Amy’s sister Linda is visiting, with her children, Channy and Surya. The Gri gri gang - the collection of ex-pats usually found sitting at the corner – have planned an excursion. Usually Mark, a German who is Gri gri’s boyfriend, runs a tourist excursion out of the restaurant, with a large truck they own. Since no one is using the truck today, and we were supposed to have visitors - ours showed but Katie’s didn’t – they decided to have an ex-pats outing to El Valle, a beach off of a side road near Samana that is reportedly very beautiful. The plan was to drive in and drop off supplies and Paul at one of the two waterfalls that are on a river going to the beach, where he would start cooking our food while the rest of us went to the ocean. We took a turn off the road, driving up a shallow riverbed to the waterfall, when the truck got stuck. Mel was driving, and we thought he’d be able to get out right away but, after 10 minutes of spinning, we realized we had a problem. Since we were more than 12 miles from town, it could have been a big problem. After an hour of trying to put stones under tires, prying with long sticks and, finally, pushing and rocking, we got the truck up on more solid footing and Mel could drive again.
We headed to a second waterfall, one that involved a 15-minute hike in to an incredible waterfall with a swimming hole at its base. Everyone took in some supplies – food, chairs, table, coolers, and the propane tank which was 4 times as heavy as any of the other items – and Paul stayed to start cooking food and guard the rest of the supplies while the rest of us hiked back out to the truck and drove to the beach, El Valle.
Along the drive from the waterfalls and to the beach there were many children, either walking home from school or who lived in the area. Someone had brought some bags of candy and the kids with us – Lane, Benjamin, Channy, Surya, and Carmella, the daughter of Wolfgang and Janette, who live in Las Galeras – would throw candy to the kids along the road.
The beach was secluded, with cliffs on both ends. The bay was a little different from what we’ve seen in Las Galeras, mainly because there was a sailboat moored offshore, something we have not seen here so far. There were a couple of thatched huts at the entrance to the beach – one of them was a restaurant and the other seemed to be just a shelter. When we got out and walked to the beach, Katie told us the far end of the beach – it looked to be about ½ mile, was the beautiful part of the beach. A river came into the ocean here, at the base of a cliff. We went into the river, and then some of us went into the ocean. The waves here were higher than we normally see. Several of us – Mel, Amy, Rebecca, Lane and I – were bouncing in the waves and enjoying ourselves when we saw that we had suddenly been taken out about 300 yards on a current. Mel started swimming back, and it looked to be pretty easy. Amy started swimming, and Lane and I followed, but Lane was having a hard time with the current. She tired after a while and I had her hold my shoulders while I swam and pushed her in. It was the strongest current I have ever experienced in the ocean, and we made it back in about 25 minutes – it had only taken us 5 to get out.
We played in the river some more, and headed back to the truck. We drove back to the trail into the second waterfall, and hiked back to the swimming hole and Paul and food. This was a great swimming hole – a beautifull waterfall running into a deep hole, with plenty of ledges around the sides for climbing and jumping. We took turns climbing the rocks on one side and jumping into the deep pool at the base of the falls. At one point a local man came by, and climbed the steep cliff on the other side of the pool, at one point crossing over to a tree that looked at least 100 feet over the water. He continued up a bit, and stopped on a limb overhanging the pool, from where he did a full back flip into the water. He then collected tips from the varied tourists around the swimming hole, and Paul said he did 3 shows a day, having done a similar dive a couple hours earlier when Paul was first here.
On the way out Juanisita (sp?) a Dominican woman who joined us, started itching her arms and legs - she told us she must have touched a plant that she is very allergic to, and we needed to get to a pharmacy right away, so she could get some Benedril. She said this has happened before, and she wasn't even aware of the plant being around us today. The remainder of the ride was a little hairy, as she was obviously in discomfort, and it was a slow ride out to the paved road, but we made it to a pharmacy in Samana and she got medication.
CURRENT READING: “Quidditch Through the Ages,” by Kennilworthy Whisp, and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” by Newt Scamander.
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