Day 8: Drive to Puerto Plata
Somehow every day in this trip we managed to be up by 6am. Is no lie when they say that those that take vacation always need an extended amount of days off to relax after the vacation. Sort of like a vacation from the vacation. This day we had plans to drive to Puerto Plata. Another of my must do things. Honestly, I don't know why I wanted to go there but whenever I google "places to visit in DR" Puerto Plata was on the list so I added it to ours.
That morning we walked over to the hidden gem on the beach for breakfast. We had talked to the owner after dinner the night before and she had agreed to meet us and cook for us. We showed up at 8am sharp and there she was waiting for us. As soon as we sat down she put coffee to brew and about 30 minutes later breakfast was done. This lady can throw it down in the kitchen. Everything was so good. I don't even have words to describe how her meals were. Just definitely worth it.
After breakfast we went back to the room to finish packing and check out. We had a long way to go and we didn't want to get on the road too late. I want to say that we got on the road at about 11am and we had estimated to reach our destination by 2:30pm possibly 3. Well friends, let's just say it took a lot longer. We ended up getting there at almost 6pm. Longest trip ever! Good thing we were comfortable in the rental car. Somehow we took a wrong turn and ended up on the "old road" that took us through the cities instead of the new and improve road that traveled along the coast with a beautiful view. For my 30 before 30 list, which I have yet to post here, I wrote down that I wanted to go on a road trip and let's me just say that that goal has been check off because that's exactly what we did while on this trip. We road trip from the southeast to northeast to the very top of the north and back down south. Quite the adventure I tell you. No internet connection to use google maps so we had to use a map and the old fashion way of ask for directions hahaha. That lead us to take a "shortcut" through the mountains and we ended up on the new road that we were suppose to be on. It was a scary ride but we made it thank the heavens.
Once in puerta Plata we had to look for a hotel. A nice policeman ended up taking us to a hotel near by and I was not impressed at all. I mean it did serve its purpose but after being in a resort then a beautiful hotel in Samana I felt like we downgraded. But I guess that happens when you road trip without booking in advance. The kids ended up in the pool for a bit then we took showers and ended up in an oceanfront food place. It was alright. I was honestly disappointed and when I was looking up things to do in the area there was absolutely nothing to do. Bummer. We ended up walking the malecón and el Moro but it was not big deal. Nice but not worth the over 5 hour drive. The plan was to stay there for two nights and that was crossed off immediately. We had agreed to wake up early the next day and head to Santiago to visit an uncle which was only 2 hours away and on the way to the capital which is where we were headed to anyways. But then we remembered that we wanted to do the 27 Charcos which are waterfalls that you jump from into the water. And so that's what we did.
We got up really early in the morning checked out of the hotel. Since this place was on the road we would be taking to get back home we just decided to pack our belongings and say our good byes to Puerto Plata. We ended up getting there by 9ish am and by 10 we had started the adventure.
This adventure consisted of a 45-60 minutes hike to reach the top of the mountain where the first waterfall was at. They have 3 different options. You can jump from waterfall 1-7, 1-14, or all 27. Since we were already there and it was only like $7 for the entire 27 falls we went with it. We also got the photo package which included a staff member to come along to take pictures and videos for us. Now this was a bit pricey, $50. And after getting home and having the videos not able to play on my Mac and some pictures being of very low quality I would recomen not to even bother getting that. If you're planning to do this adventure just be sure to take a water camera and a wristlet for it do that you don't lose it while you are jumping.
Since AJ and my aunt couldn't do the falls my stepdad decided to stay with them. My mom came with us and omg she was so much fun. She had to stop like every 10 minutes while we were hiking. I'm not going to lie, it was an intense hike. Take plenty of water. She kept saying "I can't do this. This is too much. I'm going to have a heart attack". Then we made it to the falls and she was about to go back because she didn't want to jump. The pictures does them no justice as you can't even tell how high they really are but they are high. Even I had second thoughts a few times for some of them. I felt my heart reach my knees every time I jump so I could only imagine what my mom was felling. However it was all so much fun. This is also something that I would like to do again on future trips.
The entire adventure took about 3.5 hours. Then we shower (they had showers and everything. Double win!) while we waited for our pictures. Then the rest of the day consisted of lire driving. We got on the road at about 2pm and we made it to La Romana at about 8pm. So much driving! We stopped for some food on the side of the road and that kept us good till we reach our destination which is back to where we had started on day 1. Plan was to go over to the capital and hang out with family but somewhere along the road those plans changed and we kept driving another 1.5hrs.
We ended up at the beach for dinner, another hidden gem but this one is well known. The lady was closing when we got there but she stayed later to feed us (she's also a friend of my mom and stepdad so she probably felt obligated). That night we drive to my stepdads house and plan was to shower and head out to dancing but I was so beat that I showered and went starlight for bed. Hubby did end up going out with my mom and her husband to his brothers house and I honestly don't even know what time they got back. All I know is that I needed to catch up on sleep and my body was feening for rest so I gave in.
A lot of driving was done the last few days but it was all worth it. I'm so thankful I was able to write about this trip because this is one trip I don't ever want to forget. ;)
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