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TWO-WEEK TAINO TOUR
(includes visits to both Samaná and Lago Enriquillo,
plus Cotui)
All tours start out in Santo Domingo, the "first city" of the Americas,
founded in 1498.
- For the first four nights you will be lodged in the Capital
- then we'll spend two nights in Baní
- two nights in Santiago
- one night in Cotui
- one night in Sábana del Mar
- and the last three nights at a Caribbean beach resort.
--Day 1. Settle into your hotel. Evening tour of the Zona
Colonial, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. This ancient
walled city guarding the mouth of the Ozama River where it meets
the Caribbean Sea had a thriving population of Taínos when the Spaniards
arrived. A city of "firsts," you will see the Columbus Plaza, with
its magnificent gothic cathedral and statue of Columbus; the church
complex built by the friars of the Order of St. Dominic (Dominicans)
where the first university in the New World used to be (in front
of the Dominican church is a small park where the Cacica Anacaona
was hanged in 1502); the forbidding Ozama Fortress where Gonzalo
Fernández de Oviedo wrote his History of the Indies in which he
denounced Taínos as a primitive people; the "Calle de las Damas,"
a street paved by Taínos so that elite Spanish ladies could take
their accustomed afternoon stroll; the Alcazar, a combination home
and palace built for Christopher Columbus' son Diego and his blue-blooded
wife doña María de Toledo; the Casa del Cordón, oldest stone house
built by Europeans in the Americas; the ruins of the Franciscan
Monastery where Cacique Enriquillo was educated, and much, much
more. Dine at El Conuco restaurant, famous for its "comida típica,"
a buffet of Dominican foods served in a colorful country atmosphere
to the lively rhythm of merengue.
.--Day 2. After breakfast, we'll see the fabulous Taíno
artifacts in the Museum of Dominican Man, then drive through mountain
foothills where the highway is lined with charming country houses
and coconut vendors to the ceramics workshop of the Guillén brothers
in Yamasá. The Guilléns are world famous for the quality of their
replicas of Taíno artifacts. You'll be able to buy directly from
the artists at less than 1/3rd what they sell for in gift shops.
Lunch in Yamasá, then we're off to Peravilla to see where the Ozama
River tumbles down out of the mountains on its way to Santo Domingo
and a plateau that appears to have been a Taíno cimarrón community,
where Taínos fled and established a hidden town after the arrival
of the Spaniards. Note that this part of the tour requires hiking
up and down a steep incline, so wear your running shoes. Afterwards,
we'll visit a cocoa plantation to see how chocolate grows and to
enjoy horseback riding before going back to the city, stopping for
a buffet dinner at the Hotel Lina Barceló before returning to your
hotel.
--Day 3. After breakfast, we tour the Museo Pre-Hispanico,
a private museum of Taíno artifacts collected by Manuel García-Arévalo,
and a variety of shops and galleries that specialize in Neo-Taíno
art and artisanry. Lunch at Anacaona Restaurant in front of the
Cathedral, followed by a trip to the Botanical Gardens, which are
listed among the top 10 in the world. We'll take the trolley tour
and then spend an hour in the section devoted to plants and trees
that are indigenous to the island. The balance of the afternoon
and early evening are free so you can rest and prepare for a gala
night that begins with dinner at the Mesón de la Cava, inside a
natural cave, and dancing at one of Santo Domingo's best "discotecas."
--Day 4. Free day. Sleep in and then do whatever you please.
Two optional trips will be offered, at no additional charge: swimming
at Boca Chica, the beautiful white-sand-and-turquoise-waters beach
that is the favorite of the Capital's residents (leaves at 11:00am,
returns at 5:00pm), and a shopping trip to the colorful Mercado
Modelo (leaves at 11:00am, returns at 2:00pm). Breakfast is provided
on this day if you wake up early enough, but not lunch or dinner.
--Day 5. Pack your bags. After breakfast, we're off to San
Cristóbal to see the fabulous Cueva Pomiers, a cave with hundreds
of Taíno drawings and stone sculptures. This cave appears to have
been dedicated to rituals of courtship and fertility. Afterwards,
we'll have lunch and swim in the fresh-mountain water of La Toma.
On our way to Baní in the afternoon, we'll visit the Casa de Caoba
that belonged to the country's "President" Trujillo (an infamous
dictator) a partially restored 17th-century sugarcane plantation
and mill, and the ruins of a 16th-century plantation that belonged
Diego Caballero. Dinner and overnight in Baní.
--Day 6. After an early breakfast, we head out to the unforgettable
Lago Enriquillo, a vast salt lake and nature preserve in an incredible
mountain and desert setting. Along the way, we'll make a stop to
photograph an awe-inspiring statue of Cacique Enriquillo along the
main highway. At the preserve, we'll see Las Caritas, carved guardian
"faces" high up on a cliff wall that the Taínos sculpted to protect
this cimarrón ("runaway") area, and we'll enjoy a nature tour with
local specialists of the crocodile, iguana, and flamingo breeding/feeding
grounds. We'll have lunch at one of the area's artesian-stream-fed
ponds-in the desert!-and, if time permits, a refreshing dip before
heading back to the hotel and dinner in Baní.
--Day 7. After breakfast, we head to Concepción de la Vega
to see the shrine of Santo Cerro, site of the very first major battle
between American Indians and Europeans (and where the legend of
the island's patroness, the Virgin de las Mercedes, arose). We'll
have lunch at a restaurant with a breathtaking view of the entire
Cibao Valley. We'll also visit the ruins of La Vega Vieja, where
Spaniards built a European city to supervise the gold mining, a
city built overtop of the principal "yucayeque" that belonged to
Cacique Guarionex, one of the five supreme caciques on the island
in 1492. Then we head to Santiago, the Dominican Republic's second
city, where we'll tour the Heroes' Monument, then check into the
Hotel Gran Almirante. After dinner at the hotel, we'll have a private
tour of the delightful Museo Folklórico de Tomás Morel, a museum
that chronicles the popular culture of the Cibao region, and a Show
Folklórico, followed by dancing to lively meringue and bachata music.
--Day 8. After breakfast, we head up into the mountains
toward the Dominican/Haitian border, a region where thousands of
Taínos fled to escape Spanish domination. We'll visit a casabe factory
(casabe is the bread that Taínos made from bitter yucca) in the
small town of Cacique, where the people still make casabe in much
the same way that their Taíno ancestors did. We'll have lunch in
a local restaurant, then we'll go to Río Chaquey, a site that was
sacred to the Taínos, to see first hand the most famous petroglyphs
on the island. We'll wade knee-deep up a crystal-clear river for
ten minutes to get to the petroglyphs, which are carved into huge
basalt boulders; later we can all swim in natural pools (charcos)
like the Taínos did. All of this is in an incredible natural mountain
environment abounding with native trees and plants. Then it's on
to Dajabón to see where the Dominican Republic and the Republic
of Haiti meet, and where you can buy Haitian baskets, wood and tin
carvings, and paintings. Dinner will be back at the hotel. Free
evening to enjoy the hotel's casino or whatever else you fancy in
Santiago.
--Day 9. After breakfast, we're off to Cotui, which is
rice country today, and the manmade El Hatillo Dam and Reservoir,
a popular recreation area. We'll board a boat to visit the cave
called Guácara Taína, which has fabulous pictographs; unfortunately,
parts of the cave have not been accessible without diving equipment
since the reservoir was created. After lunch, we'll hike to another
cave called Guácara Hoyo de Sanabe. It, too, has fabulous pictographs,
as well as two petroglyphs guarding one of the entrances. The hike
is a moderately strenuous one of approximately one hour each way
through incredibly beautiful hill country, with goats scampering
all around us. Afterwards, we'll tour a "finca" that grows rice
and plantains, where we'll enjoy a delightful Dominican dinner.
Overnight in Cotui.
--Day 10. After breakfast, we'll board the bus and head
southeast to the Cueva de las Maravillas (Cave of the Marvels),
one of the most important caves in the Caribbean, with more than
400 Taíno drawings, some of which look as if they were painted yesterday.
The Dominican government has just spent millions of dollars and
two years lighting up this cave and making it accessible to the
public. Cueva de las Maravillas appears to have been devoted to
childbearing and to the training of caciques and behiques. We eat
lunch in La Romana, then we visit lovely Altos de Chavón, an artists'
village that is a recreation of a 15th-century Italian villa, and
its fabulous Regional Archaeological Museum of Altos de Chavón,
which has some of the area's best Taíno artifacts. We'll stay the
night in Sábana del Mar.
--Day 11. After breakfast in Sábana del Mar, we'll board
boats to visit the unforgettable Los Haitses National Park, with
its unusual geographic formations and dozens of caves filled with
petroglyphs and rare white Taíno drawings. (In mid-January through
mid-March, there's an added bonus of seeing the humpback whales,
which come to Samaná Bay to mate.) After lunch in Samaná, we'll
head up the mountain, hire mules, and see El Salto de Limón, the
largest waterfall on the island. Then we'll cross the bay again
and board our bus. Next stop, Cumayasa Beach Resort on the Caribbean
Sea, where you can enjoy all you want to eat and drink, an evening
show, the pool, beach, and water sports.
--Day 12. After breakfast, we'll take a boat trip to Isla
Saona, today a protected national park. Throughout the 16th and
17th centuries, Isla Saona was a popular stopover for European ships
to stock up on casabe bread, which they bought from Taínos and used
aboard ship because it does not go stale and does not get wormy
like the "hardtack" sailors once had to eat. You won't have to eat
hardtack or casabe, you'll enjoy a delicious barbeque lunch. We'll
visit a small cave where Cacique Higueymoto and his family hid out
from the Spaniards until he was captured in 1504, but most of our
time here will be spent sunning or enjoying the beach until it's
time to return to the resort. What a tough life!
--Day 13. Free day to enjoy all the facilities of the resort.
For the hardy ones among you, we offer (at an additional charge,
sorry), a trip to the nearby National Park of the East and its unbelievable
Cueva José María, which has the most pictographs of any cave yet
discovered on the island and definitely the most controversial.
Some anthropologists believe that one particular series of drawings
within Cueva José María depicts the casabe trade that the Taínos
conducted with the Spaniards in a manner suggesting they were about
to invent writing. It's a hike of 1 ¼ hours each way over rugged
terrain to and from the cave and ropes are needed in two places
inside-it's a fabulous trip, but only for the hardy. Optional trip
includes transportation, special guides, lunch, and cold drinks.
--Day 14. Return to the airport and home, happy and content,
maybe with a little tan and with lots more knowledge and experience
of the Dominican Republic and the Taínos.
SAS
Travel and Tours
Tel (829) 875-4599, Fax toll free (888) 845-3110
Email, agencydr@yahoo.com
, sas@sastravelandtours.com
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