Dominican Republic – last minute, first glance

Travelling at the last minute can be stressful, there are many things to think about and getting all your ducks in a row can be problematic, remembering to turn off the gas may be the least of your worries. For excitement and adventure however, it is a great way to travel; not knowing your final destination until just a few hours before gives a totally different tension to the normal pre travel concerns.

I knew I was going to leave these last few days and potential destinations ranged from the extremes of Northern Scandinavia to the deserts of Arabia. As it turned out the best flight deal by far for my travel dollar was to be Punta Cana, the all inclusive destination, par excellence, of the Dominican Republic or DR as it is frequently referred to. A destination so imbued with the closed resort mentality I had not seriously considered it for independent travel before.

Colourful Dominican house in Bayahibe

I had booked the ticket from London at an incredible bargain price of $300 USD (including tax and baggage) just sixteen hours before takeoff and scrambled to find a guidebook and some idea of where I should end up on the first night at least. In these situations the Internet is a must have resource. Trawling forums such as the Thorntree and DR1 I was able to latch on to the small village of Bayahibe as my primary focus for the first few nights. It seemed more tuned to independent travellers and looked to have a relaxed, laid back beach vibe as I could hope to find on short notice.

I have to say that I hate charter flights, especially long haul, but this flight by major carrier ThomsonFly, part of the huge TUI group, was exceptional. Good service, reasonable food (included in the price it seemed) and an efficient knowledgeable crew made the trip a lot less of a drag than it can sometimes be. One very interesting feature, especially for frequent flyers that fall asleep during the safety announcement, was the use of children in the video as flight crew demonstrating the safety drill. The whole aircraft was in rapt attention and even my somewhat jaded airline attentiveness was awakened. Long flights are a drag by their very nature; one advantage though of flying west is that you tend to arrive at a reasonable hour for any onward travel that may be necessary.

Village boys in Bayahibe fishing from the rocks

After a smooth landing and a pretty swift pass through customs I was free to move about the country. I did try to coerce the tour company into a ride to Bayahibe but they declined citing a full bus and directed me towards the taxi stand. I was prepared for this eventuality, not wanting to part with $120 USD for a two hour trip, and had swotted up on the local transport and the best methods to get to my destination before nightfall.

Bearing in mind it was hot and humid I didn’t relish a long hike down the highway, however the online sages were spot on and I soon found a bus stop with a few locals waiting in the shade. Barely twenty minutes later a small minibus arrived and ferried me to the local bus terminal. This was a free ride and is quite typical in the DR where bus companies may use a feeder bus to bring passengers in from other drop off points. I boarded a ramshackle bus at the station and was soon on my way to Higuey, my intermediate stop where I had to find a connecting bus to La Romana and then a smaller minibus to Bayahibe.

The driver raced at breakneck speeds along winding roads packed with other coaches, cars and trucks, this was not for the fainthearted and I recommend a good book or nerves of steel. The conductor, called a cobrador in the DR, leant out at intervals calling out the bus destination and drumming up business as we sped along. All the while ear splitting Meringue music blasted from the speakers and we seemed to be one big party bus tearing through the countryside.

Local art centre with Jean

For an independent traveller in these parts, and I will include all of Central America in this, the key message is travel light. I have written about this before in my article on “Travelling Guerrilla Style” and it will be of great service if you wish to travel around the country using the excellent local transport system and stay sane.

My first real experience of the most frequent form of carriage, the Guagua (pronounced gwahgwah) was at Higuey where I had to change buses. My driver kindly pointed me in the right direction and I was soon mobbed by various cobradors vying for my business. I tried in weak Spanish to find the first one to depart and levered myself into the bus. I call it a bus but it is more easily identified as a Guiness world record attempt to see how many bodies can be piled in to a ten seater Hyundai; believe me these guys know how to squeeze ”one more on top”.

We pulled into the small seaside village of Bayahibe and I was popped out like a cork into the dry dusty street as the Guagua continued on its way. My timing was perfect as the tourists were back from the beach, the locals had finished work for the day and the Super Colmado (a grocery store that does double duty as a bar and disco) was turning out cold Presidente beers to the thirsty mob. I dumped my bags into the small guesthouse I had booked by email late the previous night and set out to join them in the revelry.

Travel is incredibly inexpensive in the DR, the whole journey had cost me $175 Pesos, less than $5.00 USD compared to the $120 USD suggested on the taxi board at the airport. Sure it was hot and sweaty, but I saw some great countryside and merged into the lifestyle of the locals pretty seamlessly making it much easier to contemplate and plan the rest of my journey...

Comments

• Pole chain saw says:

  Great story!
  I love the party bus haha.
  
  But I wonder if you are going to travel last minute, then what about visas? Won't that narrow down your options a lot?

  6 months ago

• Ingrid says:

  Hi Peter,
  just to let you know that people at the colmado are asking for you!!!! They still giving out very cold Presidente and also nice "laying" bottles of rum!! Salud!

  1 year ago

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