Calling it a jeep safari is a bit of an exaggeration. There’s no off-roading speeding through the mountain-side jungle. Just a big open-boxed truck without seat belts to haul up to 20 people at once. Still I was not disappointed. Elvis was our guide. Found out later he went to college for languages, in exchange for this public education he worked for the government (tourism) for 6 months. He’s been working the Jeep Safari for 18 years. He carried fun with him, was very good with the children and very good english. We drove up over our mountain to meet highway 5 on the other side. Their main highway running north and south. There was a landslide at one point causing traffic to narrow to a single lane. Intersting part about the landslide is that the mud and dirt on the highway had been their long enought to sstart having well-establish plants grown on it. We drove down to “InBay” a small city along the way where we departed from the highway. The city was busy with cycles and people walking. Kids too as it was not a school day. School in InBay (and possibly all of the DR) is only half a day. Partially to allow twice as many kids into the smaller schools. Some grades run as many as four shifts. We stopped at a local artisan shop, where we saw a cock-fight. There are sharp spikes growing higher up off the rooster’s foot that they use to strike eachother. This is Bryce holding onto one of the roosters and releasing him on the count of 3.
Our roosters wore “boxing gloves” to cover these weapons and protect them (and us) from the real violence. cock-figthing is big sport in the Dominican Republic. Felt socially embedded Like bull-fligting in spain. Elvis said betting can be as big as $80,000 american on a match. And the most expensive rooster is worth $100,000 american. The bloodlines of champtions are sought after. The artisans worked there with limestone, petrified wood, and volcanic rock (imported from Haiti). Our next stop was Mama Dora’s coffee and cocoa shop. Elvis cut open a fresh Cocoa shell for us and we tasted it. Sweet with a hint of chocolate. Mama Dora made us natural coffe and natural cocoa. We all loved it. On the way out, our vehicle was stopped on the narrow road by a man whos son had spilled his produce off the donkey he was walking with. It was scattered all across the road. We jumped off the truck and quickly helped the man reload his fruit. The donkey was very calm and let us scurry about him without a worry. Elvis said the fruit was a bitter orange that they used to make vinegar. Further down the road we ran into another donkey walking on his own carrying a similar load. Elvis said he would stop exactly at the door of the owner. Smart beasts. Next stop was lunch before we headed to the waterfall. After a nice lunch of chicken, pork, rice, beans, plantains and papaya we were off. The highlight of the ‘safari’ was definitely the waterfalls at the national park. We found out later that these waterfalls were used in the filming of Jurassic Park. We left all our belongings at the truck guarded by Elvis. Manuel carried a camcorder and made a DVD of our adventure which we later purchased. I can post some of those shots later. Our guides Nelson and Frantini were brothers. They were essential in us sliding or jumping 7 of the 28 watefalls at the park. For many of the falls, the way we went up was the same way we went down. Just with them guiding where we stepped and hauling us up to the next level. Our brothers were exhausted when we reached the seventh level. The way down took much less time. The water had formed natural water slides and all we needed to do was cross our arms and legs and enjoy the ride. We wore protective helmets and floating vests for extra protection. Maeve was not old enough to go down the water slides, but was able to swim in the first pool below the falls. She made a new friend, Olivia, from Canada and was watched by Olivia’s grandma and mother. They were easy-going Canadians riding in the same jeep as us. The day was a complete success and a blast for all. I’m sure the DVD is something we’ll enjoy watching over and over again, especially in the dead of winter.
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