It's been almost 3 weeks since my last post about a travel destination. Life has a way of controlling us and keeping us occupied in our daily routines and obligations. But for this post I want to pickup where I left off.
I am fortunate to live and have lived in countries that have allowed me to earn money and use this to travel to places. Although I've only seen a very small part of the world, one of the places that has impacted me most is the Dominican Republic. For many reasons it is much like many other countries, but it also has things to offer that I've never experienced again since and I want to talk about those.
This is one of the few Sun & Beach holidays that I have done in my life. I like travelling around, seeing things. I get bored on a beach with a book just lying in the sun, the same was the case on this holiday. So it's not my preferred goal or reason to look for, when I plan a holiday. The Dominican Republic is one of those destinations that I did book as an S&B holiday, but whilst we were there we did several excursions and activities to keep ourselves occupied and made the time fly by. If we'd gone to the capital, it probably would have been more the kind of trip I enjoy as there would've been more historical sites and buildings to visit, however we went to Punta Cana.
- Category: Sun & Beach
- Recommended Length of Stay: 1 week minimum
- Currency: Dominican Peso
- Timezone: GMT -4
- Perfect for: Relaxing, Sun & Beach and surfing
- Target Group: Couples, Families, people who are less mobile, honeymooners and surfers
Punta Cana is on the eastern side of the island Hispaniola, that the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti, the 3rd poorest country in the world. To get to Punta Cana with a charter airline you're likely to fly to la Romana (if not Punta Cana) and then get transfered to your hotel. This is actually really nice as you pass one of the sites where they filmed a scene from the first Jurassic Park movie.
This waterfall they used when they filmed the first Jurassic Park movie
One of the things we did was to book a Monster Truck Safari, where you go on this huge truck and drive through the forrest and streams and see the landscape and sights ... and you get to see/meet the locals and see how they live, what they do for a living, see their customs and what occupies them.
We visited a school, saw their 'religion', attended a cockfight (I'm 100% against this) and we also learnt how they earn their living. A large part of the land is used for coffee and sugarcane plantations and the overwhelming part of the people working on them are Haitians coming to the Dominican Republic to earn more than they would in Haiti.
These people live in extreme poverty and when we saw them the kids came to us asking for money and anything we could give them. Unfortunately we only had some pencils on us, but they appeared so happy with these ... that was a real eye opener.
On another occasion we went on a Quad-bike tour and this time we brought provisions we'd taken from the breakfast buffet. In the hotel they'd just throw it away we figured, so why not give it to those who don't have anything to eat.
This 'holiday' was one of the biggest eye-openers I'd ever experienced. I know we have a priviledged life in Europe, but I never realised that the gap was so huge!
Why should you visit the Dominican Republic:
- For it's history and culture, there's so much to see and experience that is still 'undiscovered' and less main-stream
- The destination is less overrun with tourists, apart from Americans
- To see and realise how good our lives are in 'rich' countries (and maybe to help those who really need it)
- For a Sun & Beach holiday or surfing
Thanks and I hope I didn't put you off from visiting this place, it's really worth it. It has a fascinating nature, stunning waterfalls, historic places and honest people.
!steemitworldmap 18.595138 lat -68.379656 long Punta Cana, Dominican Republic D3SCR
Doron
EDIT: 'My apologies if I gave the impression that those are my own pictures, I took those from google. It's been a long time since I'd been to Dom Rep myself and I can't find my own pictures anymore.'
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Wow! I like the photos especially the first one. It must've been a thrilling trip!
Thanks bud! I'm really sorry if I gave the impression that they're my own pictures. I did post an edit below my name, yes normally the pictures are my own, however on this destination I couldn't find my own pictures anymore as it had been a long time ago since I'd been. My apologies! The text is mine, but the images are from google.
No problem, I really enjoyed your post.
I'm embarassed though, I usually do use my own stuff and I forgot to mention it here. I started this blog because I don't like it that people just copy paste stuff from the internet and then publish it here as their own work without knowing anything about the subject or having been to the destination they talk about and now I almost did the same.
Come to Portugal Wolfie! We have "Pasteis de Belem", Sun even in the winter and food.... LOTS and lots of delicious food.
No travelling fan is complete without visiting our little Iberian Paradise.
WEIRD! My very first post (done a few minutes ago) is about Portugal. It is indeed a great place to be.
It's a fantastic place. I'll go and have a look.
so beautiful pic and place, I love it
I did my first blog on Lisbon! We loved it, have a look and tell me what you think!
Oh really, wasn't aware of that, I'll go check it out and I'll see you in a sec :D
I saw your comment on my post, but I'll just do the one response over here. It's a good thing you reminded me, I have always planned to do a second post about it, but so far I never got to it. Watch this space, I still have some stuff to write about Lisbon. No I didn't try the beer, but we had a fantastic fish and also the Pasteis. I'll probably do the post over the weekend or next week. We loved Lisbon and I hope we will go back again.
Ok man, Ill stay tuned. Cheers!
Those 4 wheelers look like a whole lot of fun....How are the hospitals over there?
LOL, I'm glad I didn't have to try the hospitals, so I can't tell you but those quad bikes were a lot of fun. I've only done it once in my life and it was there in the Dom Rep.
Dominican Republic is charming and its beaches are beautiful. I've been in Punta Cana and Santo Domingo, I absolutely loved them.
Let me tell you one thing, if you love those beaches you have to come to Venezuela, in here there are a lot of places I bet you'd love, Los Roques, Mochima National Park, etc.
I'll be posting some photos of a trip I made to Cepe and Chuao soon, they're a really small comunity based in increible coasts, beaches with white sand and some forest too, if you want keep an eye on my posts, there are some traveling places I've visited.
Thank you for your feedback, as I mentioned, I'm not a S&B person. I enjoy a nice beach for a few monites and then I get bored, but I'd love to visit the country and see the sights. Unfortunately travelling that far with 2 small children is not something I plan to do in the near future. However when they're bigger I'll definitely want to try and visit the country. What is it like over there, surely can't be easy with the things I keep hearing in the news?
And there's more that the news don't tell! Well yes, with two small children isn't that good idea. It's still a beautiful country tho. Check out my posts, you'll some good places, different from beaches.
Sounds great. I'll have a look and I'm following you now
You should do travel post more because your photos are great and writing is cool :)
Thanks bud! I'm really sorry if I gave the impression that they're my own pictures. I just posted an edit, yes normally the pictures are my own, however on this destination I couldn't find my own pictures anymore as it had been a long time ago since I'd been. My apologies! The text is mine, but the images are from google.
Loved reading your blog!
I just started a blog today about our rv travels as an artist. Still trying to figure it all out!! Will follow you, love this!!
Sheila
Good luck with your blog! If I can help let me know.
Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Bumbling along. lol
LOL, we all are until you find out what interests others and gains a following.
good travel
awesome picture bro.. i upvoted and followed you ...plz you do the same..
I'm really sorry if I gave the impression that they're my own pictures. I just posted an edit, yes normally the pictures are my own, however on this destination I couldn't find my own pictures anymore as it had been a long time ago since I'd been. My apologies!
No problem bro ...be cool and I am always here for you guys...Thanks for supporting me... enjoy
Hi, good read! I was on holiday in Punta Cana too early 2015 (Playa Bavaro to be exact). Your post reawakened some of my experiences. I did that monster truck tour too but luckily without the cockfight (instead some horse riding that I also don't like to support). It also contributed to my gratitude to live such a privileged life compared to the global inequality. I enjoyed the positive vibes of the people and definitely would want to go back but somehow travel the country in a more alternative way since I felt a little too captured in the hotel complex. I want more adventure and cultural connection next time :)
Thank you for your feedback and I'm glad I awakened some nice memories. I must admit it's been over 13 years since I'd been so it had probably changed. I think we stayed at the Barcelo in Bavaro as well. I think it was called Sirenis Cocotal Beach Resort. I felt the same very closed and secluded.
That's great 👌
Thank you.
good image
I'm really sorry if I gave the impression that they're my own pictures. I just posted an edit, yes normally the pictures are my own, however on this destination I couldn't find my own pictures anymore as it had been a long time ago since I'd been. My apologies!
This is so beautiful. I always curious about this place and thinking it as if heaven , now i'm thinking it is still heaven but with its own characteristic :) Thank you
I'm really sorry if I gave the impression that they're my own pictures. I just posted an edit, yes normally the pictures are my own, however on this destination I couldn't find my own pictures anymore as it had been a long time ago since I'd been. My apologies! The text is my own, but the images on this occasion are not.
I like too historic places and honest people. Very great post :)
Thank you!
Great post, pleaso do more like this.
Thanks for your support. I have done several in the past and I'll try to do more in the future.
Yeah I saw cock fighting demo in Puerto Plata when I went to DR.
Great post @wolfje but those photos would have looked so much better if resized to 800 width. Great read though and a pleasure to upvote and resteem.
Thank you. I'm really sorry if I gave the impression that they're my own pictures. I just posted an edit, yes normally the pictures are my own, however on this destination I couldn't find my own pictures anymore as it had been a long time ago since I'd been. My apologies! I also don't know how to resize photos yet, I just started teaching HTML myself in an online school, so any advice is very welcome.
Great read!!! I'm just finally getting into travelling and seeing the world. The girlfriend and I just finished a month long trip around Thailand, Laos and Cambodia(article to come soon). Love reading about other peoples experiences and giving me new ideas on places to visit, things to do there, what not to do or avoid. Thanks :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks! I have posted more travel blogs and I will continue to do so.
The only well spend money are the ones spent on travelling :) I'm glad that you have this opportunity and share it with us through your genuine experience. By the way, did you know that time-travelling in the past is possible ? If you don't believe me, you should pay us a visit in Eastern Europe.
Cheers :)
Thank you for your nice comments, yes I was in Riga once, maybe I'll do a post about that city once as well, but I don't have many memories or pictures left. I've also visited Prague and write regularly about it. Budapest is on my 'to write' about list as well, other places are still on my 'to visit or bucket-list'.
Looking forward to see them. Good luck !
We enjoy your post so you need to post more frequently. The Dominican Republic is definitely a place for those seeking adventure although they have some nice beaches too.
Thanks, I will do more posts about travel destinations. I try to do at least one a week.
Love The watherfall i would Like To travel there One day with My wife Thanks @wolfie
Thanks! I hope I didn't give you the impression that they're my own pictures. Normally the pictures are my own, however on this destination I couldn't find my own pictures anymore as it had been a long time ago since I'd been. My apologies!
haha :)) visezi :))
te doare mintea :)) n-o sa ajunga sotia ta :))
esti vai si-amar de viata ta si tu iti faci planuri cand esti mort in sant :))
ai mintea dusa :))
I always love to see places which are not so crowded... there are bunch of places like this in my country!!
Where is that?
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Hey wolfje,
ich habe dir mal deine noch offene SBD-balance bei @smartsteem überwiesen weil wir gemerkt haben dass du die auto-votes nicht in Anspruch nimmst. Wahrscheinlich vergessen.
Was du einfach machen kannst ist SBD/STEEM zu @smartmarket schicken -
so wie bei den anderen Bots - und dann bekommst du einen instant Vote der 230% Wert hat als das was du geschickt hast. Natürlich mit einbezogen ist die SBD/STEEM ratio.
Momentan haben wir einen maximalen Upvote-Wert von 15$ das heißt das wären dann ungefähr 7-9 SBD. Musst du mal schauen - bekommst den ungenutzen Betrag wieder zurück.
Ich glaube ich tue etwas Falsch. Ich weiss nicht wo meine Balance hin gegangen ist nachdem ich die letzte Mal eine Deposit gemacht habe. Ich habe am Moment viele Bots aktiviert und das scheint auch zu funktionieren. Ich habe auch versucht meine 'Vote' an euch zu delegieren, aber ich weiss nicht ob dasgut gegangen ist.
Hey @wolfje, tut mir Leid für die verspätete Antwort. Nein, du hast nichts falsch gemacht. Deine Posts wurden insgesamt 15x upgevotet. Das erste mal am 28.11 und das letzte mal am 16.12.
Du hast bis jetzt 4x deinen Vote verkauft. Gestern sogar 2x. Das ist das vote delegieren.
Du kannst entweder direkt deine Posts upvoten lassen mit transfer an @smartmarket und URL in MEMO. Oder mit auto-upvote. Schau am besten mal bei https://smartsteem.com/profile und dann unter sold-votes und received-votes :)
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wow first photo is biggest HD
Thank you. I'm really sorry if I gave the impression that they're my own pictures. I just posted an edit, yes normally the pictures are my own, however on this destination I couldn't find my own pictures anymore as it had been a long time ago since I'd been. My apologies!