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This is a collection of selected photos from my trip to Puerto Plata, in the DR. Click for a larger version. Apologies for the crappy page design but I wanted to get something out quickly. More on page 2!
Apartment in Torre Alta
This is the view from the apartment's balcony the day we arrived. The ocean is visible off in the distance. The apartment was in Urbanización Torre Alta, an upper-class neighborhood of Puerto Plata with a suburban feel. Not exactly idyllic - the air was constantly filled with the buzz of motorcycles, barking dogs, and half-finished construction projects.
Palm tree next to the apartment.
Mount Isabela de Torres, as seen from the back of our apartment. This was the view I had out the bedroom window every morning, though the peak is usually enshrouded in clouds. I had a small obsession with the mountain during the trip - it was an impressive view I couldn't get enough of.
Kate sitting in the shade of our balcony patio - note the mountain in the background. The dome shape rising over the roof is the water tank, seen on houses all over the city. The municipal water system is notoriously unreliable, so storage of water is important.
Kate, Ruben, Lucito, and Juli hanging out on the balcony. We hosted a lot of impromptu parties there during the vacation. With bottles of Brugal rum costing 120 pesos ($3) and 22-oz Presidentes costing 60 pesos ($1.50) at the corner store, it was an inexpensive nightlife option when we weren't going to the disco.
Around Town
The Malecón follows the beach on the north side of the town - it's lined with restaurants, food vendors, and open-air thatch-roofed bars. It's impossible to spend more than a few minutes at a time without being offered a shoeshine, a pirated merengue CD, a cheap watch, or some sort of food item a middle-aged woman is carrying balanced in a huge bowl on her head.
The parque central - a good starting point for exploring the city, and also a place to unwittingly pick up one of the tenacious freelance guides who will show you around their city for a price to be determined later. A ten-year-old entrepreneur named Sol latched on to me here my first time in the city, and I couldn't shake him off. Eventually I was able to bribe him with a bag of candy, and he went away.
Playa Dorada - the glitzy, walled-in complex of luxury resorts and hotels that for many visitors is the only thing they see of the Dominican Republic. Pity - they're missing the good stuff.
Mount Isabela de Torres
On Wednesday we hopped a motoconcho to the entrance of the famous Mount Isabela cable car, at the base of the mountain. We arrived only to find out that the cable car was closed every Wednesday for maintenance. A local guide named Eduardo explained that we had two other options for exploring the mountain that day - on the back of a motorcycle or on foot. We opted for the walking tour.
Eduardo climbing on an ancient mohogany tree.
We only hiked a short distance up the mountain - perhaps a few hundred feet - but the view was pretty impressive.
The trip back down took us through some of the barrios that hide amongst the trees of the mountain. House-building in this country takes years to finish, with owners building whenever they have money to progress. Barrios such as this are filled with 10'x10' houses in various states of completion.
We stopped in this grocery store - tucked in the corner of a house - for a Presidente and some water. The owner built this house while renting an apartment in the city, saving every peso she could. Now she lives out here rent-free.
Sup.
Eduardo then brought us to his family's village, near the newly-constructed primary school. This is his brother's house. Eduardo's nephew and neice were feeling shy of the visitors, but the rest of the family were wonderfully hospitable - offering us fresh eggs from their backyard chickens.
We then met "Grandma," though at 108 she's more likely to be a great-great-great-great-grandma.
More on page 2!
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