Las Terrenas

We celebrated our anniversary weekend big-time this year. So big-time, in fact, that it took us a full week to recover enough to finally post a decent summary of it. (Well, not really, we actually just happened to be pretty busy this week...but we did have a lot of fun in Las Terrenas!).

Last Friday we boarded a super full guagua which took us directly to Las Terrenas, a town on the Atlantic-side of the Samana Penninsula. The ride was not exactly comfortable (we were wedged on "add-in" seats into the aisle, Micah in front and me behind him). But for 4.5 hours you can bear nearly anything, and we were treated to an amazing weekend once we got there!

We spent Friday night at our hotel's restaurant, chatting with our Italian hotel-owner who was convinced we were from Sweden. We also were asked if we were French, which we found hilarious (everyone around Santiago assumes we're from the US...I'm having a hard time convincing my preschoolers to call me Rebekah and not Americana, even). Anyway, we each got our wish--Micah for fresh fish (red snapper) and me for a mojito.

Saturday we took a motoconcho to Playa Cosón, just west of Las Terrenas. We stationed ourselves at this little hut which grilled freshly caught fish and had super cold cerveza.

The view from the hut.

In between swimming breaks we played many a hand of cribbage (to date: the World Championship Cribbage Score reads Rebekah: 8, Micah: 4).

And we ate (devoured) more fresh fish. For me, something filleted. For Micah, something whole. Both were absolutely delicious.

We walked from Playa Cosón along the beach until we reached Playa Bonita, where we were enticed by the gentle waves to rent one surfboard and one boogie (beached whale) board. We didn't get any pictures of the action, but Micah stood up a few times on his board!

We acted cheesy and then attempted trying to walk back to our hotel but got talked into renting another motoconcho (he gave us a sweet deal, very hard to refuse).

That night we sat on the beach and then went for pizza. The next morning, we ate one more meal of fish and snapped a couple more photos outside Los Pescadores--the place where the fishing boats launch.

Despite being exhausted after traveling home, we had a perfect weekend of enjoying each other's company and playing in the water. We're continually reminded of how blessed we are to get to experience this country, and its people, this year.