And then there was little town of Las Terrenas in the city of Santa Barbara de Samana, about a 3 hour drive from the boisterous city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Free of tourists, coupled with very few modern influences on culture and landscape, Las Terrenas is a very attractive destination.
This past February, I visited the little town of Las Terrenas in the city of Samana, DR with two of my girlfriends because we wanted to watch the migration of the whales. We stayed at a villa in Eva Luna, where the ethnic feel and layout unearthed senses of extreme calm and bliss. We were greeted with fresh coconuts, free wifi and a complimentary continental breakfast.
We moved around the town in Motoconchos and Quad bikes. In our bid to go whale watch, we drove the quad bike 2 hours from Las Terrenas to downtown Santa Barbara de Samana. It rained, the sun scorched, we ran out of gas in the middle of the highway, and our quad engine stopped working on our trip to downtown. It was one of the craziest travel experiences I’ve had in a foreign land. After 2 hours on the road, we finally made it to the commercial downtown of Samana. We went to the port and we got on a boat to go watch the Whales entertain us. Despite the crazy day we had, whale watching was definitely worthwhile.
After a long day navigating our way to downtown Samana and whale watching, we stopped for lunch at this roadside restaurant, where most of the locals ate. The food was divine. On our way back to Las Terrenas, our solemn place, we savored the bliss of the beach which was crystal clear and beautiful. The air we inhaled was pure. I don’t recall having any bad experience with food in this town – all the restaurants we went to had great food – including the road side seasoned chicken we ate after ravaging the night life of Las Terrenas. Enjoy lunch or dinner by wonderful seaside restaurants and bars in Las Terrenas. In particular was the famous El Mosquito bar, come here around 3pm for nice drinks and food right on the water. The simplicity, ingenuity and culture in this town, which almost feels like its own island, makes it heaven on earth!
This story was curated by Moni Baruwa.