Tuesday - 2.21.23

Today was a very active, eventful day. We started with our final breakfast at Hotel Platino, checked out, and boarded the bus for our first adventure of the day, the 27 charcos (pools/ponds) of Damajagua. Right from the start of the day, all of us were excited for the waterfalls because many of us have never seen anything like it. We also were able to get a little more rest on the hour drive there.

Once we arrived to Damajagua, we got off the bus and we’re greeted with life jackets and helmets, a sign that we were about to have a lot of fun. We began our hike up the mountain, stopping along the way to catch our breath and to enjoy the nature around us. Our guide told us about halfway through the hike that we were only 5 minutes away from the top, but quickly added that they were “5 Dominican minutes “ and that there was still a decent amount to go. 

Right before finishing the hike, we stopped at an outdoor theater space and had an impromptu talent show. It was fun to see everyone put their talents on display and get some of the nerves out before we started jumping into some of the waterfalls. 

We moved on to the next part of the adventure, getting down the mountain. In order to do so, we had to jump and slide into the natural pools of water. It was so much fun to see everyone push themselves to either jump or slide and rise to the challenges. Finally we finished the descent and moved on to our next adventure, zip lining! We took a short bus ride to a ranch and harnessed up immediately, ready to glide from treetop to treetop with an incredible view of the mountains and rivers. 

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the zip lining and we concluded our visit to the ranch with a delicious lunch of traditional Dominican food. 

As you could imagine, we were all tired after the morning adventures, so we got on the bus and made our way to puerto plata. We arrived at the hotel/resort around 4:30pm, checked in and immediately began to enjoy the beach and pool. 

To conclude the day, everyone got dinner and got some much needed rest. More excitement to come tomorrow!