Samana

This past weekend was spent in Samana on the northeastern peninsula of this lovely little island.  After getting up at 5:30 AM to be on the road by 6:15, munching on pineapple and a pb&j on the bus, and trying to snooze, we finally arrived.

First stop was an old neighborhood, settled over 150 years ago by former US slaves.  That's right, freed slaves from the US were promised land if they'd be willing to move to the DR.  We got to speak with Doña Leticia, a descendent of these settlers.  According to her, about 30 families moved to this part of the island, most of them part of an African Protestant denomination.  She spoke almost perfect English which she said was her first language.  It was all pretty interesting and at the end we got to snack on Jonny&Kate cakes and coconut biscuits so a success all around.

Image compliments of the Los Haitises website.

Next stop was Los Haitises National Park.  We took an hour boat ride off the southern end of the peninsula and ended up amid these amazing tree covered islands.  Our guide explained that the islands had been formed hundreds of thousands of years ago by coral that eventually was compacted together, and then through earthquakes got pushed up out of the ocean.  We were divided into two groups, one to go kayaking through mangroves and the other to explore a giant cave.

  

The kayaking was so cool!  There were little crabs everywhere, (which at first kind of freaked me out because I thought they were spiders) and giants trees with tangled roots.  Our guide had us all be quiet for a minute so we could just listen to the bird calls and ocean sounds.  

The cave was pretty impressive too.  There were stalactites and stalagmites, giant mangrove roots reaching down 30+ feet to find more soil and rock paintings/carvings done by the Tainos.  The cave was named San Gabriel by fishermen after the conquest because one of the stalagmites looks like the figure of a saint.

That night we went to a hotel on the other side of the peninsula.  After a yummy buffet supper, I went to my room and discovered I could see the ocean from just outside the door.  Awesome!  The next morning we explored and the beach.  It was one of the most impressive so far.  I've been to beaches on all sides of the island, and while this one would probably be the worst for swimming, it was also the best for wave watching.  There were tons of rocks under the water that the waves break on at various times on their ride into shore.  And the sound!  The waves are so loud, it was hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that this sound is never turned off.  Day and night, always these waves are coming in.