Awoke, had some breakfast and headed to the front of the resort to embark on the Outback Jungle Safari! Makes it sound like we are going to visit some kangaroos! Not knowing what to expect I was pleasantly surprised to find this to be one of the more entertaining adventures I’ve been on.
A flatbed truck with benches picked us up with our tour Nacho and the driver Leo. These two were quite comical…Nacho was definitely meant for the comedic stage and he had us in stitches the entire day. The tour guides around these parts must be well versed in many languages…he mentioned that he knew how to speak Spanish, English, French and German!
We hit the road out of the resort and the first sights of the land unfolded before us. The Dominican seemed to be a land where the poor are poor and the rich are rich. We were explained that the main driving force of the economy is tourism so we were usually welcomed with open arms. We were also warned not to give the children any money along the way as they can get suspended from school. This touring operation in particular allowed us to make donations to them which would go to a charity.
As we trekked along some open roads to our first destination, Nacho had Vero read out the rules of the trip which had some standard fare as well as the rule of “Listening to Nacho at all time.” This guy was crazy funny. He had this move where whenever he talked about the pretty ladies or thought about sex, he would make it look like he was rearing up to take off in a run on the spot.
What’s a safari without some drinks? We had some Dominican champagne (Sprite & Rum). Nacho would crack the bottle (!) of Sprite open, dump a quarter of it onto the road and fill the rest up with rum and pass it down the line of people (approximately 40 people on this tour with us). He also had beer on hand during the day for us.
We showed up to the first stop of the day; a typical dwelling in the Dominican Republic. While I wouldn’t say it was a horrible place, it definitely didn’t have the luxuries we are used to. The roof was made out of palm leaves and the entire place looked to be made out of concrete. That was very typical from what I could see along the way there. There was old furniture strewn about but it was very tidy. We went outside to meet the Grandmother who owned the house. She was sitting in the rocking chair with some grandkids. They also showed us some water collection system that they use to wash clothing. Hey, we even saw a banana plant! I never knew how bananas grew…I always assumed it was on a palm tree.
We also saw how coffee beans and cocoa beans were harvested and we got to try a few. A raw coffee bean doesn’t taste like much whereas the cooked ones taste like coffee.
We then piled back into the truck, had a beer and drove out to the mountains. We stopped at a little zoo where we saw crocodiles and other assorted vermin. It really wasn’t much to look at…a few crabs here and there and some crocs. But we were introduced to Mamajuana.
Otherwise known as gasolina, or the love potion, mamajuana is a drink which is supposed to enhance the libido. Nacho called it “The Dominican’s Viagra!”. Now the concept of this drink is that you place some mamajuana twigs and leaves/bark into a bottle and put two parts honey, two parts red wine into it, let it sit for a day, dump it out and then fill the thing with rum. Now, if you purchased a bottle of the twigs at the time, he said they were either good for 8-9 times of refilling or 8-9 years which I thought was quite the deal. It was a decent alcohol and I enjoyed the taste of it. I don’t think anyone bothered purchasing a bottle at the time. Nacho was quite hilarious during the pouring of the mamajuana as he got someone else to pour it out to everyone and he would go back into the lineup multiple times so he could get more mamajuana.
When going back to the truck, there was a man with snakes around his neck and so Vero and I posed along with some snakes around us. This was a spur of the moment decision but wasn’t too freaky. The snake skin isn’t slimy…it’s a little greasy if anything. They didn’t move that much either while draped around my neck.
Off we went to lunch which was a good spread of food (along with some Dominican champagne!). We also checked out some merchants wares for sale but I decided not to get anything. We also stopped at a cigar/rum stand on the side of the road where I picked up some cigars for my manager at work. I don’t know much about cigars but I got 25 cigars for $40 USD which I think is a decent deal.
At one point, we passed by some girls that Nacho knew and he jumped off the truck but Leo decided to keep driving! It was quite funny to see Nacho tear down the road to try and catch us.
The last stop of the day was to a beach (which I’ll have to find the name of) which is a sort of bay and the waves were coming in strong. They equipped us with a bunch of boogie boards and we got to spend an hour ‘riding the waves’. The concept (if some Canadians reading this does not understand this) is that when a wave comes in towards the beach, it is possible, if you match the speed of the wave, to ride the top of the wave and it will bring you into the beach. Of course, everyone has seen this in action in any surfing film (like Point Break!) but it’s another experience altogether when you actually do it. It took awhile to get the hang of it and I didn’t really know if I was doing it right but at one point I was on top of the boogie board (which is like a large flutter board) and I gave it my all and lo and behold, I was on top of the wave! It was quite exhilarating and the wave launches you quite fast towards the beach! I had no idea!
Unfortunately for me, two things happened during our time at the beach. Somehow some sand got into my eye and it wouldn’t come out. This was quite annoying as there was also ample amounts of salt water in my eyes at the time also. So I was blind. Then there was a point where I let go of my boogie board and it launched towards the beach. I went running after it but I had forgotten that the sand wasn’t level at the shoreline (as the waves must dig some pockets/holes of sand) and I rolled my ankle. So here is a blind, injured Canadians crawling up the beach to get his boogie board. Everyone on the shore was cheering me on not realizing that I had seen better days! I hobbled back into the water and gave the boogie board to Vero (we had to share) and I let the waves take me wherever they wanted to. The waves are quite intoxicating if you let yourself be taken by them. I can easily see how someone can float away into the ether which is the ocean.
Vero, Andreane and Vero’s dad all seemed to have a great time out in the water. Mr. Cantin must have caught the crest of the wave 100 times! We all had a good time and it was a good end of the tour.
After checking out some merchants tables (these merchants are EVERYWHERE!), we hopped back on the truck and enjoyed the end of the day ride back home. I would highly recommend the safari if you ever go to the Dominican Republic. I would have to say that we probably had the best tour guide on the planet though which helped matters immensely. Vero and I gave Nacho and Leo a decent tip in which he said “Ah…$1 for Leo and the rest for me! Thank you!” It was well worth the $85 to get a tour of the island, get some history and some fun all in one day. The weather was amazing also and I recall sitting in the back of the truck with no shirt on and absorbing the sun’s healthy rays.
After limping back to the bedroom, we headed to the BBQ a-la-carte restaurant for supper (although it took us awhile as we lost Vero’s dad for awhile and then everyone went searching). I believe this was the evening where the entire resort lost power for 10 minutes also. I wasn’t overly impressed with the BBQ dinner (compared with the Mexican one) as there wasn’t many animated performances from the serving staff and the actual food wasn’t too impressive either. However, we were dining along the beach and we had a nice breeze coming in throughout dinner and I sat there thinking “I could get used to this life.”
In the end of the night, I called it a night as I couldn’t function properly with a bum ankle and an eye that couldn’t be used properly. Vero’s aunt gave me some eye drops and we tried those out and it eased some of the pain but I was happy to relax in the hotel room for the night with a book and a beer. I had an entire week left to partake in the late night activities!