Biking and Waterfalls

Nice beach, but no shells.

Thursday was the day the Lush Ladies hit the rode.  Lynn, Robyn and I had heard about a great shelling beach on the other side of Gaspar Hernandez so that's where we decided to ride.  It was a beautiful day and a fun ride, but the shelling beach was a bust.  We found a couple of older conch shells that were mid sized and Lynn found a beautiful small conch, but nothing else.  Lynn also knew of a beach named Shell Beach just a bit further down the road.  We also checked out that beach, but no shells at all.  But it's o.k.  We still had a great lunch and fun visit....and the ride was great.  The road between Sabenetta and Gaspar often has trees forming an arch over the road to give lots of shade.  Past Gaspar, you sometimes ride next to the ocean plus you've got the mountains towering on the other side.

Lynn and Robyn getting ready to ride home

When we got back, Endre and Michaellyn were here!  They were the couple that own one of the condos here and they were actually here when we arrived back in November.  They were great about showing us around and making us feel welcome.  They both have owned motorcycles in the past and they went with us when we bought the motorcycle as Matt and I knew nothing about bikes.  It was great seeing them again, looking forward to their three week stay!

On Friday Matt and I did something we generally don't like to do:  we took an organized tour.  The tour goes to Santiago to visit the cigar factory, a ceramic factory and then up into the mountains near Jarabacoa.  Matt really wanted to see the cigar factory and I have been wanting to go to Jarabacoa.  Driving in Santaigo is crazy so we didn't want to rent a car.  We discussed hiring a driver to take us there, but the price for the tour was very reasonable ($42 each) and included lunch so we decided to go for it.  Deb and Richard, a Canadian couple staying in our condo complex, went with us.

Puffin and Rollin

Parts of the trip were incredible.  Matt really enjoyed the cigar factory.  The workers there make $3000 RD pesos every week which is good Domincian wages, that's about $150 a week and only work five days a week.  They also get three weeks vacation each year, a pension at age 65 and health insurance.  The cigars are all handmade, so there are a lot of people involved in each step of the process.  The rollers have the privilege of enjoying as many cigars as they like while they are rolling.  They've perfected the art of puffing on a stoogie without using their hands.

Matt and a cigar maker

Wood fired kiln

.  I had low expectations at the ceramic factory but it was really fun.  All the pots, vases and urns were hand thrown.  The potters were busy turning out pot after pot....all seemed to be exactly the same size.  For the simpler pots, each potter received the equivalent of $1 USD.  For the more complicated pots, they could receive up to $3.  Every pot was fired in huge wood fired kiln.  We bought a vase for $500 pesos....$12 USD.  Not bad for a hand thrown pot.

This is the type of pot we bought for $12

Talented guys!

Our Hike to the Waterfall

Then we went up to Jarabacoa to Rancho Baignate for lunch.  Surprisingly, this lunch was really good.  Jarabacoa is a big producer of most of the fresh fruits and vegetables found in the DR, so there were some nice veggie and fruit options as well as chicken, beef roast, pasta and rice.  We loved the trip up into the mountains, we hadn't been to this area yet and it was very different than the other mountains that are nearer our condo.  The mountain side was filled with some type of fir tree and it was beautiful.  From the ranch, we had the option to ride horses or take a jeep up to the trail head to hike to the waterfall.  I decided to take the jeep.  I wore white shorts and was already getting tired from our big day, so thought that was the best option.  Jeep ride was fun and then the walk to the waterfall was gorgeous.  The waterfall was in one of the final scenes of Jurassic Park and it is amazing.

We made it!

So there were some down falls to taking an organized tour.  We were picked up at 6:45 a.m.  By the time we stopped at three other spots to pick up the others, it was nearly 8:30 before we started on our way to Santiago.  The tour guide told us from the beginning not to buy cigars at the cigar factory.  He would take us to a place he knows where you can buy the same cigars for less.  Well, the place he knew was a junkie souviner shop that seemed way too high.  The cigars were not the same that were made at the cigar factory and they were actually higher than some that Matt could have purchased at the factory.  Plus we were tired and ready to go home.  And in a tour like this, there is always at least one or two people that drive you freaking crazy.  In this case it was the German guy that continually pushed and shoved his way to the front where ever we stopped.  But all and all a good trip.

Today --- we are spending the day on the beach recovering from two very busy days!