Cabarete

Saturday, June 10th, we checked out of the Platino Hotel and left Santiago for a day that mixed adventure and culture. Our first activity was zip lining at Monkey Jungle. Monkey Jungle is a non- profit, run by an expat from North Carolina that uses its proceeds to provide free medical and dental services to the people of the area. The zip line course included seven zip lines of various speeds and lengths. It was a blast! Some of our group had a fear of heights but were willing to try it in a tandem fashion with one of our guides. This included Mrs. Gloria, who became everyone’s honorary G-Ma during the seven day adventure. Because our group was so large it took us a little longer than the allotted 90 minutes.

                                   

                             

 We left  Monkey Jungle and headed to Cabarete, a beach town that is well liked by tourists to the island who want a more authentic DR experience and to avoid the real touristy areas like Punta Cana. Our first stop in Cabarete is lunch at Mojitos, a restaurant right on the beach. Upstairs from Mojitos is Ojo Club, and this is where we have our dance lesson. We learn the basic steps for bachata and merengue, the national dances. Of course, this makes my Zumba heart sing! We partner up and dance with varying levels of grace. Our dance instructors were a mother and son team. Some of our female students were VERY taken by the male dance instructor. LOL! 

Kiteboarders in Cabarete

 

 

Following the dance lesson we went to a different part of town for our Carnival experience. The Carnival costumes were very vibrant and colorful. We had learned on the day of our street art tour that a Carnival costume can cost $150 US dollars, so they are very expensive. Today we also learn that they are only used once and then they are considered “dead” and not to be used for Carnival again. The costumes that the students are dressing up in today were from the most recent Carnival. There are a variety of themes: there’s a pirate, a kite boarder, a dragon, a couple that look like kabuki masks, and other things. The masks are made of paper, and glued together with a cassava paste because otherwise they would be too heavy for the revelers to support on their head. The students who volunteer are lead through a series of dances and then they dress up and lead a mini- parade.