Free Fallin: Dominican Part Deux

September 2015

#JustGo

Waterfall. Jumps. This is the one thing that I absolutely had to do in my visit to the Dominican Republic. No matter where I was in the country, I had to jump off some falls. I saw an article about a tour company, Iguana Mama (www.iguanamama.com), that allowed you to jump off 27 waterfalls in the Dominican. When I heard this I yelled "Get out" and violently pushed the closest person next to me like Elaine from "Seinfeld." I contacted the tour's owner, and he told me because of a severe drought, you could only jump off 12 waterfalls at the moment, and the best tour for us would be the Rappeller's Delight because it was located in an area where the water was still deep enough to safely jump. 

In.

The cost of the tour is $129 US, and includes breakfast and lunch (breakfast being a small sandwich but a delicious authentic, homemade-style meal for lunch) and goes from about 8-3p. After a 45-minute or so drive from Cabarete to Duarte, we began a hefty hike through the jungle that was no joke. We were fortunate that the tour was just 4 people. I can imagine it becoming much more exhausting with a huge group. I was pouring sweat on the hike down, as you're wearing a wet suit. On the plus side, there weren't a ton of mosquitos or biting insects and I probably lost 90 pounds of water weight. Be sure to properly hydrate on this tour. 

I don't remember how many rappels we did, maybe around 6? They were all easy and the footing was fine.

I need to start flexing in these pics.

After the rappels, it was time to explore the water. Normally a lot of this area would be covered in water.

The water was probably in the 70s. I'm totally guessing. I had a wetsuit on, people! Whatever it was warm enough.

This was after the first jump, around 40-feet. Same spot as the opening pic of this blog. 

Contemplative.

Getting instructions on where to jump because apparently if I jump too far to the left, there are rocks. #ThatSucks

This is in mid-air. Look to the left of my shoe and you can see my shadow. This jump was also around 40-feet.

Ciguapa Falls is stunning. A perfect aqua.

Angela contemplating her final jump. 

The hike back up was far more grueling than the hike down. After a 30-minute trek that felt like we were extras in "Everest," we got to an area and rented some burros! Just $10 and so worth it. The hike up was so intense that one of the dudes kept puking. For real, but that was also because he was smoking a lot on the trip - which isn't supposed to be allowed - so maybe it's just karma!

Selfie time with this jackass! #AndTheDonkey #SeeWhatIDidThere?!

SANTO DOMINGO

We had the Iguana Mama tour drop us off directly at the Sosua bus station and immediately hopped on a bus all the way back to Santo Domingo.

The Occidental El Embajador. Still no Michael Corleone. #SeePreviousBlogPost

A popular Dominican rum, Ron Barcelo. I've got no beef with it.

I read a Rough Guides article that told me Malecon is 10-km long boardwalk area in Santo Domingo that was full of bustling nightlife. I tried to convince some film festival goers to join me on an evening jaunt to check it out, but all the locals warned them it was too dangerous. I was still curious so I paid a cab driver $20 US to chauffeur me around the city… which was rad! The chauffeur part that is. Malecon left something to be desired. The area is apparently shady enough that the cab driver insisted he walk across the street with me when I told him I just wanted to take a picture. Dude was like the guy who drove Al Pacino around in "Scent of a Woman." Rough Guides has a questionable definition of "bustling."

I mean there was this statue of two big naked butts, so Malecon did have that going for it.

Where is everybody?!

This was a slightly more populated area of Malecon, considering the time of the night. And by that I mean there were a lot of ladies of the night walking around. Prostitutes, folks! #ThatsNotWhyImSmiling

Totally dug the graffiti art though.

Impressive.

And plentiful.

I bid DR adieu with this. A very questionable magnet design.