DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Dominican Republic, the name that resonates with crystal-clear waters, white sand and coconut water served at the foot of a swinging hammock.  A perfect destination for a honeymoon, a work getaway, or feeling just like an influencer for a few days. But, does it deserve such fame? What if, on the other hand, it was the idyllic destination for flying over turtles, getting stranded on an island or thinking you've been kidnapped?

Keep reading to create your experience through mine, and, most importantly, to find the answer to all those questions you might ask yourself when deciding to travel to a place like this: What is the best time to travel to the Dominican Republic? What to see in the Dominican Republic? What are the best places to enjoy a sunset, the best views, the most endearing places?

Let's begin this journey… imagine for a moment that you've just landed in Punta Cana. You're surrounded by by floods of tourists draped in Hawaiian shirts, taxi drivers bellowing their lungs out to make their offers heard amidst the hustle and bustle. Hundreds of luxury hotels all around you and the floor covered with suitcases which either have been left behind or are too heavy to pass the check in desk control. It seemed to me that, for a moment, it was Sunday and I was in the Rastro, just a few kilometres from home back in Madrid. But that wasn’t the case.

Then you have to make a decision: How do I get to my hotel? For me personally, Uber seemed like the best idea given my situation: a girl on her own, without internet in Punta Cana at night. I went in search of the number plate that appeared on the app; but was it going to be as simple as ordering an Uber from Madrid? Was the only difference going to be that the car's number plate had only one letter and the rest was all numbers?

My driver arrived.  After having driven only 500 metres down the road, he began insisting that I had to pay him cash - even though the trip had already been paid by card through the app. After cancelling the payment and running out of the few banknotes I was planning to survive on, I received a call from an unknown number.

“Hola Julia, soy el conductor del Uber, ¿dónde estás?”( “Hi Julia, I´m your Uber driver , where are you?”) In an instant, my face turned the soft brown tanned in my skin to a snow-white colour. I've been kidnapped, I thought.

"Stop the taxi right now," was the first thing I dared to say, for somehow, I had to prevent them from successfully carrying out my kidnapping. My next move was to hand him my phone and ask him to speak to my so-called Uber driver.

When the call was over, I took a breath of air and let out a sigh of relief. It was the fact that we cancelled the Uber in the middle of the ride that they sent me to another driver to the airport... Kidnapping narrowly avoided.

Now that our first drama is over let’s go back to your imagination... You're in Punta Cana and you need to get around. Unless you're driven by fear and the influence of telenovelas, I would recommend Uber.

Playa Bávaro was my final destination. A small and cosy hostel would be the accommodation where I would spend the rest of my three days in Punta Cana.

The next day, I met my roommates who to my surprise were all in their 50s. A recently divorced woman in the process of an emotional awakening, experiencing all that her marriage deprived her of; a frustrated writer trying to find inspiration far from home and a turtle lover. These were the three people who that day, motivated me to go out from the hostel with a beer in hand and walk along the coast of Punta Cana alongside one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever witnessed.

Nevertheless, my peace of mind was routinely interrupted each time I was approached by a hawker offering me excursions. Although, one of them caught my attention: Saona Island. A paradise surrounded by white sand beaches and palm trees in the middle of the blue Caribbean Sea. An open bar with a buffet and a "high chance of seeing starfish".

Say no more. I signed right up.

Tour to Saona Island

The tour starts at 6 or 6:30 from your respective hotel where you are picked up. My hostel wasn't on the list to begin with, I also went without an agency and lastly, I had no Dominican sim card to make calls. So it didn’t seem like a very promising start to the day.  I came out of the hostel, trying to find the pickup location the guide had described to me the day before. After half an hour of searching and not finding the bus, I gave up, went back to the hostel and wrote to the man who made my booking using the hostel wifi.

"We are going to turn around and pick you up". Those were the words that appeared on my phone screen within seconds of my message and that would guarantee my place in the tropical paradise.

The bus, as it had promised, finally arrived. Once I was seated, I got ready to relax and enjoy my place on the boat, with the presence of a gentle sea breeze in my face, an open bar and some bachata lessons at the end to test my dancing skills.

Once you start the tour you are offered two transport options. Either go by boat, for the first journey and return by speedboat or vice versa. My personal opinion is that if you don't want to arrive on the island with a hangover, I recommend a tour that takes you to the island by speedboat since you won’t only skip having a pounding headache, but you will have more time to enjoy the island.

Once the boat was moored, the girl I sat next to on the bus, with whom I had previously shared two sentences, and I, decided to separate from the group and explore the island as a duo. 

We walked along a winding promenade where the height of the palm trees hindered the sunlight’s attempt to break through.  To our surprise, we came across a hut made of palm leaves, surrounded by some of the belongings that, day by day, had been left behind by the visiting tourists.

It must have been our voices that prompted the owner to come out and greet us. We struck up a conversation about their livelihood on the island. "We manage without running water or electricity. What nature provides us with, is enough".

In a stroke of 'luck', I stumbled, and cut my foot open but there wasn't time to stop, plus the alcohol had already inhibited my pain threshold.

The meeting point for the departure was kilometres away. That didn’t worry us.  We were enjoying the crystal-clear waters and the almost instant golden tan that the sun greeted us with every day.

Anxiety swept away the relaxation from our bodies at 3 pm, the agreed time for departure from the island, when I saw some boats sailing away in the sea, could it be ours?

We agreed to head towards the meeting point, but as we walked, we saw groups leaving on the boats, heading towards the famous natural pool.

When we arrived at the camp, there wasn't a single familiar face to be seen. Just our two black bags we previously set aside in a corner, between the six picnic tables.

Turning around towards the sea, we saw a very familiar shape to the boat we previously arrived at the island with.

We frantically started shouting, raising our hands in the air, desperately signaling them to come back, until they eventually turned back around for us.

We were greeted by a handful of embittered faces and a great round of applause. At least we succeeded in not being stranded on a desert island for the night.

Now that I think about it, it might have been worth spending a night on the island because it took a second after I set my foot on the boat that I slid backwards and fell on my back. Apart from the tremendous pain, I also had to contend with the spiteful stares of several crew members for the next 30-minute-long journey.

However, it had all been worthwhile as the boat finally approached the largest natural pool in the world, I SAW A STARFISH :)

That interesting boat trip brought me the opportunity to engage in multiple conversations with people from remote places. Including a Brazilian guy with whom I ended up ...

PARASAILING

The morning of the day I would overcome my fear of heights was characterised by a somewhat unusual, but very necessary, activity. Eating alone at a restaurant!

An impulsive decision inspired by a Why not? attitude was the motivation that led me to engage in this risky sport. At that point, nothing was going to stop me so I decided to ask the guy I met the day before to join me.  To my surprise he said yes and a few hours later we were relying on a harness, a parachute and the slight fastening of a rope, to keep us above the water for a short but intense 15 minutes. We were towed by a boat until the force of the wind was strong enough to lift us high into the sky, 30 metres above the water.

"What is that shadow below us?" we kept asking ourselves every time something floated to the surface.

Suddenly, panic struck us both when we started falling towards the water, and those shadows that just a second ago were under us, now appeared by our side.

They were just turtles. Despite being a harmless animal, the fact of slow motion free falling raised our heartbeat when we suddenly realised the boat captain didn’t even notice we were now one with the waves.

Although I do recommend this activity to everyone enjoying a few days in DR. I was very much happy to be back on the ground.

Santo Domingo

Uber was once again my choice of transport, this time to the bus station where I would travel to Santo Domingo.

"In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song" was the symphony that was blasting through my uber driver’s speakers. The streets were crowded. People on their way to spend a day at the beach, motorbikes dodging traffic, squishing neatly between cars and buses which had no choice but to wait for the green light.

While my driver was vigorously shouting at one of the pedestrians for recklessly crossing the road, he looked away from what really mattered, the bus in front of us. We crashed.

Fortunately, both drivers acted pretty maturely, as if this was a standard part of any journey, and solved the issue so that 5 hours later, I would make it to Santo Domingo.

Inappropriate catcalling, lascivious stares and comments about my looks were the main part of my short stay at the capital. From all the places I have visited in Latin America, Santo Domingo was with no doubt the place where men felt the greatest need to prove their masculinity and superiority.

The Dominican Republic was the tropical paradise that took what was left of my comfort zone bubble, burst it and taught me to give myself a chance to engage in conversation with new people. Four intense days filled with emotions that once again proved that the generosity and friendliness of strangers will never cease to amaze me.