The Adventures of a Brooklyn Babe...: Cabarete & Sosua

PART 3

As usual after our trip to Las Terrenas, we returned to Santiago to relax a bit, recoup, and then head out again. We were all excited about out next destinations. Unfortunately, Clara would not be accompanying us of this part on the trip. But she did give us her car, which made things much easier (especially considering what was in our future).

We planned on staying at an all-inclusive in Cabarete. We had booked it, kind of last minute in an internet cafe in Santiago. It was advertised as a super-premium all-inclusive. We had dreams of shots of Patron and bottles of Moet and of course pre-made, fresh formula for Nohli.

We drove the 2 hours and pulled into BREEZE'S SUPER CLUB. We checked in and walked to our room. As we walked thru the resort, we very quickly realized this place wasn't for US. The whole place looked like it was built in the 70's. The pool was full of Canadians sipping beers out of over-sized coffee mugs and the worst tattoos you have ever seen. We got to our room. The air conditioners was dripping water all of the floor. I left to explore the beach. The beach had an odd colored sand, very different than the beaches I had seen in DR thus far. It almost looked like it had been man-made. I noticed that there was not 1 person in the water. I thought that was a little weird. When I got closer I notice a sign that stated, if their was a red flag, the ocean was off limits. WHAT? When I got back to the room, it was clear by the faces of every one in the room, we had to get out of here. We marched up to the front desk (we left Nohli with Jenny). At the front desk, we proceeded to get the run-around. They were sooo surprised we didn't love this place. Finally with the help of a very nice agent, we got the manager and were told (after lots of pressure to stay in a BETTER room) that we would be getting our money back.

It was probably about 5pm when we left the Breeze's.

FYI.

NEVER EVER STAY OR EVEN BOOK A VACATION A BREEZE'S SUPER CLUBS.

SUPER? HA!

Now thanks to the help of the agent, we headed to Casa Marhina in Sosua (about 20mins away). We got there. Checked in. Even got a better price than Breeze's. We walked around the resort. What a difference. The place was landscaped beautifully. And the rooms were small but clean and comfortable.

We stayed 2 wonderful nights at Casa Marhina.

Our lil fish caught in the net (hammock)

2 Surfer girls hanging 10

The Fam Fam in front of DR's biggest breaks

A loving moment between Papa and Nohli

The Bread Monster!

She will take your bread and their ain't nothing you can do!

We drove to downtown Cabarete (The Kite Surfing Capital). We had no reservations, so we keep our eyes pealed for some place nice. Our first 2 choices were booked, so we book a hotel called San Souci. It was right on the water. The hotel looked like it was straight out of a 80's movie set in Miami. Crazy Art Deco. I thought it was cute, Clariza disagreed! We had a nice dinner at a little restaurant downtown. The next morning Jen wanted to try Kite Surfing, but there wasn't enough wind. Next time Jen. You Crazy girl! We left the San Souci with no plans where we were going to stay our last night. On my blackberry (he worked surprisingly well. Thanks buddy!) we found a spot that we actually really wanted to stay at, we called, praying there would be room open. There was!

We pulled into Natura Cabana. This place was incredible and the staff was very helpful. Every cabana is extra eco-friendly. No TVs. No AC. Just smartly designed rooms made with local materials. They had a delicious restaurant. A spa. A gorgeous beach. The whole vibe was just relaxing. The place was pretty much perfect. Definitely our favorite our of trip.

There was a path that followed the coast, about 30 minutes away was another beach with the best surfing in DR. Jen rented a board and hit the waves. The rest of us watched her rip it up. Me and Nohli were going to try to, but we found out that the whole break was covered with sea urchin covered coral. On the way to our cabana, we found a great little pool. Nohli did some more swimming. She got hit by a little wave and cried, but all in all she liked it. She especially loved the sand.

We were sad when we had to leave, but we will be back Natura Cabana.

On the way back, I decided to take a short cut over some tall mountain instead of going all the way around them. There were some great views. We also had some interesting moments as well. The roads were real bad and narrow. There was a few fruit stands and other shops along the way. We got to around the top of 1 mountain, and there was a small crowd of mostly young kids, when we got close, they pulled a rope across the road, and then like 5 kids run up to the car. I was a bit nervous. They wanted money and food and pretty much any thing we had. We gave them a Coke and they let us pass. Then like 100 meters later, the same thing happened. Clariza was like "we have a BABY!" They let us pass free. Ha. We made it back home safely.