stops along the way: Lundquist Family Visit

We were so lucky to have some visitors come at the end of January! Mom, Dad, and Zach Lundquist were with us for just over a week, and looking back, I can't believe how much we got done while they were here. They landed in Santiago a-runnin', and there was no looking back...

The first day, Mom & Dad rode the gua gua to the mountains with me. (I figured there was no need to spare them of the typical Dominican experience, so we got at it right away.) Mom spent the morning in the clinic as the nurse, and Dad helped me in the preschool. He made friends with Joshua right away...you might remember him...he'll appear later in this post.

Zach and Micah joined us in the mountains for lunch (with Cheima, yum yum!) and then we all piled into our rental Chevy Aveo. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but such a bargain, so we really couldn't resist. At least we're all related, and honestly, it wasn't as tight of a squeeze as the gua gua would have been. We drove over the mountain to the north coast, stopping at this amazing fruit stand on the way.

Dad sampled some fresh coconut juice, and we drove away with a bounty of freshy-picked fruit.

We spent the night in Cabarete, a touristy little beach town on the north coast. Dinner was on the beach, and the boys enjoyed a cigar (when in Rome, you know), and we all dipped ourselves in the ocean a bit. (We had to thaw the Minnesotans out right away, so we wasted no time getting to the beach!).

We got up bright and early the next morning to drive to the far eastern side of the island. The scenery was gorgeous on the drive as we skirted the entire northern coast of the island. Here is a rice paddy that we saw.

And the herd of cows that took over the road for awhile.

After a few hours of driving, we arrived in Las Galeras (on the Samana Penninsula) where we enjoyed two nights in the gorgeous Casa Dorado, a bed and breakfast. We visited La Playita on the first night and enjoyed freshly grilled mero (red snapper) and dorado (mahi mahi) at Isabella's restaurant, right on the beach.

The owners of the B&B prepared amazing breakfasts, and we especially liked the scrambled eggs with freshly caught fish in them.

Playa Rincón is one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. To get there, you take a boat from the main beach in Las Galeras. The boat ride is wild...

But worth it for the undeveloped, nearly empty beach and the view that awaits.

We spent the day snorkeling, getting custom-made hats woven, drinking out of fresh pineapples and coconuts, and eating freshly grilled fish...

The next morning we made our way to the town of Samaná, where we boarded the Victoria, a whale-watching vessel.

Each year, thousands of humpback whales arrive in the Samaná Bay to mate and deliver their babies. We saw several whales during our trip!

After we spent the afternoon watching whales, we boarded an air-conditioned bus for a ride to the capital city, Santo Domingo. We all enjoyed a nap, and spent the evening and the next day sight-seeing.

Santo Domingo has some of the oldest buildings in the New World (Christopher Columbus first landed here). Here is a shot of the oldest (still-functioning) church in this hemisphere. We witnessed the processional during Mass on Sunday.

Monday morning we all headed back up to the mountains for a home-stay with a Dominican family (Cheima & Minin) and for work duty. Mom helped in the preschool (when Dad & Zach were building a smokeless stove for a local family...we'll share that adventure in the next post). She also hiked a huge mountain to visit a young mother and check on her newborn baby. They were all so helpful and great troopers!