Tuesday February 2: Horses on the Beach

Having left Samana on the northern side of the Domican Repubic, we thought we were in the "less rural" part when we arrived at Punta Cana yesterday.

It was again an interesting time trying to find our Airbnb place. Seems most places you might want to stay are gated. Which meant that Carlos (our host for the next couple of nights) needed to meet us in order for us to actually get into our place.

Apparently some people are still working and aren't retired because he had a meeting to attend and couldn't meet us until 3:30. No problem. We found a small restaurant with wifi and patiently waited.

He came and we followed him - to the pigs! This is for my brother Tom and his pig PJ + others (not sure if he named the little ones yet). Anyway, this pig's domain was in a fenced in empty lot across from our accommodations. Cute little pigs. Carlos wasn't sure who owned them!

We found a place about 30 minutes north that offered horse back riding on the beach!


It was great fun and Steve finally managed to get what he termed the "best horse ever" as his horse always wanted to be in front and would gallop when given the opportunity!

Bonus? Two of the cutest dogs ever (not as cute as Cricket and Gigit of course .... ) and they just loved being held.

Both of them just fell asleep as they were held. Too cute :-)

The "pet" iguana - not so cute but folks seemed to like it.

Picture opportunity I guess. I'm thinking these people were not from Marathon!

Maybe these are actually native to this part of the Caribbean unlike the iguanas in Florida.

Restaurant experience? Small place right on the ocean. When we asked for a menu, they didn't have one.

How do we know what we can order? (Remember we're two non Spanish speaking gringos).

So the young man who seated us indicated he could show us what we could order. And he did just that: a platter of 4 whole fish sliced vertically and what looked like a florida lobster (no claws).

Ok. We'll try the fish - grilled please - small one for me, larger for Steve - rice and beans on the side. I'm truly not a fish lover (especially with the head on) but I had to admit it was really good. Score one for Steve!

Next stop a few miles back toward our place was one of the few remaining public beaches.

Very different than the beach near our place in Punta Cana that is surrounded by the all-inclusive resorts that this area is known for. You know - check in - don't leave the premises - leave and go home.

Interesting though as the beaches at those places are packed with people yet the one we went to (Macao) was not the least bit crowded.

The dot in the water to the right of the palm tree stump is Steve :-)  Water is warm!!

Tomorrow: off to Puerto Rico. It's just a 30 minute or so flight to San Juan where we'll spend the next four days. Still warm there as well :-)