Weekend exploring the Dominican Republic..

We are two weeks into exploring life in the Dominican Republic and so far we are really enjoying it, it feels like it has a lot more of a cultural aspect to it than the Bahamas in a way, which, although with its amazing beaches and islands was spectacular, so much of its world revolves around tourism only it feels different here - Tourism is just one of the things it has going for it - they have a thriving medical appliances industry, they grow a huge assortment of fruits and vegetables, including some great coffee and chocolate, and they have active mining and raw materials industries .

So it was with a lot of excitement that we decided to get off the boat for a long weekend and rent a car and an AirBnB. We headed for the mountain town of Jarabacoa, on the edge of an old caldera of a volcano. The drive there was around 2.5 hrs up some really high mountain passes, and getting used to the crazy driving conditions and infinite number of mopeds and motorbikes (no helmets) loaded with people or goods took some serious concentration.

Watching the world go by in a car gives you a totally different perspective to seeing life from a boat, you get to experience local life and se how people are actually living as you peek into their homes and businesses.

We had a great home for the weekend with its own infinity pool, some seriously large spiders and space for us to unwind. On the Saturday, we headed for Spirit Mountain coffee plantation. Created by 2 expats many years ago, they had created an eco plantation set amongst the rainforest, with other fruit trees around the coffee bushes. We got to wander the farm and experience the coffee bean harvesting/ drying/ roasting process first hand, and then purchased a coffee filter and some freshly ground beans straight from the source. The added benefit of this place was also that the owners were extremely keen mountain bikers and had created a downhill course through the plantation which Annabelle and Oscar took full advantage off for a few hours of fun (yes we have full mountain bikes and kit on board also!). We had a great local lunch on the way back to the rental home and a BBQ feast that evening.

We ended the weekend back at the boat having really felt that we got under the skin of the Dominican Republic people a whole lot better and we loved the experience!