Jarabacoa is a small little town up in the mountains, and we all decided to set our expectations pretty low as we didn't want to be disappointed. We get to the town about 3 hours after we left Santo Domingo, and it's a small little town which is fine by us. Well, we turn off on to a dirt road and all of us start to get a little nervous. There are some mansions on this road, but there are also some tiny little houses - so naturally we assume that we're going to be staying in a small little place. About 5 minutes down the dirt road, we turn into a property that's gated...ehh, maybe we missed it and are just turning around? To our surprise, a guy opens up the gate and reveals to us the mansion we'll be living in for the weekend. This place is absolutely gorgeous - something out of a magazine for sure. The entire house is made of wood, the whole second floor opens up to make a large balcony, and the whole place sits on the side of a mountain. Just look at this place, and the view we have!
As much as we wanted to just hang out at the house, Miguel (the guy who took us to the house - it's his dad's) told us that we should go check out the rivers and what not. Of course we say yes, and we're off to los rios (the rivers). A 10 minute drive and we pull into another parque nacional, and the big sign tells us that we're heading to Salto Biguate. We're in the heart of the mountains - literally walking on a ledge on the side of the mountains - heading toward a 25 meter waterfall. The place is just absolutely breathtaking, to say the least. Although the pool of water at the base isn't quite deep enough for us to dive in to, we wade in and spend la hora proxima (the next hour) swimming and just enjoying it all. I mean, how often do you get to play in a waterfall/river in the middle of the mountains?? It was just unreal!
We headed back to the house for dinner, and after dinner headed into town para bailar toda la noche (to dance all night)!! It was a little intimidating at first because everyone here is so good at dancing, but they are very good at teaching you how do dance. So, by the end of the night none of us could stop dancing el merengue, la machata, y salsa (the merengue, the machete, and salsa)! Even though we were absolutely exhausted the next day, it was well worth it. We even ended up going hiking again and wound up in another river, jumping off the small cliffs and really enjoying the little bit of time we had left in this sanctuary.
On the way home, we stopped in some town (no, I don't know el nobre) to check out a really beautiful catedral (cathedral). We haven't had time to actually go to church (I'm sorry Father Sean!!), but we have seen not only this beautiful church, but we also got to see La Primera Catedral de las Americas (The First Cathedral of the Americas). Although the outside of these churches isn't exactly flattering, the amazing architecture on the inside is just overwhelming. El primero fotó es de la Primera Catedral, y el segundo es de la otra iglesia (The first picture is the First Cathedral, and the second is the other church).
Anyway, that's all I have from the weekend! Hope yours was amazing! Con amor!
So let me get this straight. You didn't have to time to "actually go to church," but you had plenty of time para bailar toda la noche! Hmmm. Something doesn't seem quite right about that. Work on it, chica!
ReplyDeleteAll I'm saying is, if my dad can get a "free pass" to wait for the Comcast guy, then I think I deserve a free pass since I'm basically saving the world! Haha jk, but really - we take a few minutes to say a prayer every time we go to a new church. It's hard though, when your time isn't really your time! Anyway, travel safely and have fun in Greece/Istanbul!
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