Thursday, Sarah, Ginny and I, left for Barahona-- Google Maps says it takes 4 hrs, but we they were building a new road-- with lots of road construction-- so it took us about 5ish hours. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, despite it taking longer for us to get there. In the past Ginny has gone to Santo Domingo, b/c this road was not there.
The terrain goes from mountainous to tropical to desert, and further west we saw tall cacti.
And then greeted by calves, when we got to our hotel... along the road....
Until we reached our destination... La Saladilla.... around 4ish in the afternoon.
The hotel is a few miles outside of the town-- Barahona is a fairly good sized town. We drove around it some over the few days we were there.
Friday morning we left around 9 for the Bay of Aguilas (Eagles)-- a two hour drive farther south and west...
Along the way we made a few stops-- the picture postcard view....
And another stop for the cow drive... (we saw lots of random goats and a few pigs along the roadside as well)
This is more of the desert terrain that we saw, including the start of the red dust soil-- which I learned aluminum foil is made from.
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We also drove to the Haiti border-- in previous years, they have had a Haitian market, but since the border is now closed, they have it on the other side.
We took a boat to one area of the bay, and swam there for about 30-45 minutes.
I don't have a picture of it, but I was able to swim to a cave area among the rocks as well. Then we rode the boat a little farther to another beach area.
It was a bit strange to have the desert background mixed with the ocean, but it was still a beautiful area, and gorgeous day! After having a late lunch (I of course had fish-- I have yet to get tired of seafood!), we drove to a stretch of road where we hunted for conch shells-- the fisherman throw them along the side of the road.
Friday morning, I got up to watch the sunrise on the beach....
Before we headed off on our next destination....
The lake is the only saltwater lake in the DR.
We were greeted by rhinoceros iguana's-- they were as big as a cat!
The iguana's were very docile-- didn't seem to be bothered by people, and just hung around the area.
We took a boat tour around the lake with our tour guide Manuel.
It is a mystery as to why the area keeps flooding --- the water is 60 feet deep below. Roads, and even a town have been moved, because the water keeps expanding so much, in a short amount of time. There was a forest below this water, and now it is almost completely covered.
Another highlight was seeing the crocodiles, which are only found at this lake in the DR.
We were only about 10 feet away from this crocodile (the only one we saw on land). He stayed like this for several minutes with it's mouth open (maybe 10?), and then in only a few seconds he went into the water. This one is about 6 feet long.
Another picture of the iguana's, as we left...
Sunday morning it was pouring rain-- we were fortunate to not have the rain the previous days-- it would have made driving a bit tricky with the road we were on. We took the road back to Santo Domingo, which is all paved. The scenery was so pretty-- I saw sugar cane fields, and a lot of other interesting agriculture along the way.
Picture from the car...
We stopped at Ikea in Santo Domingo, which was about 2 hours away -- I had never been into one before, so it was fun to be able to do some shopping.
I've been watching everyone back in the states getting the snowy, icy weather, and it does seem strange to be watching it from afar. I do feel bad for everyone having to deal with the severe winter weather, though I can't say that I miss it!
Three weeks until Christmas Break! I'm not going home for Christmas, because I'm going to be going home instead, in April for my brother's wedding.
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