Dominican Republic
Punta de los Muertos

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    • Day 171

      Las Terrenas

      April 25, 2022 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Las Terrenas ist ein Urlaubsort an der Nordküste der Dominikanischen Republik. Hier soll man auch gut Kitesurfen können. Las Terrenas ist von einem Riff umgeben, was die Einfahrt in die Lagune nicht einfach macht. Jens steuert und Regina schaut mit Marie vom Deck aus auf mögliche Gefahrenzonen. Wir fahren ganz langsam. Aberwitzige nachdem das Tiefenlot nur noch 70 cm anzeigt, setzen wir kurz auf. Den Felsen haben wir nicht sehen können, da sich die Sonne im Wasser so spiegelt. Danach wurde es dann auch wieder tiefer und wir finden einen guten Ankerplatz. Jens taucht sofort, im sich den Schaden am Boot anzuschauen. Zum Glück sind nur leichte Kratzer an einer Metallpatte am Ruder. Das beruhigt uns. Da es schon später Nachmittag ist, genießen wir den Sonnenuntergang auf dem Boot und fahren erst am darauffolgenden Tag an Land. Nachdem wir in einem nahegelegenen Waschsalon unsere Wäsche gewaschen haben, fahren wir mit den Kitesachen zum Strand. Jens baut den 12er Kite direkt auf und geht aufs Wasser. Regina uns Marie haben ein schönes Schattenplätzchen eingerichtet. Als Jens wieder kommt, geht Regina mit dem 9er Kiteschirm aufs Wasser. als der Wind weniger wird, chillen wir drei noch etwas im Schatten am schönen Sandstrand, bevor wir die Rückfahrt zur Enjoy angehen. Am nächsten Tag flanieren wir die Uferpromenade entlang. Der Ort ist wirklich nett. Die Hotels sind Max. 2 Stockwerke hoch und fügen sich dadurch gut in die Natur ein. Am Meer gibt es Bars, die zum verweilen einladen, da man einen tollen Blick über die Bucht hat. Am Nachmittag Ankern wir in die nächste Bucht um.Read more

    • Day 32

      Jungle Party

      June 26, 2022 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      The infrastructure of our Building is decent but the worst is definitely the laundry machine. I promise that each time theresa and I’ve washed our clothes, they came out dirtier than they were before. Since I didnt have many days here left and I really really desperately needed some clean clothes to go on to Costa Rica, I decided to bring my clothes to a laundry and let them wash and dry. So I brought them to this girl at 3 pm, and went to playa Bonita. I went with Henrike, Theresa, Matteo, Rene, Antonia and Micka. (Now you know the names of my friends here too) all volunteers working with me, except for Micka, he lives here. We spend the whole afternoon there, while the others were just lying around and eating, Micka and I walked along the beach and played some ballgame in the warer sirh Matteo and Rene. At 6pm I went to the laundry to get my clean, soft and extremely good smelling clothes. My jeans shorts finally didnt feel like packing paper anymore but like normal jeans textile as they should. In the evening there was a mottoparty at Mosquito and the theme was „Jungle“. I had brought a bandana, for my hair, so I didnt have to buy anything. Before going there we went to groovy garden for a cocktail and then I went to Micka‘s place. He lives in a residencial complex but they have a private rooftop. We went up and talked a bit, looked at the stars, which were very bright that night, and generally are because there‘s no light pollution over here. We saw the milky way and many constellations. Eventually he put on some music and chose a bachata song. He had joined our dance class 2 days earlier so we had already danced together and knew it was a lot of fun. We danced and tried out new moves. At around midnight we joined the others at mosquito. This was probably going to be one of my last real official parties here so I hoped it would be good. I wasnt disappointed at all, the music was amazing, people were dressed up and the vibe was really good. Micka and I shared a frozen strawberry daiquiri. I got a tired after dancing for a long time, so we had a break and I did something I usually never did: i drank an energy drink and it seemes like not drinking the same amount of coffee as at home actually has an effect, because It woke me up right away, actually it did not only wake me up, I was so hypernergetic that we went back to mosquito and danced until 3 am when the party ended and the people started going home. There was an afterparty but we decided not to go. I wanted to walk home or take a concho but Micka didnt let me and drive me home. When I got home Theresa was already sleeping and I noticed that she had fallen asleep half-sitting in her bed with her phone in her hands. It looked so funny I started laughing and took her phone out of her hand and loved some stuff so she wouldnt gwt hurt in case she moved. I still wasnt tired so I did a bunch of stuff I had wanted to do but hadnt done yet, as for example book our accomodation in Cabarete, where we planned on going after Las Terrenas. So I went to sleep at 5am when I finally was tired.Read more

    • Day 33

      Pasolas and Karaoke

      June 27, 2022 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Second last day, still a couple of things left on my bucket list. One of them was eating breakfast at the beach, so I woke up with Theresa‘s alarm, prepared breakfast and took a motoconcho to punta poppy. I loved how calm this beach was during the morning anf enjoyed the time I had all by myself. We did a double dive that morning, one of them was a deep dive I had asked Daria if we could do while I was still here. At this point I really have to sayc I am so so so thankful to have had a diving instructor like Daria. She always did everything so we could dive as often as possible. Aldeas de Paz, the organisation actually only wanted us volunteers to do a max of 3 dives a week. Well with daria we had an average of 6 dives, counting in that weekends are always free). After diving I went to tropikbowl, one pf my favourite places to eat with Theresa because we wanted to plan our trip to Cabarete. In my last post I talked about these sandflies. Well, Theresa had an allergic reaction. Her legs were full of inflamed red dots, that were biting her the whole time, so she couldnt stop scratching her skin. The hospitals here are really bad so all they do when somebody has an ailment, is giving them painkillers, which didnt help her at all. In the restaurant she could handle it anymore, she was shaking, freezing and sweating at the same time, she started crying and I told her to go home. She stayed the whole afternoon in bed but couldnt sleep. I stayed a bit with her but there was nothing I could do except for getting her ice and trying to calm her down.
      Another thing on my bucketlist was to rent pasolas, motos, and drive around and go to some beaches. It took us some time to find a good rental place because some that we saw were really sketchy and we didnt feel comfortable. We found a really trustwothy one with good pasolas at the end. A day of rental including complete insurance costed 20 dollars. They wanted to see our drivinf licenses and I showed my car license. Guess that was enough because they didnt want futher documents, they simply asked if we knew how to drive and if we had driven before. I didnt lie. I had driven one before. For about a minute. After drinking some cocktails. With somebody behind me who took care. But hey, I had driven before. I know all the people reading this are not really proud of me at this point, (sorry mami)
      While we were still at the rental place they gave us each a pasola and explained the basics. Then my big moment came. I obviously had no idea what I had to do but it had to seem like i did. I sat on the pasola, and kicked in the stand. I didnt know a pasola was this heavy and it almost fell to the side. Luckily René was standing next to me and helped me. Then I tried to accellerate but I had forgotten to turn the key to turn on the engine. The guy at the rental looked at the others and asked them if I really knew what I was doing. It was really embarassing but eventually I did it and this stupid pasola started moving. I had some severe difficulties in the beginning especially because in las Terrenas these people drive like crazy but I got used to it fast. We drive to a lookout point which was really beautiful, then headed to Coson for a swim and afterwards drank a sundowner at Mosquito bar in El Portillo. At night there was karaoke at the Garage Bar. First I went to an ice cream place woth Micka and then we met the others at The bar. It was so nice to see how we europeans, usually so strict and controlled, just let ourselves go and sang to songs, danced and enjoyed the night fully as if we were locals.
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    • Day 210

      Bye bye with a BANG

      April 7, 2023 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      Las Terrenas

      Las Terrenas entpuppt sich wirklich als ein kleines Paradies. Alles ist ein bisschen ruhiger als in Cabarete, es gibt eine schöne Strandpromenade und superschöne feine Sandstrände mit unglaublich türkisem Wasser. Überall, sowohl an den Stränden als auch im Inland ranken Palmen. Noch nie haben wir so viele Palmen gesehen wie hier.
      Wir schauen auf Windguru und suchen direkt die nächste Kiteschule im Dorf auf, denn es sind perfekte Kite-Bedingungen vor Ort. Der Kiteshop-Leiter führt uns aber zu unserer Verwunderung nicht an den Strand in Las Terrenas, sondern wir hopsen beide hinten auf sein Motorrad und fahren zu dem 15 min abgelegenen Strand „El Portillo“. Dort sehen wir auch direkt die Kites in der Luft. Es ist ein traumhafter Ort zum Kiten (türkises Wasser und weißer Palmenstrand), allerdings gibt es hier sehr viel flaches gefährliches Riff. Den Drachen sollte man also gut unter Kontrolle haben. Wir haben Riesenspaß in der Session und kommen auch die nächsten Tage wieder her.
      Mit dem Roller erkunden wir auch einige Male die Umgebung von Las Terrenas, wie z. B. Playa Bonita und Playa Calolima sowie den sehr schönen Wasserfall El Limón, welcher aber leider voll von Touristen ist. Am besten gefällt uns aber tatsächlich der Strand, an dem wir auch kiten gehen: El Portillo.
      In unseren Tagen hier werden wir immer wieder gewarnt, dass bald die Semana Santa anfängt und hier die Hölle los ist. Wir denken uns nicht viel dabei, dann sind hier eben bald ein paar mehr Touristen… so what. Little did we know, denn hier herrscht ab Donnerstag absoluter Ausnahmezustand! Las Terrenas verwandelt sich von einem ruhigen Strandparadies in eine laute stinkende Partyhölle.
      Gefühlt tummeln sich hier für 4 Tage alle Einwohner der Dominikanischen Republik auf diesem kleinen Fleck Erde, fahren tagein tagaus laut ratternd und in schrillen bunten hauch-von-nichts Outfits mit ihren Motorrädern durch die komplett überquellenden Straßen und feiern laut die ganze Nacht durch zu immer gleich klingenden lateinamerikanischen Beats.
      Wir kommen kaum noch durch die Stadt, denn alles ist komplett überfüllt. Die Straßen können den Menschenmassen kaum standhalten und entsprechend rollen die Motorräder sogar am Strand entlang. Wir beobachten das Spektakel und ziehen uns in unserer Wohnung zurück, auch wenn sich nirgends die laute Musik und Auspuffgeräusche hier überhören lassen. Eigentlich haben wir uns unsere letzten Tage so hier nicht vorgestellt, aber eins steht fest: Wir verabschieden uns von unserer Weltreise mit einem lauten BANG.
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    • Day 1

      Arrival in Las Terrenas

      May 26, 2022 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      Turns out the three german guys I had eaten breakfast with planned on going to Las Terrenas too, so they joined me on the busride. I was really happy to have them with me, I felt way more secure and we had very good talks. I was impressed by the scenery and by the landscaped we passed, from green fields, over mountains with an awesome view to jungles, rainforests and busy cities.
      When we arrived in las Terrenas, I got picked up by Rio, a guy from my project. At the volunteer apartments I was introduced to my Coordinator Camilla and my roomie, Theresa from Germany. We got along very well right from the beginning. We went to the beach and ate a smoothiebowl. Afterwards we went grocery shopping, but forgot to bring bags for the groceries so we had to put everything into „carton boxes“. We were already late for spanish class, therefore we had to run through the whole town with these boxes in our arms in order to get there in time. We were late, but it didnt matter:)
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    • Day 1

      Meeting the others

      May 26, 2022 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      After spanish class we were starving, so we ate an apple and some crackers and started reading our contract we still needed to sign. After we finished we went out and saw a very pretty sunset, the clouds were all pink and the houses stood in a golden light. We ate dinner at a mexican restaurant, where we met some of the other volunteers.
      That‘s where I got my message that I would have to work tomorrow..
      10 am in front of the diving center - I‘m excited!
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    • Day 12

      Las Terrenas - Playa Popy

      January 10, 2023 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Moving just a few kilometers to the west sometimes make a huge difference. 'El Valle' was a small secluded place with rain forest and mountains all around. Now we're in 'Las Terrenas'.

      Kilometers of white to golden beaches with palms. You can decide whether you wanna stay in areas with beach bars and music or without, where you have small reefs to snorkel (sadly most of them are dead) or you wanna be able to walk many meters in the shallow water.

      (Last picture - yellow jamaica stingray hiding in sea weed one of many fishes with bioluminescent at night and a chameleon like ability to change colors)
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    • Day 10

      Las Galeras

      March 17 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      Dopo aver fatto colazione ci spostiamo alla volta di Las Galeras. Attraversando un paesaggio folto di vegetazione e passando per piccoli villaggi che si snodano lungo la strada , arriviamo a Las Galeras. La struttura che ci accoglie si chiama Sol Azul, una meraviglia di colori e di verde ma soprattutto orchidee di tantissimi tipi e colori, anche mai viste, che crescevano direttamente sugli alberi, con radici pendule che arrivavano al terreno e radici aeree incredibili. Mi sentivo una bambina in un negozio di giocattoli a Natale. Posati i bagagli andiamo a pranzare in un ristorante al mare. Arrivati lì mi è sembrato che avessero aperto le porte del paradiso, sabbia bianca e morbida,mare turchese, una natura selvaggia che faceva da cornice, insomma una meraviglia della natura. Lì abbiamo conosciuto Miguel che ci ha servito un ottimo pranzo e ci ha preparato le sdraio all'ombra. Adesso toccava un bagno . Immergersi in quell'acqua azzurra sembrava di voluttuare e librarsi in aria. Meraviglia! Stabilito con Miguel l'itinerario del giorno dopo ,andare a vedere le balene,ci godiamo un tramonto stupendo sorseggiando una piña colada. Ceniamo in una baracca sulla strada dove abbiamo mangiato benissimo, torniamo in stanza e comincia l'avventura...entrati mi cadono gli occhi su una cosa scura in un angolo , era un grosso ragno peloso simile ad una tarantola: panico!!! Franco si prende di coraggio e comincia a colpire ripetutamente, questo scappa e si nasconde dietro la porta dei bagno dove finalmente, dopo scarpate varie ed eventuali viene ucciso. La prima cosa che abbiamo detto è stata:' e stanotti cu dormi?".Comunque ci siamo messi a letto vedremo come andrà la nottata forse ci toccherà fare i turni di guardia. Buona notte.Read more

    • Day 9

      I sing in the rain

      March 16 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Pioggia,pioggia e ancora pioggia! Tutto il giorno! Alle sei del mattino squilla il telefono di Franco:"Ciao Franco dormivi? posso prenotare un campo? dice la voce al telefono e Franco risponde:" si dormivo perché mi trovo ai Caraibi " e quello tranquillamente risponde:" ah vabbè sei ai Caraibi posso prenotare il campo? Secondo me non aveva capito niente. Comunque , ci alziamo e prepariamo il caffè, c'era sul tavolo della cucina un pacchetto di carta stagnola con dentro un po' di cocco ed io mi sono accorta che faceva rumore e si muoveva , non sapendo che cosa ci fosse dentro Franco prende due cucchiai e solleva il pacchetto esce una cucaracha. Dovevamo sconfiggere il nemico , ma come? Dico a Franco di afferrarla con un tovagliolo e lui mi risponde:"matu si pazza!" Avevamo solo un arma in mano... il cucchiaio! Franco comincia a dare colpi di cucchiaio come se non ci fosse un domani. Finalmente il nemico era sconfitto e potevamo goderci il nostro caffè. Comunque la giornata è iniziata all'insegna della pioggia, è piovuto tutto il giorno perciò siamo rimasti a casa , peccato ci siamo persi una bella giornata di mare. Recuperemo! Per la cena ci siamo visti con i nostri amici milandominicani e abbiamo passato l'ultima sera a Las Terrenas con loro, lasciandoci con la promessa di vederci non solo in Repubblica Dominicana. La pioggia non rovina la bellezza di questo posto ma lo rende più magico.Read more

    • Day 9

      Las Terrenas

      February 19 in Dominican Republic ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      Journée tranquille. L'attrait principal de las Terrenas ce sont les plages. Elles sont , en effet, très belles.
      La ville n'a rien d'attrayant , la rue principale disparaît littéralement derrière les boutiques , les échoppes d'art haïtien et les centres commerciaux.
      C'est cosmopolite, y a du monde, ça bouge.
      Nous pratiquons la farniente à l'hôtel et sur la plage.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Punta de los Muertos

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