#535 Playa Rincon

I mentioned before that we only left Cayo Levantado a couple of times. One excursion was to Los Haitises. The other was to Playa Rincon.

In a travel book, I'd read that Playa Rincon was one of the most beautiful beaches in the Dominican Republic. I also read that to get there, you really had to want to get there, because it's quite remote. I really wanted to go, so we booked the excursion.

It started out with a quick bus ride to the town of fishing village of Las Galeras. I have to say, it really struck my fancy. I think I would like to go there again and explore it. (A few days later, MT would go there on his way to a SCUBA trip. He liked it a lot.)

Once again, we were the only English-speaking people on the trip, so I did my best to translate. There were a lot more people on this trip, so the guide didn't take extra time to talk slowly and patiently to me. Fortunately, since it was a beach day, not a lot of translation had to happen. The most important information was how we'd get to the beach. There were three options: a 30-minute boat ride, an hour ride in a camioneta - safari jeep - or a 90 minute horseback ride. T decided we should ride in the safari jeep.

In Las Galeras we stopped at a bar/restaurant on the corner of the main street. We were served fruit juice that you could spice with a little Vitamin R (rum). I declined. It was a little early in the day for rum, even on vacation. While we were there, I asked one of the guys to take our picture. This is one of my favorites from the whole trip:

We loaded up in the camioneta and headed for the beach. Not Playa Rincon just yet, but to Las Galeras beach so the people who were riding the horses could get saddled up. The beach at Las Galeras was stunning.

What did I tell you?!

In the camioneta, there were the three of us, two Dominican girls, and two women and one girl from a Spanish-speaking country. Let's say Argentina. The girl was probably eight or nine years old and she was quite chubby. And mostly naked. She wasn't wearing a shirt, only shorts and flip flops. It wasn't a pretty sight. T couldn't even look in her direction. He was quite disturbed.

So we set off through the Dominican countryside. The road was pretty dreadful. We couldn't make very good time. I don't think the truck got our of second gear. We passed through tiny villages, passed fields, passed houses, passed little kids playing in yards surrounded by beautiful flowers. The houses were fairly primitive. I can't imagine anyone I know living like that. I wondered what their lives are like. I wondered what they'd think of our houses and the stuff we take for granted. It's a really different lifestyle. The countryside is gorgeous. Very green and lush. Take a look:

That last picture is a pirate scarecrow. I loved it! It's a little blurry because we were bouncing along the road. It was mostly gravel with a little pavement, lots of potholes. Bone-jarring.

After about half an hour, we stopped outside a little village at a shop to stretch our legs and buy a souvenir. There was all kinds of fruit and necklaces and MamaJuana, of course. What is MamaJuana? It is a collection of sticks and stuff. You pour rum on it and let all the flavor mix together. It's supposed to be medicinal and an aphrodisiac, I guess. Last time we were there, MT bought the twigs, but we never made the concoction. I ended up throwing the sticks away.

Here's a pic of part of the store:

Here's a pic of the road in a good spot:

From the store, we were only about five kilometers from Playa Rincon, but it took us a long time to get there. The road was very rough and rocky and in some places, covered with water. I would have taken a picture, but I was too busy holding on so I didn't slip off the seat. If you suffer from a bad back, I would NOT recommend taking the camioneta to Playa Rincon! Bone-jarring is really the only way to describe the ride. The ladies we were riding with had some sprite with rum, but it ended up sloshing all over the place. There was no drinking on the ride. Your drink wouldn't stay in the cup and your bum wouldn't stay on the seat unless you were holding on! But the scenery was pretty spectacular.

Finally, we got to the beach area. It was breathtaking.

I tried to take more pictures, but my camera had a message for me: LOW BATTERY. ARGH! MT was plenty cranky at me, I can tell you. I was so sad. Here I was at a truly special place, a place I probably won't get to see again, and I wouldn't be able to take pictures of our time there. As you'll see, I did take more pictures, but certainly not as many as I would have if my camera wasn't telling me that I was irresponsible with the battery charger.

We settled on the beach and immediately got into the clear blue water. The beach is sheltered and the waves were very gentle. The best part of it all - no fish!! Sure, there were probably some fish somewhere, but they weren't patrolling the shore so I was able to get in the water free of fish-fear. It was heavenly! T seemed to have some reservations about it all at first, but then he got in and had fun. The water was shallow for a long way; T and MT went pretty far out while I stayed close to the shore. (Surely there would be fish further out and I didn't want to risk it!)

We played in the water for awhile, and then it was time for lunch. We walked up to an open air restaurant and enjoyed a buffet lunch, Dominican style. There was pan de coco (bread made from coconut), rice with beans, a delicious crunchy lettuce or cabbage-type salad with salsa fresca for dressing, chicken, fish and lobster. Fresh, grilled lobster. The adults got a whole lobster, split in two. T got half a lobster. He seemed a little perturbed by it. All it's legs were there and it's spiny shell. MT showed us both how to dig the white meat out of the tail. If I'd had more battery life, you'd see pictures. I'll just tell you that it was incredibly delicious. T gobbled his lobster up once he got the hang of getting it out of the shell. I'm surprised he didn't get more. What a fantastic lunch. We're sitting in a simple open-air building, looking at a beautiful beach, sipping a nice cold beer and eating grilled lobster. Best Thursday ever!

After lunch we got back in the water. MT did a little snorkeling. He found the fish. They were over by a rock wall. He said it was really great snorkeling there. Of course it was. Everything was great there!

T decided that if there was room, he'd like to ride back in the boat. I was so thankful. Fortunately, there was room. Most of the people who had been in the boat on the way over wanted to ride in the camioneta on the way back. (I don't know why.) Since the boat ride took the shortest amount of time, we were able to stay a little longer than everyone else, and MT and I took the opportunity to walk along the beach.

MT is a true beachcomber. As we walked, he was picking up little shells and interesting pieces of coral. We left everything there. I did keep one little piece of coral. It's white and shaped like the number four. It's on my desk at work to remind me of that wonderful day.

The boat ride back was terrific! It's way less than 30 minutes from Las Galeras, but we stopped for snorkeling. T and I didn't swim or snorkel; we just hung out. MT snorkeled though and he had a blast. There was a local boy who was part of the crew and he was an excellent swimmer and snorkeler. MT said that he and the boy were the last two people out in the water. The boy found something sharp and broke open an anemone which set off a feeding frenzy for all the fish. MT said it was really cool to see so many colorful fish in one spot. He gave the boy a nice tip. We figured he probably lives in one of the little houses around Las Galeras and the tip was a lot of money for him maybe. It made MT feel happy to give the tip because he felt so happy to see all the fish.

We got back to Las Galeras, got back in the bus and headed to Cayo Levantado. It was a fantastic day!