on this trip. 

Halle had to work super hard to get us some chocolate fruit. We tried throwing things but were unsuccessful. But he was determined enough that he scaled the tree to bring us one down. And boy are we glad that he did. 

There were lots of other cool things on the hike as well, including trees that use thorns to store water and giant termite nests. The hike was a great end to an amazing day. By the time we got back to the hotel on our moto conchos we were very ready for a shower and bed, especially because we knew we'd have to get up early again the next day.