Day 7

Domingo – that means Sunday!  We were both feeling “off” so another uneventful day was in order.  I went out to the balcony to spend my quiet time while Walter slept in.  That was becoming my special place and I enjoyed the birds singing, little lizards darting and the local employees chatting and breaking out in song.  Then after a late breakfast, we ventured to the beach.

A young tour salesman had approached us on our second day at the hotel; we put off his pitch initially as we were inundated with offers and excursions.  Walter mentioned to me later that particular tour looked interesting, so when this man approached us again on the beach, we were ready for his presentation.

“Segway Eco-Tours” offered a three-hour excursion riding paths through an ecological reserve on a Segway.  You know, those scooter-type machines like Kevin James in the “Mall Cop” movie rode!  As we listened, the fellow named Louisjean noticed the music Walter had playing on his I-phone was Gospel. 

“You are Christian?” he asked.  That began a lengthy conversation that turned into a theological discussion.  It was our “church time”, our opportunity to fellowship on the Lord’s Day.  Louisjean was from Haiti, where his father is a pastor in the Nazarene church.  He moved to Punta Cana to work for a few months, but his heart was for ministry, as we could tell from his passion about God’s word.  He was off work at 4 pm so he could travel to Higuey, a city an hour from the resort, for evening service. 

We booked a Segway tour for the next day.

Day 8

Monday morning dawned with clear blue skies and high humidity already evident at 7:30 am!  Our trip wasn’t until 11:00 am and I think we both wondered if we should have booked the 9:00 am to avoid the heat.  Too late.  After breakfast and packing our little backpack with water and sunscreen, we met the van driver at the lobby.  I don’t think he spoke any English and he turned the radio on to Spanish music, maybe to avoid making conversation.  We sat in the blissfully cool van and rode quietly down the winding road, past the market and fancy resort hotels and down to the main highway.  We turned towards the airport of Punta Cana, but had no idea where we were going or how long to get there.  The driver didn’t pick up any other customers along the way and we arrived at the Ecological Reserve south of the airport after about half an hour. 

We jumped out, realizing we didn’t have any tip money-oops!-and immediately we were greeted by guys in orange shirts and hats. 

“Is no one else coming today?”  We inquired of our tour guide. 

“The others are a family group of about twenty people with children.  You want to have the VIP tour?”  Our small, white-skinned tour guide with a Spanish accent asked us. 

In an instant we both said, “Sure!”  Secretly, Walter had hoped for a small group or even just us on the tour.  Thank You, Lord, for these special gifts from Your hand!

After fitting us with helmets, Walter was the first to get lessons on driving and steering the Segway.  Then as he was sent on the practice path, I stepped up onto my machine.  With some basic instructions, I followed Walter on the path and didn’t crash and burn as I feared.  Our guide – I wish I remembered his name-deemed us ready, and we followed him as he drove the golf cart. 

The day was growing hotter and thankfully, the path was lined by trees on both sides.  The shade felt wonderful and as we gained a little speed, the breeze was downright heavenly!  Every now and then, our guide pointed out banana trees, flower nurseries, the iguana enclosure, and an old sugar cane apparatus amongst some sugar canes.  The path we were on was dirt and something like wood chips, marked along both sides by light grey lava rock. Soon, we were out of the shadows and crossing a main paved road.  No traffic.  One speed bump!  Fortunately, we slowed right down as per instructions:  slow down over bumps-you don’t want to be Superman or Superwoman! 

We now entered the first and oldest resort in the Punta Cana region.  Over forty years ago, Julio Iglesias, and two other men of means were investing in the area as a potential for tourist development.  These three men actually purchased land for the local airport – private, not government funded.  Otherwise, the closest place guests could fly in to was Santo Domingo, over four hours drive.  So we cruised the lovely paved paths through this bit of history.  We met a few golf carts on the way.  Eventually we rounded a corner and saw a gorgeous view of the elite golf course on our left.  Green, gorgeously groomed and I’m sure, expensive to play. 

To our right, we saw the beautiful azure blue of the Caribbean Sea.  It was calmer than the Atlantic Ocean by our resort.  The beach here was quiet, almost empty.  This resort seemed to cater to an upper class clientele, probably more elderly folks.  Although we saw a kids’ playground along the path, no kids were there.  We pulled over to a parking area and were helped off our Segways for a little break on the shore. 

I immediately took off my socks and running shoes to enjoy the lovely sand between my toes.  We waded into the Caribbean Sea and let the cool water soothe our sore feet! ( I guess we’d been gripping our Segways a little tensely in our inexperience so our feet were aching.)  We chatted with our guide, whom we learned had come to the Dominican from Spain on vacation with his girlfriend, and loved it so much, he stayed.  Apparently, his girlfriend did not!  He’s been working at various jobs for eight years and married a Dominican.  They have a child.  Interesting!

I gathered some coral pieces and some little shells, then we were back on our Segway units.  We headed to the entrance of the Ecological Reserve. We stopped there for a fruit-ka-bob and water break.  He explained a bit more about the area being preserved-it contained five “lagunas” or lakes.  For $25, a person can enter and walk the paths and swim in the accessible lagunas.  This was included in our tour and would be how we’d end our day.

We returned to the beginning of our tour, past the iguana enclosure.  All along, our guide took pictures with our cameras and kept reminding us of our VIP tour privileges.  Normally, we could purchase a DVD of pictures on the tour, but today we got all our pictures free!  Back to the iguanas…we hung out there and learned a few things about them.  We noticed small ping-pong ball-sized items dotting the grounds and inquired as to their identity.  Right away, Mr. Spain began gathering a few and cracking them open with a rock. They were almonds.  Nice treat!

We could hear some whooping and hollering and realized the family group was right behind us.  So we got on our machines and raced back to the main centre.  We wanted to hike to the laguna before they all arrived.

We hiked about ten minutes into the reserve on a groomed path.  It was shady but still and by the time we spotted the lake, we were very hot and sweaty.  We left our shoes, backpack and towels on the deck and descended the wooden steps into very cool and clear water.  That felt so good! We paddled in over our heads within a couple feet of the steps into perfectly clean, fresh water, fed from an underground river system. We saw a few fish scatter and a turtle swim to the shore away from us.  A white duck perched on the lava rock along the edge of the lake.  We swam over to a partially submerged tree and sat on it awhile.  All around us were lovely green trees. 

“Can you believe we are swimming in a lake on January 20?”  It seemed surreal!

Then our peaceful reverie was broken by the noise of the young ones in the big group.  They arrived full of enthusiasm.  Several went up to the platform about ten feet above the water.  We laughed at their antics and bravado and missed our own kids at that age!  After watching them a few minutes, we thought we would give them their space.  We reluctantly climbed onto the deck and got dried off before donning our shoes for the hike back.

We had the same van driver for the return trip to the hotel and we tipped him well.  It was worth the quiet ride back!