Tuesday our cruise stopped in Puerta Plata in the Dominican Republic. We had a shore excursion with Outback Tours. It was amazing!
We boarded a large 15 passenger over the road vehicle and headed to an elementary school.
We stopped at a school Puerta Plata had built about 2 years ago. Kids at this school attend M-F from 8:00-3:00 but in the other neighborhoods, kids attend either morning or afternoon only. At this particular school it is free but they must wear uniforms. When we arrived the kids were at recess. We stopped into a five year old class and met the students, teacher and assistant teacher. They are taught all subjects in Spanish. Here are a few pictures of the cuties.
Our next stop was to a typical Dominican home. But on the way there we passed a guy coming out of his home carrying a machete. Our guide said that was normal and not to be alarmed because the main business here was agriculture. He needed the machete for that purpose. Uh ok.
We stopped at the home of an elderly couple. Poppo and his wife have 4 grown children and now live here alone. The tour company comes by their place several times a day Monday-Friday and in exchange Poppo earns a stipend from the company. This is his only source of income. He has also benefited because the company helped install running water and a bathroom for both men and women. If the company did not do this, Poppo would not have running water and his bathroom would be an outhouse. He would have to gather his water from a nearby stream. He and his neighbors raise all kinds of things: licorice plants, bananas, several types of oranges, pineapples, mango, cinnamon, cilantro, coffee, cacao, bread fruits, beans, and probably some others that I forgot.
We were given the opportunity to try the pineapple and mango and a cup of coffee and/or chocolate. The fruit was so sweet and delicious. Since neither of us drinks coffee we both went for the chocolate. It was infused with cinnamon and was very delicious. Here are pictures of some of the plant life and coffee/chocolate beans.They also sold packages of coffee beans and sticks of chocolate.
Then we were able to check out their home. The doors and windows are open to let in the air. There is no air conditioning. The kitchen is detached because the home is made from Royal Palm wood which of course is flammable. The buildings have metal roofs to help prevent fire, instead of a roof made with Royal Palm leaves. There was a hut near by that had leaves for the roof. Here are pictures of their home.
As we waited for everyone in the tour to finish visiting the home and use the restroom, our driver served drinks. Regulars sodas, water or anything with rum. I had a rum and pepsi but here is LW. He was not as adventurous with his drink choice. This is a regular pepsi.
This was a neighbor girl sitting and watching everything we were doing.
Here is a picture I took while inside the vehicle at the conditions of the roads. Unpaved, rocky, sometimes crossing streams, wide enough for one vehicle. Our guide told us that most people have motorbikes because you don't need a license to drive that or any kind of registration and they can get around much easier. He said that we would see taxi motorbikes and motorbikes with multiple people on them. This reminded me of Bali. Motorbikes were all over the place with 3-4 people on them.
Our next stop was the tour headquarters for lunch. We were treated to a Dominican festival dance and some delicious food. We had bread, spaghetti, fried chicken, pasta salad, fruit and choice of drink, which of course included anything with rum if so desired. They also had a few animals to see and some local craftsmen on site. I bought a ring made with a beautiful Larimar stone that the man created for me while I waited.
Our last stop was a secluded beach to try our hand at boogie boarding. We didn't have a lot of time here but had fun trying to catch a wave.
This trip was awesome and an eye opener into the lives of the typical Dominican.
