The Wheels on the Bus...

The wheels go round and we go up and down. This morning we took a safari truck tour called the Dominican Experience. The very bumpy four hour tour took us out to the countryside and to farming areas. Our guide, Milton Smith, aka Juan, was quite a character. He talked almost nonstop the entire time. It was interesting, but much to much time to shop for local items and organic products.

We drove through several small towns and saw houses, churches, fruit stands and small businesses. Meat is important here and whole and butchered animals hung outside shops. A few pigs, chickens and sides of beef were there to be sold. Milton explained if the head is attached and the meat is fresh than no insects will bother it. I am not so sure about that and prefer food that has been refrigerated.

Living fences as we have seen in Panama. Tree trunks are planted and eventually grown into a beautiful fence along the roads.

You got on and off the bus by a slanted ladder on the back. Not treacherous, but had to be careful. First stop was an elementary school. One room and one teacher for young children. The older kids come in the afternoon and adults in the evening. School is not mandatory here which is a shame. The kids are adorable in their uniforms all immaculately clean and pressed. They seemed used to having visitors and one little boy sitting on the end spoke to us. My Spanish is good enough to ask his name and age, Issac, 6 years old.

Next we drove to a farming area which looked quite prosperous as the houses were much nicer than in the tiny towns.

Sugar cane is the main crop and cattle for beef and milk are the main businesses selling to the local hotels. We were led through a typical home and got to taste raw chocolate which grows here since we are up at a higher altitude.

 

Milton explains about the crops and shows us that he looks like President Obama. A lady roasting chocolate.

They also grow coffee and plants were in bloom. Now we got a sales pitch and Milton explained about chocolate tea and hot chocolate milk which we got to taste. He also had lots of packaged, local spices for sale and local honey. Fruit trees on the property included kiwi, mango, bananas, cashew nuts, avocados, lemons and oranges.

A baby pineapple

Star Fruit

Cashews 

Bananas

Back on the bus we headed through the country side where Milton insisted they had filmed parts of the movie Jurassic Park and we saw a huge mango tree.

Last stop was a cigar factory and a row of gift shops selling “fine local art” and other things for your home as well as cigars and coffee. This was a lovely outdoor place and they had pretty grounds to take a walk. A mini zoo had a pool with two crocodiles, two deer, iguanas and a bull. A stable had horses for riding. Jeff  spent his time relaxing in a hammock. After this 45 minute visit we were anxious to get back on the bumpy open air bus.

Back at the hotel we had lunch and then headed to the beauty salon for manicures and pedicures. Funny fact that my Fitbit got excited and recorded lots of steps today. This was very strange as I hadn't walked that much. We figure that each bump of the bus must have recorded a step. I am also showing 64 stairs, most of which were getting into the bus.

We’ve decided to go to Ipanema for our farewell dinner. That is the Brazilian Steakhouse and Jeff's favorite. Now we are hanging out on the balcony and trying to catch up on the unhappy news about the stock market. Dinner was so good and Jeff had enough beef to “choke” a cow. I enjoyed the salad bar and a hot foods bar with delicious chicken and several fish choices. Dessert was a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream. We walked home along the beach and the night is so clear with a warm, gentle breeze.