Last Weekend in D.R: Bayaguana and Trekking

Since we would be leaving the Dominican Republic on Friday, our last weekend in the country was upon us.  On Saturday (7/20), Jillian, Liz and I decided to venture out to the town of Bayaguana to see the cascada or waterfalls. Bayaguana is town just east of Monte Plata municipality.  This trip was far less complicated than our travels to Las Terrenas because the gua-guas or local buses go directly into Bayaguana.  No waiting for another bus for us this time. As Jillian mentioned, schedules for the gua-guas are non-existent.  It’s really just a matter of arriving at one of the several gua-gua pick up “stations” and checking to see if the gua-gua is headed to Bayaguana. A pickup station basically consists of standing on the side walk and waving as the gua-gua approaches. It’s a taxi! We only waited for about 10 minutes until we found a gua-gua headed to Bayaguana.

We packed ourselves in the gua-gua  per usual.  The van meant for comfortably sitting 8 people quickly filled up to the standard 15.  We meet the youngest passenger on this gua gua.  She was a beautiful 4-day old baby girl.  The mother just left the hospital.  This put into perspective what mothers have go through to get healthcare for themselves and their babies. I couldn’t help but be concerned for the child considering the heat, lack of air conditioning, and the bumpy, unpredictible ride on the gua-gua.

Beautiful baby girl we saw on gua-gua

 We passed through many palm tree plantations on the way. One can see many miles of dead palm trees.  The palm trees are native to Africa but are grown in the D.R. for their seeds.  The seeds produce an oil used as cooking oil or to manufacture soap, washing powders or other industrialized products. After about 30minutes, we were in Bayaguana. Unfortunately for us, we found out that it would take an additional 30 minutes for us to get to the waterfall.  There weren’t any gua-guas around to take us there so riding on the back of a motorcycle was our only option.  We were a little hesitant because of the uncertainty of it all. I don’t think any of us had ever ridden on a motorcycle and we would also be without helmets. Nonetheless, it was a go!

Not the safest but it was a fantastic ride. You can see some of the terrain we went through in the bottom left picture and the one adjacent to it. The picture on the bottom right is of one the drivers stopping by for a tank fill at someone's house. I'm not absolutely certain what exactly was poured in.

Jillian and I hopped on one motorbike and Liz on another.  After only a few minutes into the ride, we quickly found out that it would be impossible to walk. Our path was mostly going through country roads. We passed through many potholes, small towns, and traversed past many rocky and muddy roads.  Riding on one was quite exhilarating. It was like a video game. The drivers were very skilled at driving around bad patches on the road, passing through dirty puddles of water or passing by cars struggling to get through the rough terrain. Since riding motor bikes is a main mode of transportation in the DR, I can’t help but be amazed at how mothers are able to carry their babies while riding on one.  There’s also the added difficulty of travelling in the rain.

We finally arrived to the incredible scenic waterfalls. It was breathtaking. Moreover, we couldn’t have asked for a better day weather wise. You can see the many pictures we took below!

Breathless!

On Sunday, we decided to trek through the fields behind the guesthouse.  There a long path that gives the illusion that you would be headed for the mountains. This wasn’t the case.  Parallel to our path was a Haitian neighborhood that stretched for about half a mile.  The few Haitians that come to the Monte Plata clinic come from this area.  We decided to travel along there to see the Haitian neighborhood.  We passed through a dirt path that was rocky and muddy in some areas with beautiful trees around us. Many of the houses were unfinished and built with wood or scrap metal. The people were very, very friendly and said hello to us as we passed by. We witnessed a group of guys approximately in their 20s learning how to play the guitar.  It was poorly out of tune but they were enjoying their time together. Further down, we met a group of people sitting in a circle with books open, trying to learn Spanish. It’s fantastic that they are trying to assimilate into the Dominican culture because my impression is that there is a negative perception of Haitians in the Dominican.

The top two pictures are people we met in the Haitian neighborhood. The bottom picture shows a gathering of people trying to learn Spanish. I thought it was fantastic that they are trying to assimilate into the Dominican culture. One of the potential projects for the Monte Plata Project Hope clinic is to make the Haitians feel welcome by developing signs in Creole and to educate the staff on basic Creole language skills. Abdias, the Haitian medical student who has helped us throughout our time her is taking on this challenge.

The rest of our walk towards the unreachable mountains was mostly open fields. We saw numerous mango trees and its seeds on the ground throughout our trek.  Animals we met along the way were horses, cows and dogs. We retreated back to the house when we reached fork in the road that led to dead ends.  On our way back through the Haitian neighborhood, we met an older gentleman who was very eager to see us.  He was very excited to have his picture taken in front of his house.  His smile widened from ear to ear when Jillian showed him the picture she took of him on her camera.  Coincidentally, we met a family in same Haitian neighborhood that also wanted to be photographed . It was a great way to encapsulate the day.