One of the places we most wanted to visit in the DR was the national park Los Haitises. It is eighteen square miles of protect rocky islands that are home to many species of birds. The park also has caves with pictographs from the Taino people who lived here before Columbus’ journey brought diseases and the Spanish enslaved them.
It was a day of really long travel. At seven-thirty we were picked up in a golf cart and driven to the Wyndam resort next door because the bus was too big to arrive at our hotel. I am not sure this was really true, but who cares?
We joined a bus load of mostly French Canadians and had a forty-five minute ride to Samaná port. Each passenger was tagged with a bracelet so we could be sorted by our handlers. Red bracelets headed to a boat going to the park.
We were on the boat most of the day. We were able to get sort of close to some of the islands to see some of the birds. We’ve been to several other locations where seeing the birds was more pleasant or easier. Here the novel sight was seeing pelicans in trees! Pelicans have webbed feet which don’t seem adapted for perching in trees. Nevertheless, the pelicans manage to balance and use these trees to hammock a nice spot in the sun, and to actually nest!
To entertain us on the boat, the guides offered rum (with Coke and Sprite) frequently. The passed coconut slices and pineapple. They played music and horsed around. Everything they told was presented in Spanish, French, German and English. Every seat on the boat was full, so Mark had to sit behind me, meaning we really could hardly speak to each other. I amused myself by trying to understand words from the non-English explanations. I am pretty sure each language had a different version of the information.
While it was crowded, dark and slippery, the cave was still pretty interesting. Many passengers had taken flashlights from the crew, but having people flash the light around didn’t help my eyes adjust at all. I observed some footwear that looked disastrous, but I didn’t see anyone get hurt.
All too soon we were back on the boat to be motored to an island for lunch,with more rum offered on the way. A few hundred other people also arrived for a lunch and a chance to swim. The beach was full of people selling to the tourists, and the beach chairs seemed to be retired from various resorts. Then we were rounded up again and put back on the boat to return to the port (one final chance for rum), and then the bus.
When we got back to the Wyndam, no one had remembered that we belonged at the place next door. So, we walked home by gong through the Wyndam and onto the beach. Aside from the pelicans, it may have been the highlight of the day.
You might be able to tell, this was not my favorite excursion of all time, not by a long shot. The postscript is that I picked up either food poisoning or norovirus (more likely) and spent the next day inside and the next two days taking life gingerly (pun intended).
Three DR excursions and two were unfortunately not so great. We’ve never had this experience in the Caribbean before.
