I made my way to Carberete on a good road trip. I stop at a Lagoon. The water is crystal clear and the lagoon goes quite deep. You can take jump into the water from the top. However I am more excited about the free diving. So after the jump I try to calm my nerves. As a free dive takes some preparation out of you. You have to slowly breathe in and slowly breathe out to bring your heart rate down. Once you are super relaxed you can dive for a few minutes without needing air as your pulse is so low that your body is consuming less oxygen. Once down I dive deep into the abyss of this place. What an interesting place.

Afterwards I check out a few more beaches and waterfalls. I can’t get over how beautiful it all is. I chill at the beach have some fish until I want to go further.

Let me tell you something about the Dominican lifestyle here. A lot of locals just work as much as they think is appropriate, afterwards they chill at the beach and smoke their cigars. They chill in these plastic chairs. I’ve seen several of those chairs break. But the people just keep chilling in those three legged chairs with the mentality of just not getting up. It is a balancing act of not caring and deep relaxation. I found it really funny to watch. This is like the peak of relaxation when even gravity can’t define you.

After I arrive at Carbarete and check into the place I notice that in this huge castle like hostel there is only 2 volunteers, me and one other guest in the hostel. First it was really weird, but then I got into it and we just chilled in the evenings or went out to the beach club. You can go surfing in the morning at Playa Encuentro. This beach is made out of dreams. The wave breaks over rocks, which makes the water even more clear. The wave breaks consistent but there is a good amount of people surfing. At the beach there is a real chill atmosphere with hammocks and one laid back restaurant.

In the evenings you can go out and enjoy the latino lyfestyle at the beach club where everyone dances Bachata, Salsa and other different languages. Man I will never say I can dance again. Those are some moves I haven’t seen in my life.

After this ridiculously great days I head back to give the car back. The next day I set out to Santo Domingo and this is where the trouble begins. Santo Domingo is the main capital of the Dominican Republic. It has a lot of crime and is generally not a safe place. The busses are easy to catch, so I manage to get there quickly. I try to rent a Concho, which is a Motorcycle Taxi. It is a great way to cover short distances. So I get of the bus and order one. I offer this guy 100 Dominican Pesos. He answerers with a 100 dollars which I didn’t understood and unfortunately agreed to. So we cruise of to my sleeping place. As I get off the motorbike we start to argue. How ridiculous. He really want’s 100 dollars from me. We argue more as he threatens to call the police. In the end I pay him 500 Dominican Pesos which is also quite too much. I leave my luggage and try to go to city center. I get hold of a different Concho. He agrees for a reasonable price. However I didn’t anticipate how fast he would go for it. As we cruise down the highway way too fast I have to hold my glasses so they don’t fly away. Short reminder. We cruise without safety gear. Without a helmet and I still wear flip-flops. To my bad luck it starts to rain. Regardless the driver doesn’t seem to slow down. I start to question my choices as the driver is holding one hand over his eyes to see through the rain while the other hand is still cranking down on the gas handle of the motorcycle.

I am sick to my stomach after this ride. Only to find out that there really just is a small area for tourists to walk into because the rest is considered unsafe for tourist regarding the recent crimes. The Ciudad Colanial is the first European Settlement in America. Ironic if you think about it. I try to get some cash, but apparently that is not possible as well. In the end this part was not worth it. However I got this picture of a local smoking a cigar. I really like the picture.

All in all the Dominican Republic was great. It was just missing more Backpackers. So I’m off heading to Mexico. Until next time!