Hotter at home!

When we left Puerto Plata the noon temperature was 26. When we arrived in Toronto at 6pm it was 28.          But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

 The “ city tour” was about all I expected it to be. Our first stop was at a rum factory for a “tasting” at 9:30am. The brand wasn’t one I was familiar with : Ron Macorix. Mostly white rum mixed with various fruits or coconut, I took a pass once I sampled their premium brand- I would imagine if you drank the pee of a mule with diabetes…..!

From there we travelled through town to visit San Felipe Fort, more like a bastion than an actual fortress it sits at the mouth of the San Marco river thus protecting both the river access and the adjacent seafront.

I managed to smack my head twice on extremely low doorways - the folks that built it must have topped out at 5 ft.

A small museum featured cannon balls and various other artifacts and rusted objects, presumably found during exploration of the site.

 From the fort we went to the downtown area with visits to a jewelry store featuring amber followed by a tour of a cigar factory. While our group did that I scurried to a different cigar shop to complete a purchase my son had started the day before- 24 cigars in a fancy wooden box.  ( 180 US in total, compared to over $500 for a similar selection in Canada) All hand made, to a very high standard, right on the premises.

 I met up with the group as they were finishing up a shopping spree in the central square. Typical of most squares in Central America it was swarming with pigeons and featured a band stand and a couple of statues of local dignitaries.

From there a short drive brought us to our lunch shop, the name of which escapes me. But we ate a delicious lunch of fried chicken. 

From there it was off to another “tour” this time to a chocolate factory where the process of making chocolate was explained in Spanglish- She was trying her best, From there, of course, 15 minutes in the gift shop!

Our main event of the day was a cable car ride up Mount Isabel, a mountain overlooking the main city and rising about 2560 meters above sea level. While waiting for the next cable car to arrive we were “entertained” by 4 very loud musicians beating and scratching away on various objects ( including my eardrums) in a manner similar to a washboard and jug band in the US. A large “donation box” made it clear they weren’t doing it for free!

The car did eventually arrive and about 20 people piled in for the 10 minute ride to the top. The entire route was covered in very dense vegetation and towards the top we could see the entire town and the surrounding sea.

At the top there was a large botanical garden featuring a statue of Jesus with outspread arms, clearly a smaller version of  The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

For some reason our time was limited so we hurriedly snapped a few photos before heading back down to the bus for our trip back to the hotel. 

 The rest of our trip was spent mostly lazing by the beach.

I think, having seen all of the primary beach locations this will probably be our final visit to the DR. The one point in its favour as a tourist destination is the fact it is relatively cheap. But it is far dirtier and less eye appealing than places like Aruba, Antigua,  Barbados etc. But, considering it shares the island with the country of Haiti it makes one wonder where did one country go so wrong while the other did OK.

And with a couple of shots of a final sunrise, it is time to put this short addition of my travel blog to sleep while I plan my next adventure. Adios.