Dominican Republic Las Terranas Dec 28, 2024 - Jan 7, 2025

 

Dec 28, 2024 - Calvin's 17th birthday! Travel day.  We drove to Des Moines Friday night the 27th, got to our hotel and pretty much went right to sleep knowing we'd only get 4-5 hrs.  We stayed at the Baymont near the airport.  We left the hotel at 5am, parked the van, and got through security easily.  Drew and Violet are the only ones that don't have TSA PreCheck, but they beat us through the line on the other end with smiles. We grabbed a bite for breakfast before our flight.  Flights were smooth...first one was 2.5 hrs, second one was close to 3 hrs.  We only had 10 minutes between flights and we grabbed lunch snacks at a little convenience store in Miami.

As usual the rental situation was complicated.  National told us they called and said they didn't have a vehicle but we never got a call.  Hertz came through with another great option, which was less expensive and nicer and newer.  This is a 2024 Hyundai Staria.  

The drive from the airport to our place was another adventure.  It was close to 2.5 hrs, and we had to stop at random gas stations to find cash so we could pay the tolls.  The currency here is the Dominican peso, which is not easy to translate.  One peso is 0.016 cents, so $1.00 US is 60.85 pesos.  $10 USD is 608.53 pesos.  The tolls were $200 pesos, approx $3.29 USD.  We had to cross 3 tolls I think. 

The weirdest thing we saw on the drive was a large dead animal on the side of the road, surrounded by motorcycles and people hacking it up.  Ewww.  We also passed a few donkeys, people with baskets on their heads, and a lot of stray dogs.

 

The place we are staying is Balcones de Atlantico and we have townhouse #3.  The whole resort is very nice, and felt like a huge contrast to drive.  It is a gated community with security guards everywhere.

The cook Maria had prepared some decorations, tacos, and cake for our arrival meal. 

We managed to surprise Calvin on his birthday!

checking out the beach in the dark

Sunday, Dec 29, 2024

Today was getting acclimated - Maria, the housekeeper, wanted to take us shopping for food.  The kids all went out to explore and David and I went to the grocery store with Maria.  Wow, talk about a disconnect...she spoke spanish sooo FAST and didn't know any english, so we tried guiding her with google translate on what kind of food we wanted.  It was pretty tough, but somehow we got through it.  We put things in the cart, she put things in the cart, and we ended up at checkout an hour later.

Grocery shopping

The "kids" were involved in a game of spoons when we got back.

David and I helped Maria unload the food, then she got to work making a meal.  We went to the beach for a little bit!

She made some delicious chicken legs, beans and rice, salad, and fried plantains.

The window shade installers had to try out the crank shades.

We stayed in and tuned into the Falcons vs Commanders game, then tried watching a Netflix movie.  The movie turned out to be pretty ridiculous but we still had fun and munched on chips and salsa and popcorn.  We slept a full night and it felt pretty amazing.  We have air conditioners in our rooms, the beds are huge and comfy, and the drapes are room darkening...my fav. :) We had agreed to unlock the door at 9am for Maria so she could have breakfast ready at 10am.  That was about as early as we could fathom getting up.

Monday, Dec 30, 2024

Eli was up to unlock the door for Maria at 9am.  She made scrambled eggs with bacon, onions and peppers with fruit and bread served with peanut butter and jelly.  We enjoyed it very much - she even came out and said "mas huevos?" and cooked us more eggs when she saw the dish was gone.

We used google translate frequently to plan out the food day with Maria - she agreed to make the next meal of ribs, potatoes and salad at 5pm.

We made a plan to see a waterfall and a beach - the day turned out to be very adventurous.  The towns around here are so sketchy and run down, but also very entertaining and chill.  

We packed a few snacks for the road and left in search of the waterfall.  We ended up finding it, and then renting horses to take us up the rocky, muddy path.  The guides helped us with the whole way, which was just...crazy.  The path to the waterfall was so steep, we practiced leaning forward on the way up and leaning back on the way down.  The guides were funny and entertaining, pointing out mango, passion fruit, banana and coffee plants.

Vanessa was the most excited to ride horses...which were actually mules. 

One of the guides took this - great pic

hoping and praying my mule didn't slip or that I didn't drop my phone

We came to a point after about 20 minutes to get off the mules and walk down some steps to see the waterfall, which were very slippery and steep.  It was well worth the trek.  The waterfall was so beautiful, powerful, and close.  The spray easily soaked us if we got right in the path.

We stayed there for awhile and took a ton of pics.  Violet, Drew, Calvin, Vanessa and Eli all decided to stay and swim a bit.  

The hike up was a bit grueling but the trip was so worth it for the beauty and power of a massive waterfall.  

We navigated to a beach nearby, and thought we were going to Moron beach but turned out the road was blocked so we followed another nearby path and found another secluded beach was absolutely gorgeous.  We stayed there and battled the waves and took more pictures for an hour.  

Our drive back was approx 30 minutes.  We arrived back to our place right at 5pm, and Maria had prepared bbq ribs, potatoes, rice, and salad.  I think we were all too hungry to take pics of the food.  

We spent time at the beach trying to capture the sunset but it's so far west of where we are on the north side, it was a little hard seeing it.  

We found a streaming service for "American Football" called DAZN - and caught the 49ers vs Lions game.

December 31, 2024

Yesterday was enough adventure, I think we decided to hang around here for the day.  The boys really want to find snorkel gear and explore the reefs, so that's the goal today.  David and I went to town while the kids played around the complex and beach.  We found one of two dive shops, and they said there's nothing to see right off our beach, plus they didn't rent snorkel equipment, but we made a plan to go scuba diving on Friday when the waves are calmer.  Dave and I also went on a hunt for something Violet forgot at home, so we hit a few stores and came across something hopefully helpful!  The streets are all similar - very small, tiny stores, people everywhere, zoomy motorbikes everywhere, hectic-tropical-feel.  We also popped into a little bread shop the host recommended but there was nothing left, and we learned the best bread comes out in the morning.

the drive the last moment before turning into Balcones de Atlantico, where we are staying.

Maria the cook prepared a local meat and vegetable stew called Sancocho.  It was very delicious - served on top of white rice along side seasoned avocado chunks.

All the kids found boogie boards and wanted to hit a beach with big waves to try ride them.  We packed up and navigated to a beach called Playa Bonita - I think they had success.  When it got dark we headed back.

Water activities always create hunger...so we used the app "Komida" similar to UberEats to have CocoPizza delivered -- tried 5 different kinds: Margarita, Sandro, Prosciutto, Cuatro Quesos, and Completa.  Completa was the most adventurous - literally a complete pile of every topping imaginable.  Corn, artichokes, cucumbers, olives, etc...it was actually delicious.  We ate 4.5 of the 5 pizzas...incredible.

Drew and Calvin wandered outside and came back with a flower bouquet.

a clip of the goofy countdown video we found with 2 seconds left of the year

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

It's the last day of the year!  We found a super cheesy youtube video with the countdown in the Atlantic time zone.  Once it hit midnight we clinked glasses with sparkling grape juice.  We wandered down to the beach and followed some bumping music and ended up dancing on the beach for about an hour.  It was kinda crazyyy.

January 1, 2025

First blog post of the year!  The morning started out rainy.  Maria had prepared eggs, pancakes and french toast for us...so delicious.  We were advised to shop for more groceries and got a list before we left.  She writes a spanish message to me on Whatsapp, then I copy and paste her response in Google translate, and then I translate back what I say from English to Spanish, but it is a slow and complicated process.  

It has been a chill day for the kids, they spent some time at the beach when the rain stopped, then played pool, ping pong, and cards around different places.  Dave and I went on a grocery run, and nobody had eggs except for a street market.  They are unwashed/unrefrigerated but apparently that's just the way they do that here.  Calvin told us he didn't feel well so we got something for his stomach at a pharmacy.

We got back at 3pm and Maria had prepared a noodle lunch - two different noodle sauces, one tomato, one creamy bacon.  Both were delicious.

Two noodles, cooked cauliflower, cucumbers/tomatoes, and fried bananas.

I am blogging a little, David worked on talking to American Airlines to arrange our flights a little better. American changed our departure time on Tues two hours earlier which is going to make a pretty rough morning driving -- this change is in the works as I type.  

Goooood news about the flights!  After a 2-hour chat session with AA, David managed to score a flight change so we don't have to drive 2 hrs to the airport before a 6am flight.  It was changed to a 1:15pm departure, and we have less connections on the way home and we don't have to leave our place until approx 8am.  Yayyyy.

Throughout the day we had been talking to different places about fishing excursions.  Everybody uses Whatsapp here - it is the international texting platform!  We settled on who was going to take us fishing and they came to our place to settle up for a Saturday Jan 4th half-day of fishing.

We plan to grab dinner at a restaurant, I don't know where, but there is a nice strip of places to go right on the ocean. 

We drove to town, parked for 200 dominican pesos (~$3), tried one place that was open and it was full, so we walked to another place called El Lugar.  Translated it means "The Place".  I had called them and the owner texted me back and as we were walking I made a reservation, and then we showed up 3 minutes later.

We had a mix of burgers, steaks, burrata cheese/tomatoes. Calvin wasn't feeling that great so he didn't eat, but he ate a few leftovers later.  There was confusion about what we ordered...so that was hard to figure out.  Very thankful for Google translate.  This is apparently an area where nobody really knows English.  I can function with basic communication in Spanish but when they start talking super fast I don't pick up on enough.  

Burrata cheese on tomatoes with pesto

My steak arrived with flaming herbs

La Cena a El lugar

so many attempts to get pictures at the beach

It's funny seeing them use an old camera with buttons.  "How do you turn on the flash?"

Thurs, Jan 2, 2025

Today the goal was to go back to the beach with big waves.  The kids really seem to enjoy getting smashed by waves, so we headed there after breakfast. Maria set out oatmeal, breakfast ham/cheese/ketchup sandwiches (which were a little odd), and fruit.  I'm just going to go for a "day in pictures" here.

on the way to the beach (30 min drive) we saw horses grazing

 

parking lot by the beach

path to the beach

the palm trees, mountains, sand and waves make for a nice combination here

these two went and dug a heart shaped hole and took a cute pic

Aloe...

sunset by our beach by our place, after we had leftovers (stew and pasta) for lunch

Dave, Calvin and Eli got back in the water - the rest of us on shore threw them things to catch

Drew's like "your mom is taking a picture"  Violet's like "I'm ready for it"

Violet's throw

Calvin's catch

Dave, Calvin and Eli tried a triple stack

We ate the BBQ chicken, rice, bread and salad she left in the oven for us.

"Do you need more aloe, Violet?"

Friday, Jan 3, 2025

Today is SCUBA day!  We got up early at 6:45 so we could meet the scuba guys at their shop, called Profundo Dive Shop, at 8:30am.  Profundo means "deep".  The two guys who helped us were super nice.  Thierry is the owner, he spoke French, English and Spanish.  His helper Pascal spoke only french.  The dive shop was only a 5 minute drive from our place.

I am the only person who didn't scuba.  I have done it a few times before and really don't enjoy it.  I will save the long explanation. 

Tierry and Pascal fitted everyone in their suits, then explained everything.  We walked to the boat, took a 10 minute ride out to a reef near some large rocks, and they suited up and hopped in.  The boat was smaller than were hoping for but we made it work.

I'll again share a pile of photos with captions!

walking to the dive shop

Thierry explaining everything

We carried our gear to the boat.

Drew ready to go!

Violet about to flip back into the water

almost everyone ready

On the rope, Calvin, Vanessa, and Eli went first.

Drew went down next, and did amazing. He needed a little help with the breathing unit but figured it out!

All I saw were bubbles when the whole group started moving

the boat driver, I think his name was Esteban, circled around the rocks for me to see more views

35 minutes later, 6 people popped up!

more time to snorkel

After we got back and unloaded, a little girl came over dancing around all happy and seemed very social.  We asked her (in spanish) "cuantos anos tienes?" and she held up two, then three fingers.  We said "Como te llamas?" and she said "Amy!", or at least we thing that's what she said. :) 

She understood high fives

and fist bumps

Thierry was kind enough to snap a nice group photo!

Violet tried getting a pic with little Amy

We went back to our place (around Noon) to get cleaned up, all of us showered, then went out to lunch (at 1pm)

We stopped at Cafecito del Mar - exactly what it means, a little cafe by the ocean.  We had fried chicken, fries, shrimp pasta, and other things. 

The restaurant vibe here is just...slow.  People are very kind, our server spoke english, and was helpful.  The food took awhile, and asking for the bill is another adventure.  The food was good, we had to ward off a few people asking us to buy things.

We had another adventure buying a few groceries, getting pesos from the ATM, then headed back to our place.  We got there around 5:30.  Maria had prepared dinner and left it in a hot oven.  Since we'd just had lunch we weren't quite hungry yet but we left the food hot to eat a little later and watched a movie to pass some time.

We ate around 7pm, the ribs, potatoes, and salad were delicious...as always. She knows how to season and cook!  

Saturday, Jan 4, 2025

Fishing day!  We woke up at 6:45am, had breakfast by 7:30, then met the fishing boat and the two guys helping us at 8am.  

loading up the lines

Leo knew what he was doing.  Calvin called him spiderman the way he moved around the boat and kept up with all the lines.  We had 4 trolling for awhile. 

Things were pretty quiet then all of a sudden we caught 4 fish in a row.  Leo was busting it all day, and our driver Tony was helping a lot too.  Leo would tell someone a fish was on the line, then 4 of us got to reel them in.  Dave got the first little tuna, maybe 12 inches.  Violet and Drew got the next two bigger fish (Violet caught a Wahoo, Drew caught a mahi-mahi, also called dorado or dolphin fish) at the same time, then Calvin reeled in a barracuda.  

They tried going over the same place a few times but it was time to go to the beach and have lunch.  The two guides put on the grill attachment and grilled chicken, fish, and shrimp with toasted bread.  It was very delicious.  

Calvin discovered palms "leaves" are much larger/heavier than he thought.

Leo with the Mahi Mahi filet

Tony with the chunks of Wahoo

The guys cleaned the fish we could keep (barracuda had to be discarded because it has poison or something bad in it) and gave the chunks and filets to us in a bag.  When we got back to the house Maria had already trimmed it and had it soaking in a marinade to add to the chicken for dinner.  I have never gone deep sea fishing before and eaten the catch the same day!

Dave and I went to the beach and felt so exhausted, we just laid straight in the sand.  Something about being in the wind/sun/boat/ocean all day makes ya tired.

Anyway, this was the view.

And this was the cooked fish.  I keep saying everything was delicious but man it was so good...Maria seasoned it up nicely and cooked it.  Even Vanessa liked it. 

Sunday, Jan 5, 2025

Today was a relaxed start.  Maria put out a stack of pancakes, hard boiled eggs, little ham and cheese sandwiches and fruit.  We talked about what we might want to do today, and having no plans became the plan.  Some were interested in souvenir shopping.  We hung out at the beach, watched the Bears vs Packers game (Bears WON -- first time they beat them since 2018), made dinner reservations for an Italian restaurant.

the meal scene - we eat almost every meal outside!

I found all of them swimming...those are their little heads in the water

these are hard to see but the poles sticking up out of the water guide the boats going in and out to go around rocks

a little volleyball

woohoo! A fun moment when the Bears won 

walk on the beach waiting for the time to leave for dinner

Ilnido Cocina Italiana

bruchetta and caprese bread - good apps!

this place was pretty cool - one server spoke english well.  The vibe was fun and the food was amazing. 

Monday, Jan 6, 2025

Our last day!  I logged into Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp's website at 8:00 central time, exactly at the time registration opened up to get some kids registered for camps that fill up quick.  That was on our reminder list to get done during vacation.  Took about 30 minutes, but I was successful. :) 

Maria cooked a veggie and cheese omelet and oatmeal - again - very yummy.  I am missing my coffee because the Dominican coffee is just good, not amazing. :) 

We spent our last free day at the beach making sand art, swimming, playing volleyball, and souvenir shopping.  Dave and I had some work fires to put out with sick people leaving the office.  

Calvin loved this little shell but we found a snail in it. We threw it back in the ocean. Eli named it "Scubbs"

Eli gave up playing volleyball and went to the beach and dug a deep hole, then the rest of us helped dig a channel to make water flow into it.

Vanessa made a heart hole - we took a family pic with a camera down in it but were missing Calvin for it.

lots hearts

and flowers

Maria's last lunch...ribs, spaghetti with meat sauce and shrimp sauce, salad.

no pics of souvenir shopping, but I did find a van with Juan 14:6 on it! 

last dinner at Porto!

our waiter wanted to be remembered...we asked him to take a photo and he flipped it around for a selfie.