Although Gothenburg seems to be a rocky and hilly area very close to the beach, it consists of many green landscapes to relax in natural surroundings and have a good time. The first little travel experience I made in Sweden was the Botanic Garden in Gothenburg. 175 hectares of nature in the middle of the city. This place was a real oasis of exotic plants and flowers and good for starting the day.
APPROXIMATE READING TIME: 5 MINUTES
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Welcome to the Botanic Garden of Gothenburg.
With the right sunshine, the colored glasses could’ve been a nice light effect.
Enjoying the little time in the Botanic Garden of Gothenburg.
As always when I travel and want to take some beautiful photos, weather conditions are challenging me. A very cloudy and grey morning in Gothenburg made it very complicated to capture some good footage. I learned to be grateful for a couple of sunny minutes and enjoy the few rays of the sun more than ever.
The entrance of the Botanic Garden in Gothenburg.
The first flowers you will see.
Swedish summers can be cold and windy!
Best place: The waterfall of the botanic garden in Gothenburg
My absolute favorite was the video of the waterfall I made:
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Luckily, sunshine was coming out exactly during this moment. One thing to keep in mind about the Botanic Garden in Gothenburg is its beautiful waterfall. Definitely worth the climb.
The waterfall.
The botanic garden in Stockholm is ideal for those who enjoy slow tourism
Usually, I like to discover these natural places in slow tourism mode to see everything one place has to offer. Having the maximum of joy and experiences of a place, it takes some hours to discover everything. Hunting places and being jumping around is something I don’t like.
A bumblebee enjoys free nectar from this pink flower.
The flower garden was a paradise for busy bees.
Pure nature, although it was a botanic garden.
Yummi
Beautiful natural colors!
Bees were busy following the call of nature.
Many colorful flowers greet along the way
But time was, unfortunately, ticking also for me this morning and I have had to work in the afternoon. Thus, I was speeding up to see whatever this Botanic Garden had to offer me and my friends in one hour.
Lush and colorful arrangement
You could only hear the rainfall dropping
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Some areas like the exotic tribe house were closed down because of Covid regulations and there were as well plenty of construction sides that limited the visitor’s area as well. All in all, I wasn’t blessed with all the circumstances but had to deal with it anyhow. Better a little bit of time than nothing. Good to have some friends aboard who join the visit:
Andreas took a picture of these two elderly ladies that looked much younger on the picture before.
Observing fishies
Unfortunately, I have had to exit the park earlier than I wanted. Duties! Usually, I would have spent there approximately 3 – 4 hours to have the full experience. The ideal timing for a morning or afternoon. For that limited amount of time, I’m quite happy and satisfied with the outcome of photos and videos of this place.
Is it worth visiting the Botanic Garden in Gothenburg?
All in all, the botanic garden is a place I would like to recommend to every visitor and traveler in Gothenburg. If you would have to pay an admission, it’s worth the money. But there aren’t any costs to enter if you disregard the way from and to the place. The botanic garden in Gothenburg is for free.
One of the main natural characteristics of Gothenburg was as well in the Botanic Garden: The rocky structure.
A great view!
If you climb up the rocks, there’ll be a fantastic viewpoint that offers a 360 degree view over Gothenburg.
A view over the whole city.
Relaxing and calming bodies of water
Without any direct costs involved, the Botanic Garden place is even more worth visiting. Especially when these colors welcome you:
Lush and colorful arrangement
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I was blessed to spend a few days in the second biggest city of Sweden. Gothenburg is a very beautiful city and very recommendable to make travel experiences away from a capital city like Stockholm. Despite it is a Nordic and cold location, it is still charming and welcoming to foreigners. Some national features and characteristics might always surprise a visitor. Same happened to me when I travelled to Gothenburg. Thus I want to share some 7 fascinating and surprising travel characteristics from Gothenburg in Sweden.
1 – Free Water
For every thirsty traveler, I have some good news: Water is free and doesn’t need to be ordered when going out for a bite or a drink. You can drink as much water as you want.
I visited two different restaurants, Vi Viet (a Vietnamese restaurant with excellent food and service) and Moon Thai Kitchen (a Thai restaurant with spicy food with odd interior and decoration) and both of the time they offered free water to its guests. With these hot and spicy Asian cuisines, that’s a kind thing to do because that food can be challenging for the palate.
Where the service ends starts the water supply
Some days later I even encountered a water tap station in a bar called Vasaplatsens Bryggeri. Although it was self-service to get the water, I found this an interesting and supportive concept to counteract alcohol-charged evenings.
Water is free and not a commercialized product in Sweden.
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2 – Unisex restrooms
You know all these irrational discussions about genderism that happen every day in every society around the world. Instead of unifying and reuniting people, the opposite movement occurs. It could become really difficult to make it nice and comfy for everyone when it comes to the most basic necessities.
Especially hygiene policies for rest- and bathrooms happen to be overcomplicated. With all the new genders in the world, there would be soon more segregated bathrooms than toilets. I have my difficulties to imagine this in means of transport like airplanes or trains. To avoid this unwanted scenario, I encountered in Gothenburg a newly old approach I wasn’t aware of before.
To simplify these trendy overcomplications and solve these issues, there are almost everywhere unisex and shared restrooms to find. In multiple restaurants, bars, and at the airport of Gothenburg I only encountered one single door for everyone.
I wasn’t immediately a fan of that solution, because I also have had to adapt to that situation. But the approach itself was worth considering as smart and simple. Usually, women don’t want to share public restrooms with men, but in this case it was me 🙂
3 – Snus shops
A few years ago, I lived together with a very nice guy in Finland who introduced me to the concept of Snus. Snus is a very odd product that is majorly produced and consumed in Scandinavian countries. It can be seen as a replacement for cigarettes that is a very trendy and bad habit as well. Just without all the smoke and smell.
Snus – The strangest way to consume tobacco
You consume tobacco with a small tobacco pillow that is placed inside of the gums. It lasts usually for a couple of minutes until an hour. Depends on the intensity and amount of tobacco and flavors inside. Mmmhhh…
High Tech Snus Shop
But the most surprising thing was a whole shop for Snus products. When it comes to cigars as an elegant and high-priced product, I might understand an own store for it. Snus shops surprised me in a way because I wasn’t expecting this little consumable product relevant enough to make a huge professional store with a wide portfolio.
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4 – Manual cashless checkouts
One of my dreams came true during my few days of traveling in Sweden. To avoid long lines, searching your purse for the right amount of coins and banknotes, people in Sweden were introducing the concept of manual cashless checkouts in some of the supermarkets. And I love that idea.
No cash zone, no cashier, no cash in general: Sweden is a paradise.
No more immediate contact to moody cashiers included. I saw some pilot projects in other European countries before with some restrictions to it, but the Swedish solutions were very extensive and comprehensive at the same time. More a replacement to supply the whole supermarket than an addition to the traditional exit zones.
In Gothenburg I finally got to know that normal shopping in the supermarket can even be fun. To do this, the last step of the shopping process has to be overhauled and redefined.
5 – Free admission to parks
A great feature was the free admissions to some of the tourism destinations within Gothenburg. I did not expect to be let in for free. Wherever I visited some other public parks in other cities, botanic gardens, or nature reserves in other countries, there were always some admissions to pay.
So much nature to discover in Gothenburg – And everything for free!
In Gothenburg I encountered its Botanic Garden and a park called Slottskogen for free. Not only that, these two places were in an excellent and clean shape. If you are interested in finding out more about these two places, you should take a visit to the related articles I dedicated to these two
6 – Good public transportation
One key factor when traveling around urban areas is to comprehend and use successfully public transport. Having obtained all necessary information quickly, it was a pure joy to move quickly around Gothenborg.
Compared to many other countries I’ve traveled to, the public transport in Sweden was excellent, information was always transparent available and the buses and trams all the time on time. Of course, I don’t have more insights into the rest of the country, but I assume to find similar situations in other parts of Sweden.
What I also liked were some features they have had inside of the buses. Especially families with children and elderly people are taken care of in the public transports. And all the young folks can charge mobile devices on every seat. Buses drive in Gothenborg fully electric and are a blast!
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7 – Perfectly aligned Scandinavian architecture
One of the most surprising features of Gothenburg was its architecture. Although it was a simple, minimalistic and efficient way to build houses, these constructions seem to have a Scandinavian characteristic that made them look classy. Many buildings just fit beautifully next to each other as they were planned as a collective project.
These houses that you can see in the pictures made me feel happy. Whenever I was walking around the streets of Gothenburg, I randomly took pictures of a line of houses that made me a real tourist. Tender pastel shades gave buildings in Gothenburg a unique character and let them even during cloudy days with difficult light conditions stand out.
This will be one of the main characteristics I will remember of Gothenburg. Both in and outside of the buildings these colors gave a warm and welcoming feeling to its visitors.
All of these peculiar experiences I made in Gothenborg gave me quite a good impression of the rest of Sweden. A very advanced, smart, free, and helpful society that makes me curious to one day return. Maybe I will offer more than 7 fascinating and surprising travel characteristics from Gothenburg in Sweden.
But one thing is for sure: That wasn’t the last time I visited Sweden, neither Gothenburg!
Ich hatte das Glück, ein paar Tage in der zweitgrößten Stadt Schwedens verbringen zu dürfen. Göteborg ist eine sehr schöne Stadt und wirklich empfehlenswert, um mal ein paar Reiseerlebnisse abseits einer Hauptstadt wie bspw. Stockholm zu machen. Obwohl es ein typisch nordisch kühler Ort ist, ist Göteborg charmant und einladend für Besucher und Reisende. Viele schwedische Besonderheiten und Merkmale können beim ersten Besuch immer überraschen. So sagt man ja den skandinavischen Ländern immer einen gewissen Fortschritt und Entwicklung nach, der Besucher erstaunen lässt. Als ich nach Göteborg und das erste Mal überhaupt nach Schweden reiste, ging es mir ähnlich. Daher möchte ich 7 Reisefakten über Göteborg in Schweden mit euch teilen.
1 – Gratis Wasser
Für jeden durstigen Reisenden habe ich eine gute Nachricht: Wasser ist gratis und muss nicht zusätzlich bestellt werden. Du kannst so viel Wasser trinken, wie Du möchtest.
Ich besuchte zwei Restaurants in Göteborg, Vi Viet (ein vietnamesisches Restaurant mit ausgezeichnetem Essen und Service) und Moon Thai Kitchen (ein thailändisches Restaurant mit scharfem Essen mit seltsam ausgefallenem Interieur und bunter Dekoration). Beide Restaurants boten den Gästen kostenloses Wasser an. Bei der scharfen und würzigen asiatischen Küche ist das eine nette Sache, denn dieses Essen kann für den Gaumen eine Herausforderung sein.
Kostenlose Wasserastation
Einige Tage später begegnete ich sogar einer Wasserzapfstelle in einer Bar namens Vasaplatsens Bryggeri. Obwohl das Wasser Teil der Selbstbedienung in diesem Laden war, fand ich es ein interessantes und hilfreiches Konzept, um alkoholbelasteten Abenden vorausschauend entgegenzuwirken.
Wasser ist gratis in Schweden und kein kommerzialisiertes Produkt.
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2 – Unisex Toiletten
Irrationale Diskussionen über Geschlechter finden jeden Tag in jeder Gesellschaft auf der ganzen Welt statt. Anstatt Menschen zu vereinen und näher zusammenzubringen, tritt die entgegengesetzte Bewegung ein. Es könnte wirklich schwierig werden, es für alle angenehm und bequem zu machen. Insbesondere aus der Sicht von Reisenden und wenn es mal um die grundlegendsten Notwendigkeiten geht.
Besonders die Hygienerichtlinien für Toiletten würden verkompliziert werden. Bei all den existierenden und neuen Geschlechtern auf der Welt würde es bald mehr getrennte Badezimmer als eigentliche Toiletten geben. Das Szenario stelle ich mir besonders kompliziert in Flugzeugen vor. Um dieses unerwünschte Ausmaß zu vermeiden, bin ich in Göteborg auf einen neuen und altbekannten Ansatz gestoßen.
Um die trendigen Überkomplikationen zu vereinfachen und gleichzeitig neue Probleme schon rechtzeitig aus der Welt zu schaffen, gibt es fast überall Unisex- und Gemeinschaftstoiletten in Göteborg. In mehreren Restaurants, Bars und dem Flughafen von Göteborg fand ich nur eine einzige Klotür für alle Geschlechter.
Geteiltes Leid ist halbes Leid.
Ich war nicht sofort ein Fan dieser Lösung, weil ich mich auch erst einmal selber auf diese Situation einstellen musste. Aber den grundsätzlichen Ansatz finde intelligent und einfach für alle Beteiligten. Normalerweise wollen Frauen öffentliche Toiletten nicht mit Männern teilen. In dem Fall ist es aber mir schwer gefallen 🙂
3 – Snus Geschäfte
Vor ein paar Jahren lebte ich in einer WG mit einem sehr netten Typen aus Finnland zusammen, der mir Snus vorgestellt hatte. Snus ist auf den ersten Blick ein sehr seltsames Produkt, das hauptsächlich in skandinavischen Ländern hergestellt und konsumiert wird. Es kann als Ersatz für Zigaretten angesehen werden, also eine alte und schlechte Angewohnheit neu verpackt. Nur ohne den ganzen Rauch und Geruch.
Snus – Die seltsamste Art, wie man Tabak konsumieren kann.
Du würdest also mit Snus den Tabak in Form eines kleinen Kissens konsumieren, das zwischen Zahnfleisch und Oberlippe drapiert wird. Die Wirkung des Geschmacks dauert normalerweise ein paar Minuten bis zu einer Stunde. Hängt von der Intensität und Menge des Tabaks und der Aromen im inneren des Snus-Kissens ab. Mmmhhh…
High Tech Snus Shop
Aber das aus meiner Sicht Überraschendste war ein ganzer High-End-Laden für Snus-Produkte. Wenn es um Zigarren als elegantes und hochpreisiges Produkt geht, verstehe ich vielleicht einen eigenen Laden dafür. Snus-Shops haben mich allerdings überrascht und vom Hocker gehauen. Ich hatte nicht erwartet, dass dieses kleine und günstige Verbrauchsprodukt relevant genug ist, um einen riesigen professionellen Laden mit einem breiten Portfolio zu bilden.
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4 – Bargeldlose SB-Kassen
Einer meiner Träume wurde während meiner wenigen Reisetage in Schweden wahr. Um lange Schlangen beim Kramen der Geldbörse nach Münzen und Banknoten zu vermeiden, führten die Schweden in einigen Supermärkten das Konzept der manuellen und bargeldlosen Kassen ein. Und ich liebe diese Idee.
Keine echte Kasse mit Laufband, kein Kassierer, kein Bargeld im Allgemeinen: Schweden ist ein Paradies.
Kein unmittelbarer Kontakt mehr zu übel gelaunten Kassierern. Ich habe zuvor einige Pilotprojekte in anderen europäischen Ländern gesehen, allerdings mit gewissen Einschränkungen wie die Menge oder Summe der gekauften Produkte.
Die schwedischen Lösungen waren gleichzeitig sehr umfassend und weit gedacht. Eher ein Ersatz für die Versorgung des gesamten Supermarktes als eine Ergänzung zu den traditionellen Ausgangszonen. In Göteborg lernte ich endlich mal kennen, dass der gewöhnliche Einkauf im Supermarkt sogar Spaß machen kann. Dazu muss nur der lästigste Prozessschritt am Ende technisch überholt werden.
5 – Freier Eintritt in Parks
Ein tolles Feature während meiner Reise war der freie Eintritt zu einigen der touristischen Ziele in Göteborg. Ich hatte nicht erwartet, überall kostenlos reingelassen zu werden. Wo immer ich sonst derlei gepflegte öffentliche Parks in anderen Städten, bzw. botanische Gärten oder Naturschutzgebiete in anderen Ländern besuchte, musste ich immer Eintritt bezahlen.
So viel Natur in Göteborg zu entdecken – Und das alles kostenlos!
In Göteborg habe ich den Botanischen Garten und einen Park namens Slottskogen kostenlos kennengelernt. Nicht nur das, diese beiden Orte waren in einem ausgezeichneten und sauberen Zustand. Wenn Du mehr über diese beiden Orte erfahren möchtest, klick auf die verknüpften Artikel.
6 – Hervorragender ÖPNV
Ein wichtiger Faktor beim Reisen in städtische Gebieten ist der öffentliche Verkehr und ihn nachvollziehen und erfolgreich nutzen zu können. Nachdem alle notwendigen Informationen für eine Fahrt schnell verfügbar und abrufbar sind, war es eine reine Freude, sich in Göteborg mit Bus und Straßenbahn fortzubewegen.
Im Vergleich zu vielen anderen Ländern, waren die öffentlichen Verkehrsmittel in Schweden hervorragend, die Reiseinformationen waren immer transparent und die Busse und Straßenbahnen stets pünktlich ohne eine Ausnahme. Natürlich habe ich nicht mehr Einblicke in den Rest von Schweden. Aber ich gehe davon aus, ähnliche Situationen in anderen Teilen Schwedens zu finden.
Was mir auch gefallen hat, waren einige Bonus-Funktionen, die die Schweden in die Göteborger Busse eingebaut hatten. In den öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln werden vor allem Familien mit Kindern und ältere Menschen gut bedient. Und alle jungen Leute können an jedem Sitzplatz mobile Geräte aufladen. Busse fahren in Göteborg vollelektrisch und sind eine hervorragende Alternative zu Schusters Rappen!
Eines der überraschendsten Merkmale von Göteborg war seine Architektur. Obwohl der Häuserbau dort eher einfacher, minimalistischer und effizienter Natur war, scheinen diese Konstruktionen eine sehr skandinavische Charakteristik zu haben. Viele Gebäude passen einfach wunderbar nebeneinander, da sie scheinbar als Gemeinschaftsprojekt geplant wurden und sich visuell ergänzten.
Diese Häuser auf diesen Bildern haben mich tatsächlich erfreut und glücklich gemacht. Immer wenn ich durch die Straßen von Göteborg spazierte, machte ich ‘rein zufällig’ Fotos von Häuserreihen. Wie ein chinesischer Tourist zückte ich immer meine Kamera und knipste wild drauf los. Zarte Pastelltöne der Häuserfassaden gaben den Gebäuden in Göteborg einen einzigartigen Charakter und lassen sie auch an bewölkten Tagen mit schwierigen Lichtverhältnissen deutlich hervorstechen.
Ein traditionelles Haus in Göteborg mit modernen Sonnenkollektoren auf dem Dach.
Das wird eines der Hauptmerkmale von Göteborg sein, woran ich mich erinnern werde. Sowohl innerhalb als auch außerhalb der Gebäude vermittelten diese Farben keine trübes Stimmung, sondern ein passendes und aufeinander abgestimmtes Gefühl.
All diese besonderen Erfahrungen aus meiner kurzen Zeit in Göteborg, haben mir einen guten Eindruck von Schweden vermittelt. Eine sehr fortschrittliche, kluge, freie und hilfsbereite Gesellschaft. Alles macht sehr neugierig, hier eines Tages zurückzukehren. Vielleicht biete ich später einmal mehr als 7 Reisefakten über Göteborg in Schweden.
Aber eines ist sicher: Ich war nicht das letzte Mal in Schweden, auch nicht in Göteborg!
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The northern coast in the Dominican Republic got famous for its many beautiful beaches. In contrast to the southern side of the island, the north has lower temperatures to offer and more wind to cool down and do some water sport activities. Additionally, you’ll find fewer algae and finer-grained sand at the beaches. I was happy, spending time at one particular beach and would like to recommend it to every interested traveler. Read in this article, why Playa Las Ballenas is the best beach in Las Terrenas and worth a visit.
Approximate reading time: 5 minutes
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Located in the Northern part of the Samaná Peninsula in the Dominican Republic, Playa Las Ballenas is a must-visit in Las Terrenas. Flanked with many apart hotels and vacation homes, Playa Las Ballenas can be easily found in the northwest area of Las Terrenas. It’s one of the most visited beaches in Las Terrenas.
Aufgrund seiner guten und zentralen Lage würde man erwarten, dass dieser Strand von vielen Touristen überrannt wird. Überraschenderweise habe ich ganz andere Erfahrungen machen dürfen. Dieser Strand ist nicht vermüllt und in einem viel besseren und sauberen Zustand, als ich erwartet hätte. Wann immer ich dort war, hatte ich fast den ganzen Strand für mich:
Las Ballenas in the Dominican Republic
Las Terrenas is one of the most visited areas in the Dominican Republic. Maybe I was just lucky to have had the right timing for my visits. But what about the name Playa Las Ballenas? Why is this beach called Playa Las Ballenas?
Why is this beach called Las Ballenas ?
Named Las Ballenas because of three rocky stones in the distance that resemble humpback whales, this spacious, wide white sand stretch with a shallow, calm sea sits right in the heart of Las Terrenas’s small town.
The name ‘Las Ballenas’ is therefore a welcoming hint to one of the most popular tourist excursions that can be done in the Dominican Republic: Whale watching. A ‘ballena’ is the direct translation of ‘whale’ in Spanish. Every year from November to March, you can enjoy the whale watching season in the Dominican Republic. Giant humpback whales come every year to the bay of Samaná to give birth to their calves and breed them.
Whale watching is not an exclusive feature of this beach and can be done from other beaches in the Dominican Republic, too. But the idea to observe whales from this beach was an easy and remarkable transition. Naming a whole beach after its whales creates curiosity and make people want to visit it.
But the reason I like Playa Ballenas so much is not because of the many features I mentioned above.
What else is special about Playa Las Ballenas?
Walking a few miles without crowds of people and observing beautiful sunsets is what made me fall in love with this beach. I enjoyed some days there during the off-season and was never disappointed. It must be more crowded during high seasons. But in months like April till June (except Easter holidays) and from September till December (except the Christmas holidays), it’s worth a visit.
In my Instagram profile, I call myself a sunset hunter. Sunsets have a very relaxing and soothing effect on me. It’s like the farewell of a hot and sunny Caribbean day and turns into a warm and starry night. But the last hour of sunlight before it sets is a marvelous one.
If you enjoy sunsets the same way I do, you’ll collect some valuable memories at Playa Las Ballenas in Las Terrenas. Not sure, why this beach charmed me more than others on the island. But Playa Las Ballenas had the most fascinating sunsets I’ve seen so far in the Dominican Republic.
The Caribbean beauty of Playa Las Ballenas
Playa Las Ballenas is a very clean and peaceful beach in the Dominican Republic with the typical Caribbean flair. Picturesque sunsets invite travelers to observe the beautiful colors of sunsets and sunrises.
Whoever has a talent for photography or videography can let off steam at Playa Las Ballenas and the many soft lighting conditions and color changes that can be enjoyed by a loved one. Few visitors can find out more about the entire beach boulevard.
For me, Playa Las Ballenas is one of the most beautiful beaches in Las Terrenas and Samaná.
It’s worth planning at least one evening there. With a bit of luck, you’ll capture the same photos and videos I did. I always had memorable evenings at Playa Las Ballenas. Lost in thought I observed the last orange and pink hues of the daylight.
I would consider Las Ballenas as the best beach in Las Terrenas and one of my favorites in Samaná. Maybe even on the whole northern coast of the Dominican Republic. Soon, I’ll report more about the marvelous beaches in the Dominican Republic.
But this article should give every reader a good impression of what to expect from Caribbean sunsets in the Dominican Republic. You should also check out another article I wrote before about a Caribbean sunset. One of the most important resources in the Dominican Republic are the infinite sunsets.
Los Patos is one of the most visited beaches in the southwest of the Dominican Republic. I had the opportunity to visit this beach to see a breathtaking sunset. Luckily, I could take some nice photos and videos before it got dark at Las Patos in the Dominican Republic.
Die Nordküste der Dominikanischen Republik ist bekannt für die vielen schönen und endlos langen Strände. Im Gegensatz zur Südseite der Insel bietet der Norden dank niedriger Temperaturen und mehr Wind bessere Konditionen für Wassersportler und Sonnenanbeter gleichermaßen. Außerdem finden sich an den Stränden weniger Algen und mehr feinkörniger Sand. Ich hatte das Glück, viel Zeit an einem bestimmten Strand an der Nordküste zu verbringen und empfehle jedem Reisenden einen Besuch dort. Lies Sie in diesem Artikel, warum Playa Las Ballenas der beste Strand in Las Terrenas und auf jeden Fall einen Besuch wert ist.
Ungefähre Lesezeit: 5 Minuten
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Playa Las Ballenas liegt im nördlichen Teil der Halbinsel Samaná in der Dominikanischen Republik und gilt fast als Pflichtbesuch bei einem Aufenthalt in Las Terrenas. Flankiert von vielen Hotels und Ferienhäusern befindet sich Playa Las Ballenas im Nordwesten von Las Terrenas. Eigentlich kaum zu verfehlen, ist es einer der meistbesuchten Strände in Las Terrenas.
Aufgrund seiner guten und zentralen Lage würde man erwarten, dass dieser Strand von vielen Touristen übersät ist. Überraschenderweise habe ich andere Erfahrungen machen dürfen. Playa Las Ballenas begrüßt seine Besucher in einem guten und sauberen Zustand. Immer wenn ich dort war, hatte ich fast den ganzen Strand für mich allein:
Foto Panorámica de una de las playas más hermosas de Las Terrenas
Las Terrenas ist eines der meist besuchten Gebiete in der Dominikanischen Republik und touristisch sehr gut erschlossen und kommerzialisiert. Vielleicht hatte ich einfach das Glück, das richtige Timing für meine Besuche gehabt zu haben. Aber was ist mit dem Namen Playa Las Ballenas? Warum heißt dieser Strand Playa Las Ballenas?
Warum heißt der Strand Playa Las Ballenas?
Den Namen Las Ballenas verdankt dieser breite Strand drei großen Felsen, die aus der Ferne wie Buckelwale aussehen. Er liegt direkt bei dem kleinen Ort Las Terrenas und erwartet Sie mit seinem weißen Sand und flachem, ruhigem Wasser.
Der Name ‘Las Ballenas’ ist ebenfalls ein willkommener Wink mit dem Zaunpfahl auf einen der beliebtesten Touristenausflüge in der Dominikanischen Republik: Walbeobachtung. “Ballena” ist die direkte Übersetzung von “Wal” auf Spanisch. Von November bis März lassen sich jährlich Buckelwale in der Dominikanischen Republik beobachten. Jedes Jahr kommen riesige Buckelwale in die Bucht von Samaná, um ihre Kälber zur Welt zu bringen und sie großzuziehen.
Wale zu beobachten kann auch von anderen Stränden in der Dominikanischen Republik aus durchgeführt werden. Wenn aber schon der gesamte Strand wie ein beliebter Ausflug heißt, ist das eine clevere Namensgebung an dieser Stelle. Wo ‘Wale’ drauf steht sind meistens auch Wale drin.
Aber der Grund, warum ich Playa Ballenas so sehr mag, liegt nicht am lustigen Namen oder der Möglichkeit zur Walbeobachtung, die ich oben beschrieben habe.
Was ist das Besondere an Playa Las Ballenas?
Ein paar Kilometer ohne Menschenmassen zu laufen und wunderschöne Sonnenauf- oder Untergänge beobachten zu dürfen, schuf eine ganz besondere Verbindung zwischen Playa Las Ballenas und mir. Ich habe dort einige Tage in der Nebensaison genießen dürfen und wurde nie enttäuscht. In der Hochsaison muss es dort natürlich deutlich aktiver sein mit viel mehr Trubel und Lärm. Aber in den Monaten von April bis Juni (ausgenommen die Osterferien die schwer frequentierten Osterferien) und von September bis Dezember (mit Ausnahme der Weihnachtsferien) ist Playa Las Ballenas definitiv einen Besuch wert.
In meinem Instagram-Profil erkläre ich mich unter anderem als ‘sunset hunter’. Sonnenuntergänge wirken sehr entspannend und beruhigend auf mich und sich für mich ein fester Bestandteil meiner Tages,- bzw. Abendplanung. Es ist wie der Abschied von einem heißen und sonnigen karibischen Tag um eine warme und sternenklare Nacht willkommen zu heißen. Aber die letzte Stunde mit Sonnenlicht ist in der Dominikanischen Republik oftmals ein Grund um gedankenversunken am Strand zu sitzen und den Horizont zu beobachten.
Wenn Du Sonnenuntergänge genauso genießt und wertschätzt wie ich, wirst Du am Playa Las Ballenas in Las Terrenas einige wertvolle Erinnerungen sammeln können. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, warum dieser Strand mich mehr bezauberte als viele andere Strände auf der Insel. Aber Playa Las Ballenas hatte die faszinierendsten Sonnenuntergänge zu bieten, die ich bisher in der Dominikanischen Republik gesehen habe.
Die karibische Schönheit von Playa Las Ballenas
Playa Las Ballenas ist ein sehr sauberer und beschaulicher Strand in der Dominikanischen Republik mit dem typischen karibischen Flair. Malerische Sonnenuntergänge laden Reisende ein, die wunderschönen Farben von Sonnenuntergängen und Sonnenaufgängen zu beobachten.
Wer auch immer ein Talent für Foto- oder Videographie hat, kann sich am Playa Las Ballenas austoben und an den vielen sanften Lichtverhältnissen und Farbwechseln während eines Sonnenunterganges erfreuen. Wenige Besucher ermöglichen eine beinahe freie Sicht und Aufnahmen über das gesamte Strandboulevard.
Für mich gehört Playa Las Ballenas zu einem der schönsten Strände in Las Terrenas und Samaná.
Es lohnt sich, mindestens einen Abend dort zu planen. Mit etwas Glück kannst Du ähnliche Fotos und Videos aufnehmen, die ich am Strand machen durfte. Ich habe immer unvergessliche Abende am Playa Las Ballenas verbracht. In Gedanken versunken beobachtete ich am Strand die letzten Orange- und Rosatöne des Tageslichts.
Ich würde Las Ballenas als den besten Strand in Las Terrenas und als einen meiner Favoriten in Samaná bezeichnen. Vielleicht sogar einen der schönsten Strände an der gesamten Nordküste der Dominikanischen Republik. Bald werde ich mehr über die Strände in der Dominikanischen Republik berichten und neue Artikel schreiben.
Dieser Artikel soll Dir jedoch einen guten Eindruck davon vermitteln, was Dich bei all den Sonnenuntergängen in der Karibik in der Dominikanischen Republik erwartet. Lies Dir bei Gelegenheit auch einen anderen Artikel durch, den ich zuvor über einen Sonnenuntergang in der Karibik geschrieben habe. Eine der wichtigsten Ressourcen in der Dominikanischen Republik sind die unendlichen Sonnenuntergänge und ich könnte noch viel mehr Fotos und Videos aufnehmen und Artikel schreiben.
Los Patos ist einer der meist besuchten Strände im Südwesten der Dominikanischen Republik. Auch der kürzeste Fluss der Dominikanischen Republik mündet in die Karibische See. Ich hatte die Gelegenheit, diesen Strand gegen Einbruch der Dunkelheit zu besuchen. Mir sind ein paar schöne Fotos und Videos mit dem Sonnenuntergang bei Las Patos in der Dominikanischen Republik gelungen.
Lima! ¡Capital del Perú! ¡Qué megaciudad con más de 10 millones de personas viviendo allí! Tuve la suerte de vivir en Lima dos veces: en el 2014 por un semestre como estudiante y en el 2018 como viajero regular expatriado. En total, viví más de un año y me siento calificado para escribir una guía útil dirigido a expatriados, contando sobre la vida en Lima. ¿Eres extranjero y también estás interesado en vivir en la capital de Perú? Hay algunas cosas a considerar, pero muchas razones para hacer el cambio. En este artículo, me gustaría ejemplificar 5 razones para vivir en Lima.
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Tiempo de lectura aproximado: 18 minutos
(Última actualización: 15 de mayo de 2021)
La bandera oficial de Lima en Perú
“Hoc signum vere regum est” significa traducido vagamente del latín al español “Este es el signo de la verdad del rey”. Lima me pareció muy poco una ciudad real. Me mostró más una ciudad muy dura y marítima con gente apasionada y trabajadora. Mucha gente trabajadora en una megaciudad real.
Lima es la ciudad más grande en la que viví hasta ahora en mi vida. Según estadísticas recientes al 2021, la ciudad tiene en total 10,861,999 personas viviendo en toda el área metropolitana. ¡La quinta ciudad más grande de América del Sur! Hay que dar de comer a muchas bocas hambrientas en esta enorme ciudad, ¿no crees?
Ya dediqué un artículo anterior del blog con un efusivo elogio a la cocina peruana. Cada visitante estará más que feliz de esperar la mejor cocina del mundo. Deberías leer este artículo y estar de acuerdo conmigo. Si no es así, espero que las pocas imágenes que mostraré den una idea de la calidad de la cocina peruana.
Lima es la mejor ciudad para expatriados ambiciosos y amantes de la comida. Viví y viajé por varias ciudades latinoamericanas durante años y no disfruté de una mejor cocina que la peruana. Los peruanos son gente muy gastronómica y hospitalaria. Y en una gran ciudad como esta, encontrarás mucha gente que se enorgullece de presentarte su cocina. Asegúrate de ser mimado con gusto.
2
Los costos de vida son relativamente baratos
Recuerdo la conversación con los operadores del vuelo corto que hice:
El tipo me dijo que la misma experiencia de vuelo ‘en otro lugar’ costaría hasta tres veces más que en Lima. Por dentro me reí, porque pensé que este era un debil argumento de táctica de venta. Pero luego me di cuenta de que se refería a “en algún otro lugar” de otros países. Y, por supuesto, este tipo tenía razón con lo que dijo. ¡En otro lugar la vida es definitivamente más cara que en Lima!
Pero este indicativo debería ser prueba suficiente para decir que una vida en la capital no es tan cara. Un buen argumento para que los expatriados decidan vivir allí.
Y sí, sé que todo el país fue premiado por ser un destino verde, no solo la ciudad de Lima. Pero en el 2018, ya habia muchos parques y espacios verdes repartidos por toda la ciudad. Seria mejor que resuelvan la terrible situación del tráfico, que contaré en otro artículo. Por qué de que vale tener un parque hermoso y verde, si no puedes disfrutarlo sentado allí por los espantosos ruidos del tráfico 😉 Por lo menos todos los parques están muy bien cuidados.
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Otro detalle es la noticia de 2015, que Lima quiere invertir $ 110 millones en Infraestructura Verde y Adaptación al Clima. Esto suena razonable, ya que es la segunda ciudad desértica más grande del mundo después de El Cairo. En otra fuente muy interesante que leí, decía que Lima está regresando a la naturaleza al desviar el 1% de las tarifas del agua para restaurar bosques, pastizales y humedales andinos que brindan ‘servicios ecosistémicos’ críticos como la regulación de los flujos de agua. Si alguna vez vuelvo a Lima, sentiré mucha curiosidad por saber cuan verde estará la ciudad.
4
Lima tiene una vida nocturna real
¿Recuerdas la bandera de Lima? ¿Que Lima es la ciudad de los reyes como les comenté antes? ¡Bien! Me gustaría resaltar, que también se puede tener la vida nocturna de un rey en Lima. En ninguna otra ciudad, tuve tanta diversión y diferentes actividades para hacer. Nueva York podría ser la ciudad que nunca duerme, pero Lima te da la vida que debe vivirse, siempre de fiesta. Puedes salir todas las noches, siempre hay algo que hacer.
Pero se supone que un artículo semi serio con el enfoque de informes de calidad. Siempre que haya algo que celebrar como conciertos, festivales, fútbol o feriados nacionales, puedes estar seguro que el infierno se desatará en Lima y en todas partes. Un buen ejemplo para dar una idea del ambiente de fiesta en Lima son los siguientes videos:
Lo que pueden ver aquí fue lo que sucedió el 29 de mayo de 2018. No fue más que un martes por la noche, tal vez a las 10 pm. La selección nacional de fútbol peruano derrotó a Escocia por 2:0 en un PARTIDO AMISTOSO. No fue un partido de torneo oficial ni nada comparable, pero sigue siendo motivo suficiente para que la gente haga fiesta tras el partido durante horas.
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Y eso fue “solo” fútbol. ¿Qué fiestas anarquistas sucederán durante la jornada nacional peruana? Sólo me queda imaginar…
5
Hay playas por todas partes en Lima
Lima es una ciudad costera. Si las ciudades costeras no tienen acantilados, generalmente tienen playas. Lima también tiene muchas playas, ubicadas a lo largo de los extremos norte y sur de la ciudad, son muy visitadas durante el verano. No es de extrañar en una ciudad de casi 11.000.000 de habitantes. Al final, tendrás que compartir tu espacio un domingo de verano con alguien de la ciudad.
En Lima y cerca del area metropolitana, encontrarás numerosos balnearios y playas a orillas del Océano Pacífico. Aunque unas vacaciones perfectas no simbolizan para mí la playa en sí, no está de más visitar cada mes durante un día o dos las playas locales y tomar un poco de sol. Y debes apreciar el buen tiempo durante los meses de verano de noviembre a abril porque a partir de mediados de mayo hasta octubre, el clima cambiará toda la ciudad, a una zona gris y sombría.
La costa peruana está equipada con desafiantes olas del Pacífico durante todo el año. En la costa de Lima, las grandes playas de surf son Punta Rocas, sede de un torneo de surf de la Serie Mundial de Clasificación, y la playa de Pico Alto, cuyas olas se comparan con las de Hawaii. La zona de la costa se caracteriza por ser bastante desértica, algunas de arena y otras de piedras.
… que debería darte una gran impresión sobre un hermoso y divertido día en las playas de Lima. No debes esperar las mejores playas de todo el país en la capital. Para verlos, es necesario viajar a las costas norte o sur del Perú. Pero vivir en una ciudad con acceso directo a la playa es siempre una gran ventaja. Como expatriado, deberías considerar eso. No soy la persona más aficionada de la playa, pero tampoco rechazo un buen día con amigos allí.
Disfrutar de las playas generalmente es difícil en esta ciudad con su temporada gris. Casi medio año, se perderá el sol en la capital de Perú. ¿No me crees? Lee mi siguiente artículo y descubre más sobre las 5 razones para NO vivir en Lima. Este será el siguiente artículo que le mostrará como expatriado el reverso de la medalla.
Espero poder brindarte apoyo en tu decisión de vivir allí. Al dar varios argumentos desde la perspectiva interna, ahora deberías tener una mejor idea sobre la quinta ciudad más grande de América Latina.
Estaré muy feliz si dejas un comentario a continuación o si te suscribes a mi blog. Ya se están preparando muchos otros artículos interesantes. ¡No te pierdas ninguna actualización y sígueme en las redes sociales!
¡Gracias por leer mi artículo!
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Geht es um die Urlaubsplanung für das nächste Jahr, landet die Dominikanische Republik vielleicht sogar auf der Liste für die engere Auswahl. Ein kleines karibisches Inselchen mit Palmen und kilometerlangen Stränden. Ist es nicht auch jenes Land, in dem all die All-Inklusiv-Reisen nach Punta Cana angeboten werden? Ich möchte gerne 7 Beispiele für alternativen Tourismus in der Dominikanischen Republik zeigen, um mal ein paar spannende Gegenkonzepte zum allseits bekannten Massentourismus zu porträtieren. Vielleicht findest Du dann auch heraus, wieso das Dominikanische Tourismusministerium sein Land mit “Alles wovon Sie träumen” vermarktet.
Would you like to read this article in another language?
Wir alle vermuten in einem Land wie der Dominikanischen Republik eine Menge Sonnenschein, Strände und ungebremste Lebensfreude. Diese pauschale Vorstellung über die Dominikanische Republik kann ich aus eigener Erfahrung nur bestätigen. Jedoch gehört auch der Massentourismus und Pauschalurlaube in den All-Inclusive-Resorts in Punta zum stetigen Charakter dieses Landes. In diesem Sinne bietet die Dominikanische Republik also die typisch karibischen Merkmale wie Musik, Tanz, Rum, Zigarren und tropische Früchte allen Besuchern an.
Gibt es aber darüber hinaus nicht vielleicht noch ein bisschen mehr zu entdecken?
Die Dominikanische Republik ist ein Paradies für Individualreisende und alternativen Tourismus
Den Urlaub in einem hermetisch abgeriegelten All-Inclusive-Resort mag nicht unbedingt die erste Wahl für Individualreisende sein. Während meiner Zeit in der Dominikanischen Republik habe ich nur zwei Mal ein verlängertes Wochenende in Punta Cana verbracht und hatte schnell genug vom ‘Tourismus von der Stange’ gesehen.
Für mich persönlich wirken die Reisen in ein All-Inclusive-Resort immer wie betreutes Urlauben in einer künstlichen Umgebung mit festen Fütterungszeiten. Viel eher interessieren mich Abenteuer, authentische Reiseerfahrungen und rund Erlebnisse um Kultur, Speise und Musik. Ein gewisses Überangebot an Service und nur eine Zimmernummer in einem Hotel zu repräsentieren gefällt mir nicht, bzw. brauche ich nicht für meinen Urlaub.
Darüber hinaus macht diese Urlaubsform nur faul, träge und übergewichtig. Den ganzen Tag irgendwo rumhängen lässt mich nur noch unproduktiver werden. Die wenigen Bewegungen und Schritte in einem All-Inclusive-Hotel und die pausenlose Völlerei und der liebe Alkohol sorgt nur für eine Menge Übergewicht und Enttäuschung beim Gang auf die Waage nach dem Rückflug. Maximal gibt’s noch nen Sonnenbrand oder Made-in-China Souvenirs als ordinäre Urlaubserinnerung obendrauf. Alles nicht so wirklich mein Fall, ich strebe viel mehr nach individuellen Erlebnissen.
Die ‘andere Dominikanische Republik’ befindet sich weit entfernt von den All-Inklusive-Resorts in Punta Cana: Sattgrüne Landschaften und tropische Faune grüßt auf diesem Bild aus Tubagua.
Kann denn das bevölkerungsreichste Land der Karibik all jenen Reisenden mit dem Anspruch auf individuelle Erlebnisse überhaupt gerecht werden? Gibt es vielleicht noch andere Formen des Tourismus, anstatt den typischen Gringo-Tourismus? Gibt es noch andere Zielgruppen als Familien mit Kindern, frisch vermählte Ehepaare und golfende Senioren, die in der Dominikanischen Republik eine tolle Zeit verbringen können?
Ich kann schon jetzt versprechen, dass die Dominikanische Republik sehr viele Alternativen dem zu erwartenden Massentourismus anbietet. Du glaubst mir nicht? Dann lies Dir die folgenden 7 Gründe für alternativen Tourismus in der Dominikanischen Republik durch und sei gespannt. Vielleicht wirst auch Du etwas überrascht sein, was alles in der Dominikanischen Republik so alles möglich ist.
Los Patos ist einer der meist besuchten Strände im Südwesten der Dominikanischen Republik. Aber nicht nur der Strand wird so genannt. Auch der kürzeste Fluss der Dominikanischen Republik trägt diesen ungewöhnlichen Namen und mündet in die Karibische See. Ich hatte die Gelegenheit, diesen Strand gegen Einbruch der Dunkelheit zu besuchen. Mir sind ein paar schöne Fotos und Videos mit dem Sonnenuntergang bei Las Patos in der Dominikanischen Republik gelungen.
Wenn Du bereits meinen letzten Artikel über den vermeintlich kürzesten Fluss der Welt gelesen hast, dann bist Du bestens informiert. Falls nicht, so empfehle ich Dir den Artikel über den gleichnamigen Fluss zu lesen. Du wirst herausfinden, weshalb einige Dominikaner den Begriff ‘ein Bad im Fluss nehmen’ zu wörtlich nehmen und woher der Fluss seinen Namen zu verdanken hat.
Viele Dominikaner erzählten mir, dass der kürzeste Fluss der Welt in der Dominikanischen Republik sei. Aber ist das wirklich wahr oder nur karibisch gesponnenes Seemannsgarn? Ich wollte es herauszufinden und habe das Flüsschen selber besucht.
Los Patos nennen die Dominikaner nicht nur ihren Fluss, sondern auch die gesamte kleine Ortschaft und den angrenzenden Strand. Falls Du Dich mit einem Handtuch flach auf den Boden legen wolltest um die Sonne zu genießen, so lass Dir Folgendes gesagt sein: Der Strand besteht wie die meisten Strände im Südwesten der Dominikanischen Republik nicht aus feinem Sand, sondern aus groben Kieselsteinen. Um den Strand so bequem wie möglich zu genießen und ein paar Stunden dort zu verweilen, empfiehlt sich ein Liegestuhl.
Nun kam ich relativ spät am Abend erst dort an. Zum Glück war es noch nicht zu spät, um einige Fotos aufzunehmen. Das folgende Video gibt einen ungefähren Eindruck davon, wie schön Sonnenuntergänge in der Karibik sein können. Und ob der Strand nun aus Sand oder Kieseln besteht, kann bei Dunkelheit auch niemand mehr erkennen, wenn Du auf dem Steg läufst.
18 Uhr
Das war um circa 18 Uhr. Eine halbe Stunde später hatte der Himmel die Sonne beinahe ganz verschluckt und den Horizont in orange-güldener Farbe verhüllt. Mit den Palmen im Hintergrund wurde ein wahrlich pittoresker Augenblick tropisch geschmückt.
Abendlicht
Gegen 18 Uhr war der Strandabschnitt beinahe menschenleer und es war der perfekte Moment für ein paar Urlaubsfotos.
Baywatch
Sofern dieser Stuhl für Rettungsschwimmer und Bademeister gedacht sind, schauen sie während Ihrer Arbeitszeit in die falsche Richtung.
Nicht nur die zarten Pastelltöne am Himmelsrand oder die weite Aussicht am Strand machen einen Sonnenuntergang zu einem besonderen Erlebnis. Mir gefällt es, diesen Licht- und Farbwechsel minütlich spüren und festhalten zu können. Fünf Minuten Zeitunterschied können bei der Beobachtung viel ausmachen und eine Menge verändern.
Left: 6:25 PM Right: 6:31 PM
18:30 Uhr
9 Monate später
Knapp neun Monate später habe ich dann erneut Los Patos besucht. Keine Angst, bei dieser berüchtigten Zeitperiode handelt es sich nur um einen reinen Zufall und keine Intention. Diesmal war ich allerdings nicht so spät dort, sondern ungefähr gegen 17 Uhr. Mit den besseren Lichtverhältnissen sieht der Strand gleich viel anders aus.
17 Uhr
Playa Los Patos in der Dominikanischen Republik
Unter der sengenden Sonne erstrahlt der Strand in einem anderen Licht
Nun hat der Strand auch so seinen Reiz ohne Sonnenuntergang. Die Boote und Palmen geben Los Patos den typisch karibischen Flair auch bei Tageslicht.
Mir persönlich gefällt aber ein jeder Strand besser bei Sonnenuntergang. Ein Besuch am Strand ist immer schön, aber meistens gleich und austauschbar.
Der hölzerne Steg symbolisiert den Boulevard von Playa Los Patos
Für mich wird der Besuch am Strand dann aufgewertet, wenn die Sonne untergeht und den Himmel in atemberaubenden Farben verhüllt. So wird aus einem ganz normalen Strandbesuch ein unvergessliches Erlebnis.
I heard a lot of people in the Dominican Republic talking, that Los Patos is the shortest river in the world. But is that really true or just a fishy story? The best I could do was to find it out myself and visit the place. And I was not only surprised to see (one of the smallest) rivers of the world, but also what all happens there during a normal evening in the week.
‘Los Patos’ means translated from Spanish ‘The ducks’. Why did Dominicans call this tiny short river ‘The Ducks’? They did it because there were a lot of ducks swimming. Very creative and quaint name-giving.
Los Patos is 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away from Paraíso and some 38 kilometers away from Barahona in the Southeast of the Dominican Republic. You’ll need definitely a car to get there. Going with public transport from Barahona is a real challenge for daredevils I would not recommend.
Depending on the tide, Los Patos in the Dominican Republic has a length of 61 meters (about 200 feet) the shortest river on the island. That’s a short introduction with some short facts. But there’s not much else to write about…but…Wait!
A river with only 61 meters in length? Is Los Patos in the Dominican Republic the smallest river in the world? Let’s find it out!
Where is the shortest river in the world?
When I wanted to find out about the shortest or smallest river in the world, I found much divergent information. Different websites seem to know about the shortest river in the world. The only problem is, that their answers differ and several rivers claim to be the shortest in the world. Usually, these types of official records are a matter of the Guinness World Records. Unfortunately, these guys seemed to stop listing that type of notable record for whatever reason:
Starting in 2006, the Guinness Book of World Records did not list a category for the shortest river.
And until today, there is sort of wrangling going on between two US-rivers who claim to be the shortest river of the world. Sounds to me a lot of controversies for a simple accolade whose champion isn’t even able to hang it on the own wall.
The Roe River measures an average 201 feet in length.
201 feet from the imperial system are 61 meters in the metric system. More or less the same length as Los Patos in the Dominican Republic!
Balneario Los Patos in Barahona. No sand, but pebbles at the beach. Is that the smallest river in the world?
Is Los Patos in the Dominican Republic the shortest river in the world?
My final answer is No, it isn’t. Los Patos in the Dominican Republic is not the shortest river in the world. There are five rivers in Europe which have a shorter length than Los Patos. Seems like, the shortest river of the world is Kuokanjoki in Finland with 3.5 meters (11.48 feet) which connects two lakes. Looks also quite funny in Google Maps, if you ask me. And if these 3.5 meters will be ever beaten, I’ll eat my hat!
What to do at Los Patos?
Well, after all the formalities it’s now time to give some insights and valuable content about the actual site. You probably clicked this article because you wanted to see also some photos and videos. I gladly show them to you and report what’s going on at Los Patos.
I arrived very late around 5 pm at Los Patos. Sun was already setting and it was getting dark. But not too late to take a fresh bath in the river. Some Dominicans kids took the term ‘taking a bath in the river’ a little bit too literal…
…and came with their whole bathing equipment while the parents were sitting at the same time in the plastic chairs drinking a cold beer.
Yes, cold beer! It was already time for cold beverages, as the day was already advanced. Before it was getting too dark, I still wanted to take some photos and record some videos. But from what exactly? No matter, if it is the shortest river in the country or of the world. There isn’t pretty much to do at Los Patos. It’s simply too short to offer some action. The best you can do is to sit your ass on a chair in the shallow waters and do the same as the Dominicans do. Nothing.
Loitering around
Drink a beer. Relax in the shade in a plastic chair. Let the river flow. Sit at the ‘Balneario Los Patos’ and enjoy the Caribbean. If you can. A lot of people are present in the evening and noisy Dominican music roared from the boom boxes to fill the whole area.
62 meters length: Dominicans claim that Los Patos is the shortest river in the world
Let’s walk the shortest river in the world!
@Río Los Patos in Barahona
So I decided to walk a little away from the sound and waded in the fresh and clear water. I was curious where the shortest river ends. Little fishies are swimming inside of the shallow waters and even little ducklings follow their mama duck. I guess, that the Dominicans were right to call their river after the ducks.
But then I saw a pretty strange scene a few moments later and had to look twice to be sure.
Why are the two cars there in the river?
I saw two cars in the river. My first thought was, that these trucks were stuck in the uneven and slippery terrain and couldn’t drive any further. But I was wrong. The cars were on purpose parked there. To wash them.
A short walk in the smallest river of the Dominican Republic
Quite sad to observe, that people are washing their dirty cars in the river. In the end, Los Patos disembogues in the Caribbean Sea. Not only with freshwater, the freshwater from Los Patos is enriched also with all the shampoo from the spa visitors and lubricous dirt from the vehicles.
To not end this article with a sad memory of just another ecologic delinquency in the Dominican Republic, I’ll put next a photo of the beautiful sunset with damask rose hue.
A very scenic Caribbean sunset @Los Patos in Barahona
Viele Dominikaner erzählten mir, dass der kürzeste Fluss der Welt in der Dominikanischen Republik sei. Aber ist das wirklich wahr oder nur karibisch gesponnenes Seemannsgarn? Wo ist der kürzeste Fluss der Welt? Ist es ‘Los Patos’ in der Dominikanischen Republik? Ich wollte es herauszufinden und habe das Flüsschen selber besucht. Und ich war nicht nur überrascht, einen winzig kleinen Fluss zu sehen. Sondern auch, was dort an einem normalen Abend während eines Wochentages dort alles passiert.
‘Los Patos’ bedeutet aus dem Spanischen übersetzt ‘Die Enten’. Warum haben die Dominikaner diesen kurzen Fluss ‘Die Enten’ genannt? Weil in dem Süßwasser besonders viele Enten schwimmen. Eine sehr ausgefallene und originelle Namensgebung also.
Los Patos liegt 4 Kilometer im Süden von Paraíso und ungefähr 38 Kilometer von Barahona entfernt im Südwesten der Dominikanischen Republik. Du brauchst in jenem Fall einen Wagen, wenn Du dorthin reisen möchtest. Auf die öffentlichen Transportmittel für eine solch lange Strecke zu vertrauen, möchte ich nicht empfehlen.
Abhängig von den Gezeiten ist Los Patos mit 61 Metern der kürzeste Fluss in der Dominikanischen Republik. Das war es auch schon mit ein paar kurzen Informationen. Es gibt nicht viel mehr darüber zu berichten, als…Hey…Moment mal!
Ein Fluss mit nur 61 Metern Länge? Ist Los Patos in der Dominikanischen Republik auch der kürzeste Fluss der Welt? Das möchte ich nun herausfinden!
Wo ist der kürzeste Fluss der Welt?
Als ich mich über den kürzesten oder kleinsten Fluss der Welt informieren wollte, fand ich viele aussagekräftige Informationen. Verschiedene Websites scheinen über den kürzesten Fluss der Welt Bescheid zu wissen. Das einzige Problem ist, dass ihre aussagekräftigen Informationen unterschiedlich sind. Gleich mehrere Flüsse behaupten, die kürzesten der Welt zu sein. Normalerweise gehören diese offiziellen Aufzeichnungen ins Guinness-Buch der Rekorde. Leider scheinen sich die Jungs aus irgendeinem Grund nicht mehr um den kürzesten Fluss der Welt kümmern zu wollen:
Starting in 2006, the Guinness Book of World Records did not list a category for shortest river.
Und weil es diesen offiziellen Rekord mit aktuellen Auszeichnungen nicht mehr gibt, ist ein wahres Kompetenzgerangel um den kürzesten Fluss der Welt entstanden. Gleich zwei Flüsse in den Vereinigten Staaten streiten sich seit mehreren Jahren um diesen Titel, als gäbe es zur Zeit nichts Wichtigeres auf der Welt.
Wirklich seltsam. Denn der Fluss ist bestimmt nicht stolz darauf, der kürzeste seiner Art zu sein und kann auch diese Auszeichnung nicht an seine eigene Wand hängen.
The Roe River measures an average 201 feet in length.
201 Fuß aus dem Reichssystem bedeuten umgerechnet 61 Meter im metrischen System. Das ist ungefähr die selbe Länge wie Los Patos in der Dominikanischen Republik!
Balneario Los Patos in Barahona. Kein Sand, aber Kieselsteine am Strand. Ist das der kleinste Fluss der Welt?
Ist Los Patos in der Dominikanischen Republik der kürzeste Fluss der Welt?
Die endgültige Antwort lautet: “Nein, ist es nicht.” Los Patos in der Dominikanischen Republik ist nicht der kürzeste Fluss der Welt. Es gibt alleine in Europa bereits 5 Flüsse, die eine kürzere Länge als Los Patos. Sieht also ganz danach aus, als das der Kuokanjoki in Finnland mit 3,5 Metern der kürzeste Fluss der Welt ist. Er verbindet zwei angrenzende Flüsse miteinander. Sieht auch ziemlich lustig auf Google Maps aus. Und falls diese 3,5 Meter jemals unterboten werden, dann fresse ich einen Besen samt Putzfrau!
Los Patos in der Dominikanischen Republik
Nachdem also all die Formalitäten geklärt wurden, möchte ich mich dem Fluss in der Dominikanischen Republik widmen. Wahrscheinlich hast Du viel eher den Artikel angeklickt, um Fotos und Videos von dem kurzen Fluss in der Dominikanischen Republik zu sehen.
Ich kam relativ spät erst um 17 Uhr abends dort an. Zwar war es rein von den Temperaturen betrachtet wesentlich angenehmer, allerdings setzte schon der Sonnenuntergang ein. Es war aber noch nicht zu spät, um ein kühles Bad im Fluss zu nehmen. Einige Dominikanische Kinder nahmen das ‘Bad im Fluss nehmen’ zu wörtlich…
und nahmen direkt ihr gesamtes Badezubehör ins Wasser mit, während die Eltern gleichzeitig auf den Plastikstühlen ein kühles Bier genossen.
Ja, kühles Bier! Es war schon Zeit für kalte Getränke, da der Tag bereits fortgeschritten war. Bevor es zu dunkel wurde, wollte ich noch ein paar Fotos machen und Videos aufnehmen. Aber wovon genau? Egal ob es der kürzeste Fluss des Landes oder der Welt ist. In Los Patos gibt es nicht allzu viel tun. Das Beste, was ich tun konnte, war auf einem Stuhl im seichten Wasser zu sitzen und dasselbe zu tun wie die Dominikaner. Nämlich gar nichts.
Professionelles Herumlungern
Trink ein Bier. Entspannen Dich im Schatten in einem Plastikstuhl. Lass den Fluss fließen. Setzen Dich ins ‘Balneario Los Patos’ und genieß die Karibik. Wenn du kannst. Abends sind viele Leute anwesend und lärmende dominikanische Musik dröhnte aus den Beschallungsmaschinen, damit auch die Nachbarorte mithören konnten.
62 Meter Länge: Dominikaner behaupten, Los Patos sei der kürzeste Fluss der Welt
Ein kleiner Spaziergang durch das seichte Wasser @Río Los Patos in Barahona
Also beschloss ich, mich ein wenig von der Lärmverschmutzung zu entfernen und watete im frischen und klaren Wasser. Ich war neugierig, wo genau der kürzeste Fluss endet. Kleine Fische schwammen im flachen Wasser und sogar kleine Entenküken folgen ihrer Entenmutter. Ich denke, die Dominikaner hatten Recht, ihren Fluss nach den Enten zu taufen.
Dann sah ich allerdings eine recht seltsame Szene einige Momente später und musste gleich zweimal hinschauen, um auch ganz sicher zu sein.
Warum sind dort zwei Autos im Wasser?
Ich sah zwei Autos im Fluss. Mein erster Gedanke war, dass diese Autos im unebenen und rutschigen Gelände stecken geblieben sind und nicht weiter fahren konnten. Aber ich habe mich getäuscht. Die Autos wurden absichtlich dort geparkt. Um sie zu waschen.
Ein kurzer Spaziergang im kleinsten Fluss der Dominikanischen Republik
Sehr traurig zu beobachten, dass die Leute ihre schmutzigen Autos im Fluss waschen. Am Ende mündet Los Patos im Karibischen Meer. Das Süßwasser aus Los Patos wird nicht nur mit frischem Wasser angereichert, sondern auch mit dem gesamten Shampoo der Spa-Besucher und dem Schmierschmutz und Öl der Fahrzeuge.
Um diesen Artikel nicht mit einer traurigen Erinnerung an ein weiteres ökologisches Vergehen in der Dominikanischen Republik zu beenden, werde ich als nächstes ein Foto des wunderschönen Sonnenuntergangs mit einem rosaroten Farbton zeigen.
Einer dieser typischen karibischen Sonnenuntergänge @Los Patos in Barahona
Gute Nachrichten: Los Patos wird nicht nur der kleinster Fluss der Dominikanischen Republik bezeichnet, sondern auch der angrenzende Strand. Deshalb habe ich noch einen kleinen weiteren Artikel über den darauf folgenden Sonnenuntergang geschrieben, um inhaltlich zu trennen und noch schönere Bilder vom Strand hochzuladen. Schau es Dir mal an und lass mich wissen, ob Dir die Bilder gefallen haben!
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After all the theory about the traffic and road conditions in the Dominican Republic, it was finally time again for a road trip in the mountains. I was traveling on a risky route between Constanza and Padre Las Casas. In the middle of the two highest mountain slopes of the Dominican Republic. What an adventure! It was a real challenge, but seeing the beautiful landscapes in the Dominican mountains was just worth it.
Approximate reading time: 8 minutes
In this article, you will find out why you shouldn’t always rely on Google Maps and why you should allow an hour or two additional time buffers during such a trip.
Recommended reads: Traffic in the Dominican Republic
I’ve written a lot in the past few weeks about the traffic and road conditions in the Dominican Republic. Perhaps these four articles will help you to plan your vacations when you are considering a road trip through the Dominican Republic. Have a look, it’s about these following four articles:
How I prepared this trip to the Dominican highlands
It is fun to get into the car and just pound off. Without a detailed planning for your route, you’re pretty much smitten. Especially with all of these trips through the highlands and the wild nature, there are some things to consider and plan before you blast off.
Don’t trust Google Maps blindly
What I was particularly able to learn during this trip is not to rely on Google Maps. At least not when it comes to the estimated travel time. In this case, more than 2.5 hours of driving time should be planned for 62 kilometers. It’s suspiciously slow for so few kilometers. However, it goes up to 1,200 meters above sea level and the route leads through a mountain pass between the highest two mountains in the Dominican Republic.
The route from Constanza to Padre Las Casas took me between Alto de la Bandera and Pico Duarte.
Overall, the trip took almost twice the estimated time. Of course, a few pee breaks and stops for photos included. But even with this half-hour tolerance in the time calculation, Google Maps has quite miscalculated. Because even the best route system cannot know what kind of complicated route conditions and tight hairpin bends can slow down the speed of travel.
Equip yourself in good time with what is necessary
Your provisions and enough water are essential during your journey on this route. You will drive under the hot sun for several hours and push the AC in the car to its limits. Take enough drinks with you and hydrate regularly with water while driving. Don’t underestimate the heat in the Dominican Republic.
The same goes for gasoline. Of course, you shouldn’t drink that (😅) but you should have enough in your tank. The best thing to do is to fill up the gas in Constanza. You will be on the safe side, because there are no more gas stations up in the mountains. And the constant driving in the mountains swallows a lot of fuel.
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Consider the estimated driving time and include time buffers
Google Maps has miscalculated the time in a colossal way and 2.5 hours became almost 5 hours. However, Google Maps cannot know, it can only estimate.
Whenever you follow a vague estimate, plan at least an hour more as a time buffer. Something can always happen. A herd of cows can block the road, you might want to take a longer break or stop every few miles for a photo.
And in times of Covid-19 and imposed curfews, there is additional pressure due to a limited time window. You are only allowed to be on the streets up to a certain hour before traffic controls begin. That was very challenging for me, especially in 2020, and limited my travel adventures by car, very much. Especially on the weekends, when the curfew started at 5pm.
However, it is much more important to have reached the desired destination by the time it gets dark. When the sun is low and setting, driving a car is very challenging anyhow. In the mountains, the light conditions deteriorate much earlier and the routes are more difficult to follow.
When it is dark, the utmost caution is required while driving. In the mountains, driving at night can be life-threatening. There are nowhere street lights installed and I would not advise anyone to take the risk to drive in the dark. For this reason, it makes sense to leave the mountains behind you as early as possible and feel the asphalt roads under your wheels again by daylight.
Expect ‘Carretera Constanza – Guayabal’ as a rocky and uncomfortable road
You need a fit car with good working tires for the way from Constanza to Padre Las Casas. Driving the ‘Carretera Constanza – Guayabal’ is challenging. An SUV with all-wheel drive is recommended for such a slope. The road conditions are so bad that it cannot be even called a road.
How are the road conditions in the Dominican Republic?
As soon as you have left Constanza with the car towards the mountains, the asphalt ends. The street begins to become a narrow path. You are literally wandering over hill and dale, sometimes even through flowing streams. In the heavy rainy season, this route is impossible to go by car. You should remind that before starting your journey.
Drive carefully AND slowly. You need to be aware of the possible dangers that could happen behind the cliff
Many places are barely wide enough for a second vehicle. The few trucks, cars, motorbikes or horses on the way have to maneuver so that you can pass safely with your own car. There are an extremely large number of hairpin bends and steep climbs to cope with your set of wheels.
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Beautiful landscapes in the Dominican mountains are worth the hassle
The very first thing you see when you leave Constanza, however, is your hair again. On the outskirts of Constanza, the Dominicans cleared the mountain slopes in order to place a wild garbage dump. Because of hot temperatures and the strong sunlight, the garbage ignites and leaves smoke and offensive smell.
But after you have left this unpleasant part behind you, you will be rewarded. You can expect pure nature and beautiful mountain landscapes.
On this route you are between the highest mountain slopes in the entire Caribbean. If you ignore the dusty gravel roads, you are surrounded by a blooming fauna that you could never have imagined to be so green. In many places in the Dominican Republic, the tropical fauna has been deforested to plant agricultural monocultures such as avocado trees. Within this area you can still see the Caribbean in its full bloom. This is roughly how it looked all over the island before the natural landscapes were exploited:
Beautiful landscapes in the Dominican Republic
The special thing about this trip was being over 3,300 feet above sea level. Completely absurd to believe that these lush and green landscapes are actually belonging to the Caribbean. And yet this natural characteristic is also part of the geographic diverse Dominican Republic.
These mountains are so high and the clouds hang so low that you can almost smell them. And if a huge cloud tries to make it over the mountains as well, the entire valley suddenly darkens.
If you are in the Dominican mountains, you can almost touch the sky and smell the clouds.
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Nevertheless, I was happy when I was able to leave this challenging route in the mountains behind me. As beautiful as the view in the pictures was, I could hardly really enjoy it.
It was too dangerous to let your eyes wander for a few moments and look lost in thoughts into the mountainous area. Not paying attention for a moment can be dangerous on such a (off-)road. Therefore, it is better to have a lot of small breaks in order to be able to take photos and enjoy the landscape instead of doing it while driving.
Lush green landscapes and pastures define the Dominican hills near Guayabal
Speaking of dangerous: Pretty much towards the end of the journey through the mountainous landscapes, after more or less 75% of the section, the brakes failed when going downhill. I could only let the car roll out and maneuver with the handbrake until the car came to a standstill at some point. Quite a challenge!
At some point the cart overheated and the brakes no longer worked downhill. The best solution: open the bonnet and let it cool down before continuing your drive.
At some point the brakes ran hot and stopped working. This usually happens on trips that go downhill for a long period of time. Frequent braking will eventually make the iron glow. In that case, you should try to stop the car immediately, secure it with the handbrake and let it cool down for a few minutes before continuing.
So you can certainly imagine that I was relatively happy when I arrived. Everything went well and I made it safely to my destination. 5 hours of intensive car drive with maximum concentration with failing brakes driving downhill may not be the right hobby for everyone. I thought it was great!
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The first trip after a few months of travel standstill was more a coincidental accident than a real travel goal. Presa de Valdesia is a beautiful reservoir dam in the Peravia Region of the Dominican Republic. But I actually wanted to visit another destination. Still, I made some great pictures of the artificial dam this day and would like to share them gladly with you.
Dog-O says ‘Hell-O’
It was quiet for the last weeks, even months. The Corona pandemic paralyzed many countries and made also the Dominican Republic a very difficult country for adventurous travelers. Public transfers and bus companies were suspended for months. It was nearly impossible to explore the domestic travel destinations without an own car before the curfew in the evenings. Luckily, these strict regulations were loosened and traveling was made possible again.
The first trip after a few months of travel standstill was more an accident than a real plan. I actually wanted to visit ‘Las Yayitas’ which is a famous local waterfall. It is located up in the north of Baní, but unfortunately the GPS signal got lost in the mountains. Without a reliable internet connection, I couldn’t use Google Maps and also its installed Offline Maps function didn’t want to work when needed. Of course one of these Murphys Law situations, when everything came together. Instead of taking the turn to the left, I went right without being right.
‘Las Yayitas’ waterfalls were never discovered that day, but luckily the forced compromise wasn’t bad either. By accident, I discovered an artificial reservoir dam called ‘Presa de Valdesia’. It has its name from its eponymous village Valdesia. In the middle of the Dominican highlands, there were a few scattered communities, some farms and only few busy people. Maybe that’s the reason for lack of a GPS signal in these areas. Time ticks simply slower in these areas and people are more disconnected from other communities.
Although Presa de Valdesia is like every other reservoir dam an artificial body of water, it has definitely its charm. Even from far distances, it is easily visible and offers some beautiful photos. In my opinion, the following photos from far distances are better and more beautiful than the close shots.
Surrounded by lush vegetation, Presa de Valdesia shines with emerald hues from far distances.
The photos from the far distance are the most beautiful perspectives.
But the way to Presa de Valdesia is challenging. Like many other hidden or fairly known tourism destinations in the Dominican Republic, a sturdy SUV is needed to access this difficult territory. The difficult road conditions will leave every clean car dirty and filthy:
The difficult texture of the road
For these road conditions, you definitely need a sturdy SUV
Road conditions in the Dominican Republic are not always the best.
Several accesses exist around the body of water. I ended up at the furthest east point of the dam. But before getting there, there was a march of 15 minutes needed to reach finally the destination.
The way to Presa de Valdesia is during noon challenging because of its high temperatures
But also from the shoreside, the surrounding nature was green and beautiful to see:
Presa de Valdesia – The artificial reservoir dam in the Peravia region.
Finally arriving at Presa de Valdesia
Low tide due to missing rainfalls
Lush vegetation and emerald green reflections from the trees
On the shoreside, there was as well an old fishermen’s house. Looked like not in the best condition as the little fishing boat next to it. I couldn’t say, if it was still in operation, but there wasn’t anyone working close to it. It gave still a pretty imagination ad added value to Presa de Valdesa.
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Rudimentary constructed fishing activities
The fishers house
This tub doesn’t make it far anymore
But not only the body of water was worth to take picture. The hilly area around Presa de Valdesa looked also quite thrilling:
Beautiful and lush valleys in the Peravia region
A shy horse enjoys the attention in Iguana (Peravia Region in the Dominican Republic)
For a pure accident and unwanted travel experience, I shot quite good photos with my camera. I can’t wait to repeat the drive to the same area to reach the desired destination of the Las Yayitas waterfalls. But this time with a functioning GPS signal or at least the Offline Maps. Or these beautiful types of travel accidents would happen again. Can’t be too bad, if the result is similar.
Following the worldwide trend of mobile gastronomic supply in the form of food trucks, there was a whole festival organized in Santo Domingo. I’m not sure, how many editions it had before. But I saw a few days before its promotion on Instagram from the Dominican magazine ‘Zoneo’, which was at the same time the organizer of the ‘Zoneo festival’. As a food lover, food blogger and food eater, it was a must for me to attend and check everything out. It all took place in the Colonial Zone, to be more exact in Fort Ozama. And I was surprised about this street food festival and the good food I had there. Please lean back and enjoy this article about Zoneo Fest 2019 and it’s tasty street food as I did during my consumption.
What is the Zoneo Fest?
Sometimes, humans are contradictory and inconsistent in their aspirations. On the one hand, they want to have everything cheap and always available. On the other hand, they are striving for exclusive moments and personalized experiences. The same holds true with food. One can always choose between the cheap solution and readymade fast food or high-priced food and tasty experiences in restaurants. I always like to pay a little more for good food, but can’t do that all the time.
Hence, I look for these good and tasty moments and special occasions, such as the Zoneo festival. This food truck and street food festival took place for two days on June 29 and June 30. Thanks to the geographic area at the Fort Ozama, there was enough space for a lot of activities for children, little artesian markets, a music stage and – of course – the food trucks. Especially children had a good time with all the games and activities.
Many activities for children during the Zoneo festival
An entrance ticket cost 200 DOP and was valid for the whole day. You had the chance to leave the festival area and come back ‘for free’. Which was okay, because spending all day under the sun wasn’t a pleasure. I didn’t envy the food truck operators, who prepared all day the food while it was up to 95°F (35°C) hot. Not even considering their ovens, fireplaces and gas cookers they were using and made them suffer more…
Of course, I haven’t had the opportunity to try every food at the festival. It wasn’t a question of hunger, because I can eat like an elephant if I want. It’s more a question of the budget because good and qualitative food has its price. Thus, I had to select wisely what I should try. With some food trucks, it was an easy decision. Here you can find my tastings and why there were good or bad:
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High tech doughnuts
One of the arguments for food trucks is to be able to observe its preparation. A little stand offered high tech donuts with a form of preparation I haven’t seen before:
Really amusing to see the whole linear process of preparing the doughnuts live and in color!
Not only the raw preparation of the doughnuts but also the gastronomic refinement was worth to see:
The Venezuelan kitchen is not unknown to me, but I had until now only a very few opportunities to try its food. I don’t know a lot of Venezuelan food – But would be very happy if someone introduces and invites me one day to have a deep conversation about their food. Even better than talking about their food would be to cook and try it together!
The only thing I tried before this festival was Arepas. I am not 100% sure if it is an original Colombian or Venezuelan dish, but I associate it with Venezuela. All Colombians should be indulgent with me if I don’t concede Arepas to be Colombian food. If you would like to convince me of your national heritage, please prepare a Colombian version of Arepas for me.
I visited the food stand ‘Casita Venezolana’ and ordered – of course – Arepa with beef.
‘Casita Venezolana’ offered food from Venezuela
A salute to all Venezuelans in the world!
Greets to all the nice people I know from Venezuela!
Arepas consist of ground maize dough and my version was filled with ground beef and cheese. I forget to ask, which type of cheese it was. But it wasn’t molten and still had a solid consistency.
This picture was captioned a few moments before biting in the Arepa
Still good, still tasty. If you tend to be hungry and looking for a real stomach filler. I would be happy to learn more about the Venezuelan kitchen. So far, I only know their fast/finger food but would love to try more!
Peruvian food: Peru Street Food
For me personally THE highlight of the festival from my perspective. Kids might prefer the bouncer castle, drinkers the rum bars. But as a foodie, you must love Peruvian food. I spend almost one and a half years of my life and had the joy to get to know the best kitchen in the world. You can find the previous articles in my database, but I would like to recommend one article in particular to all readers to read later. You might get an idea, why Peruvian food is the best food in the world.
I wrote several articles about Peruvian food, maybe my perception is a little biased and other food trucks didn’t have the same fair opportunities to convince my hungry stomach. However, Luis Pacheco runs this little food truck and can be found at the Malecon. He prepared ORIGINAL PERUVIAN Ceviche what I was missing since the last time I tried it in the street markets in Lima.
Luis invested not only a high dedication and effort to prepare good food, but he also uses original Peruvian ingredients. Well, except for the fish and lemon. But all the spices and sauces are 100% Peruvian quality. Check out how the make of Peruvian Ceviche.
A picture with the Peruvian Chef Luis Pacheco from ‘Peru Street Food’ during the Zoneo Fest 2019. Dishes, ingredients, and decoration were 100% Peruvian!
He announced to have on Sunday as well Anticucho to offer. That was predominantly my main reason to come back to the festival. Where else do I have the chance in this Caribbean country to taste a cow’s heart? It might sound disturbing to a lot of people to eat a cow’s heart – But you don’t know what you miss if you reject this wonderful food.
🐮 💗
For me, number one of all!
🐮 💔
The original Peruvian specialty ‘Anticucho’ (The heart of a cow – no joke)
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Chinese/US (?) food – Omnifoodie
A picture of the food stand from ‘Omnifoodie’
I am not quite sure, what type of food that was. In comparison to the ones before, their nationality wasn’t clear. I affiliate the dumplings (which I ordered) with the Asian kitchen, but all the other ingredients tend to be Chinese or US-American. I suspect them to be a Chinese/American food stand, although there people weren’t looking Chinese at all and it wasn’t 100% defined.
Anyway, I tried their dumblings:
I ordered their ‘potstickers’ – Without reading ‘dumplings’, I wouldn’t have known what to expect from that dish.
Dumplings with a homemade sauce
In fact, I paid 250 DOP (which is $5.00) for four little dumplings. That’s the saddest food tourism trap I stepped into since I am here in the Dominican Republic. The taste was good and the sauce handmade but are 4 dumplings this really worth $5? That’s $1.25 each dumpling. Next time Dumb Phil should ask, how many dumpling units are included in that menu!
To finish the evening with a tasty drop, I ordered Oettinger Black Beer:
Original German Black Beer
All in all, it was a cool festival and quite good organized. I wish, to have had even more variety of food trucks, but it was okay. The only minor things I would have to criticize would be the following:
The official begin of the festival was at 12AM – But even at 3PM, some stands were still building up and thus, food wasn’t ready to have lunch there.
I didn’t see a possibility to pay entrance tickets for both days
More Dominican food and drinks, please! I saw many thrilling and fancy international varieties, but very little local specialties 🙂
Siguiendo la tendencia mundial de la oferta gastronómica móvil en forma de camiones de comida, hubo todo un festival organizado en Santo Domingo.No estoy seguro cuántas veces se había realizado anterior a esta. Unos días antes de su promoción en Instagram de la revista dominicana ‘Zoneo‘, que al mismo tiempo era el organizador del ‘Zoneo Fest 2019‘. Como amante, blogger y comedor de comida, era una necesidad para mi asistir y inspeccionar todo.El festival se llevó a cabo en la Zona Colonial, para ser más exactos en La FortalezaOzama.Me sorprendió este festival de comida callejera, en especial la buena comida que tenían allí.Por favor, recuéstesey disfrute de este artículo sobreZoneoFest 2019 ysusabrosa comida de la calle.
¿Qué es elZoneoFest?
A veces, los humanos son contradictorios e inconsistentes en sus aspiraciones.Por un lado, quieren tener todo lo barato y siempre disponible.Por otro lado, se esfuerzan por momentos exclusivos y experiencias personalizadas.Lo mismo ocurre con la comida.Siempre se puede elegir entre la solución barata y la comida rápida preparada o la comida costosa y las experiencias sabrosas en los restaurantes.Siempre me gusta pagar un poco más por la buena comida, pero no puedo hacer eso todo el tiempo.Por lo tanto, busco estos buenos y sabrosos momentos y ocasiones especiales, como elZoneo Fest.Este festival de camiones de comida y comida callejera se llevó a cabo durante dos días, el 29 y el 30 de junio. Gracias al área geográfica en el FuerteOzama, hubo suficiente espacio para muchas actividades de niños, pequeños mercados artesanales, un escenario musical y – por supuesto – los camiones de comida.
Many activities for children during the Zoneo festival
Un boleto de entrada cuesta 200 DOP y es válido para todo el día.Tuve la oportunidad de dejar el área del festival y volver ‘gratis’.Lo que estaba bien, porque pasar todo el día bajo el sol no fue placentero.No envidiaba a los operadores de camiones de comida, que prepararon la comida durante todo el día cuando estaba a 95 ° F (35 ° C) de calor. Y también estan sufriendo del calor de sus hornos, chimeneas y cocinas a gas que estaban usando…
Por supuesto, no he tuve la oportunidad de probar todas las comidas en el festival.No era una cuestión de hambre, porque puedo comer como un elefante si quiero.Es más una cuestión de presupuesto porque la comida buena y de calidad tiene su precio.Por lo tanto, tuve que seleccionar sabiamente lo que debería intentar.Con algunos camiones de comida, fue una decisión fácil.Aquí puedes encontrar mis degustaciones y por qué hubo buenas o malas:
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Doughnuts de alta tecnología
Uno de los argumentos para los camiones de comida es poder observar su preparación.Un pequeño puesto ofrecía donas de alta tecnología con una forma de preparación que no había visto antes:
¡Realmente divertido ver todo el proceso lineal de preparación de donas en vivo y encolor!
No solo la preparación cruda de los donuts, sino también el refinamiento gastronómico, fue digno de ver:
¡Nunca vi una preparación más dedicada y encantadora de Donuts!
Comida venezolana: CasitaVenezolana
La cocina venezolana no me es desconocida, pero hasta ahora solo había tenido muy pocas oportunidades para probar su comida.No sé mucho de la comida venezolana, pero me alegraría mucho que alguien me presente y me invite un día a tener una conversación profunda sobre su comida.¡Incluso mejor que hablar de su comida sería cocinar e intentarlo juntos!
Lo único que probé antes de este festival fueArepas.No estoy 100% seguro de que sea un plato original colombiano o venezolano, pero lo asocio con Venezuela.Todos los colombianos deberían ser indulgentes conmigo si no les concedo que lasArepas sean comida colombiana.Si desea convencerme de su patrimonio nacional, prepareme una versión colombiana deArepas.
Visité el puesto de comida ‘CasitaVenezolana‘ y pedí, por supuesto,Arepacon carne.
‘Casita Venezolana’ offered food from Venezuela
Un saludo a todos los venezolanos del mundo!
Greets to all the nice people I know from Venezuela!
Las arepasconsisten en masa de maíz molida y mi versión estaba llena de carne molida y queso.Me olvido de preguntar qué tipo de queso era.Pero no estaba fundido y todavía tenía una consistencia sólida.
This picture was captioned a few moments before biting in the Arepa
Todavía bueno, todavía sabroso.Si tiendes a tener hambre y buscas un verdadero relleno de estómago.Me encantaría aprender más sobre la cocina venezolana.Hasta el momento, solo conozco su comida rápida o para comer con los dedos, ¡pero me encantaría probar más!
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Comida peruana: comida callejera peruana
Para mí, personalmente, lo que más destacado del festival desde mi perspectiva fue la comida peruana.Los niños pueden preferir el castillo de gorila, y los bebedores las barras de ron.Pero como amante de la comida, debes amar la comida peruana. Pasé casi un año y medio de mi vida y tuve la alegría de conocer la mejor cocina del mundo.Pueden encontrar los artículos anteriores en mi base de datos, pero me gustaría recomendar un artículo en particular a todos los lectores para que lo lean más adelante. Podría tener una idea, por qué la comida peruana es la mejor comida del mundo.
Escribí varios artículos sobre comida peruana, tal vez mi percepción es un poco parcial y otros camiones de comida no tuvieron las mismas oportunidades justas para convencer a mi estómago hambriento.Sin embargo, Luis Pacheco maneja este pequeño camión de comida y se puede encontrar en elMalecón.Preparó el ceviche ORIGINAL PERUANO de lo que me estaba perdiendo desde la última vez que lo probé en los mercados callejeros de Lima.
Luis invirtió no solo una gran dedicación y esfuerzo para preparar una buena comida, sino que también utiliza ingredientes peruanos originales.Bueno, salvo el pescado y el limón.Pero todas las especias y salsas son 100% de calidad peruana.Echa un vistazo a cómo hacer el ceviche peruano.
A picture with the Peruvian Chef Luis Pacheco from ‘Peru Street Food’ during the Zoneo Fest 2019. Dishes, ingredients, and decoration were 100% Peruvian!
Anunció que también tendrá el domingo elAnticucho.Esa fue mi principal razón para regresar al festival.¿Dónde más tengo la oportunidad en este país caribeño de probar el corazón de una vaca?A muchas personas les puede parecer inquietante comer el corazón de una vaca, pero no sabes lo que extrañas si rechazas esta maravillosa comida.
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Para mí, el número uno de todos!
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The original Peruvian speciality ‘Anticucho’ (The heart of a cow – no joke)
Comida china / estadounidense (?) –Omnifoodie
A picture of the food stand from ‘Omnifoodie’
No estoy muy seguro de qué tipo de comida era.En comparación con los anteriores, su nacionalidad no estaba clara.Afilié las bolas de masa hervida (que ordené) con la cocina asiática, pero todos los demás ingredientes tienden a ser chinos o estadounidenses.Sospecho que se trata de un puesto de comida chino / estadounidense, aunqueno habíagente que pareciera china y no estaba definida al 100%.
De todos modos, probé susdumblings:
I ordered their ‘potstickers’ – Without reading ‘dumplings’, I wouldn’t have known what to expect from that dish.
Dumplings with a homemade sauce
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De hecho, pagué 250 DOP (que es $ 5.00) por cuatro pequeñas bolas de masa.Esa es la trampa de turismo de alimentos más triste que pisé desde que estoy aquí en la República Dominicana.El sabor era bueno y la salsa hecha a mano, pero ¿son 4 albóndigas que realmente valen $ 5?Eso es $ 1.25 cada bola de masa.La próxima vez Dumb Phil preguntara, ¡cuántas unidades de bola de masa están incluidas en ese menú!
Para terminar la noche con una sabrosa gota, pedí la cerveza negra Oettinger:
Original German Black Beer
En general, fue un festival genial y bastante bien organizado.Ojalá hubiera tenido aún más variedad de camiones de comida, pero estaba bien.Las únicas cosas menores que tendría que criticar serían las siguientes:
•El inicio oficial del festival fue a las 12 am. Pero incluso a las 3 pm, algunos puestos aún no estaban habilitados y, por lo tanto, la comida no estaba lista.
• No vi la posibilidad de pagar las entradas para los dos días.
•¡Más comida y bebida dominicana, por favor!Vi muchas variedades internacionales emocionantes y elegantes, pero muy pocas especialidades locales 🙂
OOPS! One of these typos again. I wrote “How Du you Du?” – But actually, wanted to ask my audience “How do you do?” What an unforgivable mistake and what a weird headline! Dancing with dogs at Laguna Dudu? Who for Heaven’s sake had the idea to name a lagoon Dudu? And is it really possible to dance with dogs? You don’t believe my words? Read this article and Du not hesitate to comment and like this article!
Where is Dudú?
During the last site inspection, I was duing (okay, enough of that platitude for now) for my job I stopped 25 km to the northeast of Nagua to see a tourism destination.
For me and my job, it’s very important to obtain practical knowledge about the national tourism resources of the Dominican Republic. This beautiful place called ‘Laguna Dudú’ is one of the famous spots where adventurous tourists go.
Why Dudú?
That’s of course the most important question. Why do tourists like to go to Laguna Dudú? There are many other lagoons, lakes, ponds and fluvial tourism destinations, where tourists can go and spend some nice time. What makes Laguna Dudú special?
Costs $1 – Makes fun!
The only thing I heard before visiting the place, was the possibility of doing zip-lining over the lagoon. Contrary to the usual zip-lining activities where you go from platform to platform, you can splash here into the water. Which was definitely one of the main reasons for me to try it out.
A security guard told me, that it is 13 meter (42.5ft.) high, which is doubtful. A few months before I was doing the ‘Magic Mushroom experience’ where I jumped down from 15 meter (50ft.). This one here seemed to be less high. Especially, if an obese participant pulls down the zip-line. Hence, the distance to the water surface decreases progressively during the ride because of the participants’ overweight by the factor of two. If you were not good at Physics and Geometry in school, watch the following two videos of my second attempt:
It’s never ever 13 meters (42.5ft.) high. Maybe, if you span it straight and taut. But as soon as I was pulling the line down with my weight, it was max. 10 meters (32.8ft.) high.
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What else can you do at Dudú?
Laguna Dudú is only a part of a national park. Hence, you pay for more and can go and see more than just the lagoon itself. It has for example as well a beautiful garden area, which would invite you to do a pick-nick…
…or exploring another cave…
…or even dancing with a dog!
Doggo seemed to live in the national park. He didn’t wear a dog collar, but wanted to play and dance all the time with me. Poor thing didn’t seem to receive enough attention. Thus, he was very happy, that someone helped him to spend a good and interesting day at Laguna Dudú. He was also very interested to observe the fishes in the water.
A dog observes the Dudú lagoon
How much costs Dudú?
Don’t take my words for granted. Price consistency and informational reliability are alien concepts in the Dominican Republic and are actually non-existent. I paid 200 DOP (=Dominican Pesos) for the entrance to the national park. That’s about $4 and I think, that it is quite much. But prices for these type of attractions and entrances usually fluctuates significantly in the country. It could be, that a new tourism minister, director or responsible person decides to raise the prices for a bit before it will decrease again. Price policy in the Dominican Republic is like a roller coaster without a seat belt. And I am not talking about the thrilling attraction itself, but the metaphor to showcase the inconsistency.
A very good spot to take a picture
All in all, I would say that it’s quite pricy and a lot for a national park of this limited area. Of course, it depends on what you want to do and how much time you are willing to spend there. If you really want to swim at both lagoons, make a pick-nick on the grass and enjoy the area for a walk to discover every corner you get your money’s worth. Unfortunately, we didn’t have sufficient time to do that and spend maybe 60-80 minutes there.
Oh, before I forget: Using the zip-line costs extra 😦
You need to pay 50 DOP (about 1$) per ride to be allowed to splash into the water. Very exploitative, these Dominicans!
What makes Dudú unique?
Another interesting fact is that…
Laguna Dudú is the only place in the world where it is possible for speleologists to dive from one natural lake to another one.
I have no idea, what a speleologist does for a living. But it always seems very attractive, if you can sell and advertise something with a pure USP and if you are ‘the only X in the world’. And speleologists appreciate it very much! Except them, no one else seems to be elected to dive from one natural lake to another one. Quite elitist people, these speleologists! Too bad, that I found out about this additional activity too late. I would have loved to become a speleologist before I visited Dudu Lagoon and go diving in these caves. According to the further description, it seems to be tremendous:
This place has two lagoons connected to each other and to the sea (the connection with the sea is more indirect). Dudú Lagoon is 32 meters deep, and it is surrounded by a thick forest that occupies the surrounding cliffs.
In the surroundings of Dudú Lagoon, it is possible to find some caves, there are some stalactites and stalagmites that were formed little by little. But the best place to admire pre-Columbian art is the Taíno cave: its 30 metre-high walls are decorated by this kind of art.
Apart from speleology, the refreshing baths, the funny experience of jumping over the rocks or the interesting cave exploring, this place has charming restaurants and hotels.
A not complete snapshot from the bird perspective of Laguna Dudú
Goddamn! In my next life, I definitely want to become a speleologist. If I will have the chance to come back here again, I will bring my diving goggles and discover the subterranean area of the lagoon. Promised!
Would I recommend Dudú?
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I definitely would recommend to visit Dudú lagoon. Even if you are not a speleologist (which is a by the way the scientific name for potholer/cave explorer), if you don’t like to dance Merengue with dogs and if you are afraid of heights and would never ever do the water zip-lining, you would have a good time at Laguna Dudú. But make sure, that you’d bring enough of it with. If you come at the right day and the right time, you can spend some quiet hours here.
Dudú you like my article about the lagoon?
If you do (!) like my article, I would be very happy about your appreciation. Please help with a like, a share or a comment. I would be very happy like the dancing dog!
This fluvial tourism excursion was part of the canyoning experience I had during the Easter weekend 2019 at Tubagua Eco Lodge. I already wrote an article before about the time I spent there. It was the perfect half-day excursion and a great combination of hiking, climbing and jumping inside of natural sweet water pools. Comparable to the adventure I had in Cabarete, but this time with better photos and videos. Nothing too crazy, moderate difficulty level, high fun attitude. Stay tuned and read further, if you are looking for a fun outdoor activity off the beaten track in the proximity of Puerto Plata. A canyoning trip to Charcos de los Militares and god’s swimming pool in Tubagua.
The ‘Charcos de los Militares’ in Tubagua might be a great alternative for nature and action lovers.
Approximate reading time: 6 minutes
(Last update: April 11, 2021)
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Why does this place have two different names?
‘Charco de los Militares’ comes undeniably from the soldiery vocabulary. But why do the Dominicans call this place ‘military puddle’ (Charco de los Militares)?
According to the community, the name of puddles is because at the time of the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, a group of soldiers took the difficult and sensitive decision of dropping out, leaving their uniforms pulled into the crystalline waters of these pools, and from this event were baptized with the name of : The puddles of the military.
Some sources name this trail also God’s swimming pool. Well, although I did this trip during the Easter holidays – what would be a good catholic explanation – I didn’t feel either resurrected, nor reborn or baptized. But very refreshed. In any event: A divine swimming pool sounds a bit more peaceful than the military connotation about the military puddle.
Anyway: This excursion is supposed to be held exclusively through the Tubagua Eco Lodge with a guide who accompanies you during the whole trip. Don’t even think about trying to hike there on your own, you will never make it without local help.
I would have never found the way to the water, neither the way back to the lodge. That’s why I was thankful for the good guidance. Although this guy walked as fast as 100m runner, we never lost track during the way. And I was always the last of the group because I took photos and videos on the way what the other members of the group didn’t do.
Where is Charcos de los Militarios in the Dominican Republic?
You can find it on the map:
The GPS coordinates from Charco de Los Militares:
Latitude: 19.6743856
Longitude: -70.5978251
But again: Without an experienced tour guide who has local knowledge, you’ll never find it on your own. That’s why you need the Tubagua Eco Lodge and their guides to access Charco de los Militares.
The hiking trail to Charcos de los Militares is a green paradise
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Every nature lover would be happy to do this excursion and walk to the ‘Charcos de los Militares’. What nature offers you is a stunning view and green paradise:
Our guide must’ve felt that our group was in a rush and we hiked, unfortunately, with a high velocity. Consequently, there wasn’t enough time to enjoy the green landscape. Only a few little videos and photos were possible. It would have been for me also okay to spend some more minutes to breathe in the pure air and enjoy the view.
But after approximately one hour of crossing abundant vegetation through ups and downhill areas, the group arrived at the military puddle or God’s swimming pool. The landscape changed now to a rugged and mountainous zone, but still with the same vegetation.
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What you can see behind this chubby guy who blocks the view, is one of the three pools you can jump into and take a swim. Clear and cold water coming from the mountains and then accumulating to three different little or big ponds. The quantity of the pools of course depends according to rainfall and drought periods. Our guide told us, that there was at the time we arrived at a low water level.
Jumping into Gods swimming pool in Tubagua
You can climb up the rocks and jump into two of the three pools – If you dare to:
The water is crystal clear and refreshing and looks as following:
Individual tourism is quite rare in comparison to mass tourism in the Dominican Republic. The majority of tourism concentrates on Punta Cana. Hence you have in the country many opportunities to do an excursion that fly under the touristic radar. These excursions are hard to find for foreigners, but promise some unique moments you’d never experience in All-Inclusive trips.
I was warned before, that during the Easter holidays a 1/3 of the Dominican population would travel through the country as well. It was supposed to become difficult collecting unique experiences. But at Tubagua, it was surprisingly quiet on the highway, in the accommodation and during the whole excursion. No one was actually ‘in the way’ during the walk to the military puddle. We spend at least 1.5 good hours there. Until the moment, when we were about to leave at maybe 12:30am and a horde of Dominicans entered the area with music and fire for BBQ.
That was the perfect moment to leave the scenery and hike back one hour to the eco lodge. This time uphill – Very exhausting!
What you should definitely bring to Charcos de los Militares:
Comfortable tramping boots to hike to the pools. A pair you might want to jump into the water with.
Sun blocker (water resistant)
Head covering
Sunglasses to look cool on photos
Swimsuit
Towel
Water – Although there is enough water to see, you should bring bottled water to drink
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An insect repellent was recommended to bring with as well. I didn’t apply it to my skin and was lucky to not have been bitten by insects there. Better bring insect repellent just in case.
Another top secret recommendation from me is to bring and wear water shoes or old well-worn but comfortable tennis shoes which can get wet. Putting of your tramping boots, go for a quick swim, putting them on again, walk to the next pond and repeat it several times is annoying. But walking the surface without any shoes make you look like a fool.
Better would be during the walks of the ‘Charco de los Militaros’ to put on water shoes which have a flexible sole and can become wet without any problems. Everything else might hurt your feet.
I hope, that you liked this blog article about God’s swimming pool in Tubagua – Next time I will try to remember, that it would be better to record videos in widescreen. Shame on me!
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I waited for my first own road trip in the Dominican Republic. More than three months. Needed first to get used to my surrounding in Santo Domingo like a cat. But after enough habituation it was time to discover and expand the own territory and look for a place far away from cities, exhausting traffic scenarios and boisterous Dominicans. Something off the usual to relax and get another impression of this beautiful island.
Tubagua Eco Lodge was the destination. Located in the north amongst Puerto Plata, Santiago and Sosua. Mountainous, green, quiet. The way to Tubagua was a pleasure: Less traffic, great natural scenery, but unfortunately on the other hand for 10 – 15 km very dusty and unpaved road conditions. I drove ‘very early’ on Thursday morning at 8am starting from Santo Domingo.
Good and typical Dominican food
I got deflected – Back to the eco lodge itself. You will arrive there and feel instantly a calm and comforting vibe from the staff and the whole amenities. Luckily I arrived at lunch time and got served a typical Dominican lunch.
Rice and beans – Essential component of every Dominican full meal 🥘
But the rest of the food was as well worth to show it:
Especially the dinner had to offer quite some juicy meat:
For the price (and the lack of near alternatives in the form of other restaurants) definitely worth it. Or would you prefer to cook when every other guest of the lodge is crunching their haunches for dinner? Good luck then, I definitely don’t!
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Rooms offer a 180° wide-angle view over the whole terrain
Typical eco lodges are designed of natural materials like wood, bamboo, etc. and have therefore a distinct rustic charm and unique character. Here are a few impressions to understand better how Tubagua Eco Lodge was created:
What makes the construction of this lodge special is the wide-angle view it offers to its guests. You will have a stunning view over the whole terrain from the room I had. The only thing that will disturb your relaxation are sunshine and birdsongs.
The shared bathroom area had a quite cool feature:
The sink was made out of old buckets to meet the recycle approach – Good idea! But an even better idea was the toilet:
The frame with its semi-flexible picture is a really quaint idea for everyone who needs to pee.
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Amenities of Tubagua Eco Lodge
Be prepared, that you won’t have a TV in your room. Contrary to what hotel rooms are offering, you will not find many interesting things to do in your own room. It’s conceived to find rest in your own room and do all other activities like gaming and other interactions in the social area. This area looks like the following:
But apart from that house, there were as well several other nice and comfortable areas:
Environment around the eco lodge
What you could already see in the photos gave you a little impression about the lush and green nature. Luckily, the lodge is located in an area where you can walk some trails quite safely without a tour guide. Don’t forget to bring your tramping boots, or you need to revert after the half way, because you wear flip-flops and it becomes difficult to walk the unpaved roads.
Some neighbors have their own domestic animals:
All in all it helped me to charge my batteries and to spend a few days remote from Santo Domingo. Happy Easter!
To push myself to the limit and to try out something new I am always looking for a crazy and adventurous moment. At the peak of my time during this trip, I reached a dangerous level of fear. I was never that high before I came down to earth so brutally fast. Read this article and consume yourself a fine piece of adrenaline.
If you know me better or for longer, you also know how much I like to provoke others with misleading words or texts. But this intro was until now the best of its kind and worth gold. I can’t deny to say, that I am curious how many people thought if I am crazy or a drug addict. “What the hell is this guy writing?” If already the title includes a drug like a magic mushroom, this author must’ve written it under the influence of psychedelic drugs as well.
No, I am not a drug addict. And yes, I have still followed a trip to the Magic Mushroom. But sometimes, things are not as clear as the water I dived into. If you are ever traveling to Cabarete in the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, don’t limit your time there to the beautiful beaches and water sport activities. Approximately 45 minutes away from Cabarete, you will have the opportunity to go on a real off-track and fun adventure. Hence, you can perceive it as a trendy and growing excursion, which still flies under the radar of the ‘mainstream Cabarete tourism’.
So, I left the office at 4pm and travelled from Santo Domingo to Cabarete on a Friday after work. Worst idea you can have, DOMINICAN TRAFFIC IS HORRIBLE. Took a bus to Sosua and from there a taxi to my hotel in Cabarete. At 11:30pm (!) I finally arrived. If you ever plan to use a national bus to travel through the Dominican Republic, please do it at noon to avoid bad vibes and lost lifetime. Arriving at this time after that time, I really wasn’t in the mood anymore to go out for a bite or a drink. My time was very limited in Cabarete, I only planned to stay for the weekend and already ‘lost’ an evening and night there. Great. Hopefully, I won’t get disappointed and the rest of my time will be better.
And yes, it was much better. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to meet Helmut Ludwig in Cabarete, an Austrian expatriate and who lives since more than 20 years in Cabarete. This man has a really good and warm soul, pulsates of energy and always smiles at you when he is talking to you. Thus, you feel all time in good companionship when he is around.
A very good thing about him is, that he might be the best contact with regards to adventurous tourism activities in this area. With decades of experience, the right contacts and professional equipment, he can help you to spend an extraordinary and thrilling time in the neighbouring villages of Cabarete. Helmut founded ‘Kajak River Adventures’ and took me to the ‘Magic Mushroom excursion’. And that was much better than remaining solely at the beach all day.
Rappelling
I didn’t research a lot about this excursion or the destination before. Only viewed a few photos of the ‘Magic Mushroom’ to not get spoiled and still be surprised. And yes, I didn’t expect such an overdose of adrenaline and a rush of blood to the head during this trip. If I would have researched and prepared myself better before, I wouldn’t have drunken a double espresso in the morning when having breakfast. Not needed, I obtained from all I’ve done during the excursion the same level of energy.
Nature boy
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If you ever want to plan this trip, I encourage you to do so and can help you with the planning. But one important information up front: Bring your Go-Pro or another waterproof camera with. You can’t take your mobile phone with you during that excursion: Too risky with all the swims in the water and the danger of smashing it on a rock or losing it.
Luckily, Helmut had a waterproof Nikon camera and took some wonderful pictures of our small group. Maybe not the best photos quality wise, but hey: Without these photos, I would have nothing to show and not write this article. If I ever do that tour again, I will definitely buy a good and advanced camera to make some stunning photos and videos in HD.
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However, the trip itself is a mix of hiking, rappelling, swimming, cliff diving, climbing and an overdose of adrenalized fun. There are two different tours which take 3 hours and 5 hours. I did a shorter tour and have now a good argument to come back one day to Kajak River Adventures and ask for the ‘Big Bastard Tour’ that takes 5 hours. Separates the men from the boys.
The only things you need to bring with are your bath suit, good and stable sport shoes for the hike and my recommended waterproof camera. I would not recommend this tour for people who are not in a good physical condition, who are scared of heights and/or don’t enjoy to get wet and dirty. Pregnant women rule out themselves anyhow to make that trip. Everyone else is welcome to do that trip and I am pretty sure, that you would like it as much as I did. Maybe you even smile:
Water can be so much fun!
And if you are a fearless bastard as I am, you can also try to jump from a 95ft. (15m) cliff. Do you dare to? I did! And it was for me not only the biggest height I jumped from, it was double as high than my previous high score of 48 ft. (7.5m).
I can’t tell what exactly happened to my subconscious in that moment, but I tried not to think and switched my – already in regular times malfunctioned – brain off before I jumped. It won’t work otherwise: If you think too much you will freeze and it paralyzes your legs.
The professional NFL Player, Chris Conley
One of the group members was Chris Conley, Wide Receiver of the Kansas City Chiefs, a professional NFL player. He was a very pleasant and friendly guy. Whenever I did my frontflip to enter the water surface, he was the one diving headfirst.
Telling me, that it was easier to do so than the frontflip. Well, I think it is the opposite 🙂
So why Magic Mushroom? Look at this photo:
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Magic Mushroom, Cabarete
Yes, it really looks like this and the rest of the nature is as beautiful as you can imagine and see on Helmut’s photos. Clear blue and azure water, green plants and many rocks and cliffs to jump from. In total, I jumped from 7 (or 8?) cliffs and every single time was a pure joy. Except the 95ft. suicidal one, that was a real dare for myself.
Do you want to get adrenalized by this Magic Mushroom, too? Contact me for more information and I help to plan your own mind-blowing adventure trip!
Four eyes see more than two. You should use your own pair of eyes and see yourself what kind of natural treasure in a calm surrounding Santo Domingo has to offer amongst the generic Dominican traffic chaos, loud Merengue music and people chattering all day. You will hardly believe your eyes, which beauty is hidden in the east of Santo Domingo. So be all eyes and keep your eyes peeled for the following article!
‘Nuff of these stupid wordplays, let’s be serious again and talk business: I visited last weekend something, that is really rare in Santo Domingo: A natural resource. Whilst the majority of Santo Domingo is just a usual Latin American capital with urban architecture made of colonial buildings, shopping malls, many residential areas, streets, etc. there are only a few recreational areas in the city. One of them is ‘Parque Nacional Los Tres Ojos’, a 50-yard open-air limestone cave. $4 of entry more than worth it!
Due to tectonic fractures centuries ago, this cave was created and filled with water. A looooong time has passed and the water slowly vanished and vaporized.
Three sweet water lakes remained inside of the cave and gave a habitat to fish, bats and turtles. And these three sweet water lakes give the national park now its name. Every eye (ojos) represents an own lake and has an own name.
Lago de Azufre
La Nevera
El Lago de las Damas
Lago de las Damas! I was lucky to have visited this place as well with a dame. That helped me very much on the one hand not to harass complete strangers all the time to take pictures of me. One the other hand, why experiencing something beautiful like this alone? It’s always good to have a companion to share memories like this.
There is even a fourth lake, called ‘Los Zaramagullones’, which I achieved to pronounce correctly after approximately 20 times. This lake is treated unfortunately like an orphan and isn’t part of the exclusive ‘Los tres ojos V.I.P. club’. Reason for that is, since it has an opening to the outside and appears more to be a lagoon than a subterraneous lake. It can be only accessed by a small ferry raft pulled via rope across Lake La Nevera.
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Getting there is free, but you will have to pay a small fee (about $0.50 US) to get out. Smart and devious Dominicans! They let you in for free, but you have to pay for the exit. A perfect business model.
Los Zaramagullones is the most tranquil and beautiful of the four subterranen watering holes. Firstly, because it is remotely from the others and is therefore somehow special. This story, that you need a higher effort to enter with the ferry raft helps to let it shine more special in comparison with the three ojos. But it has as well a lush vegetation and many fish to offer. This beautiful piece of land was a scenery for many production companies who have filmed footage here for movies like Tarzan and Jurassic Park III.
But the other lakes are beautiful and tranquil as well. Especially astonishing was the color of the water. The azure hue is coming from the high amount of calcium. Few rays of light and sunshine are entering the cave, no algas or seaweed is provoked. You can see many movements of different animals through the crystal clear water and observe them.
Risking my life (or at least my dry clothes) again, I was climbing to a ledge to have a better overview of the lake and of course for better photos:
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Beauty knows no pain. But sitting and laying on the spiky stones for the perfect photo knows a lot of pain. Was it really worth it?
Talking about photos, I must say, that it is quite difficult for a phone camera to react to all the different light conditions. Both extremes, too illuminated and too dark crash always at the same time when being in a cave and trying to take photographies. And photos with a flashlight are never an option, because they bias every perspective you have. Only Snapchat filters with bunny ears are worse than photos with flashlight.
Me whitey was always too illuminated in the dark backgrounds of the cave. I would recommend everyone who wants to visit this site to bring his/her professional photo equipment with to not look snow white like me on the pictures. So, be witness of my whiteness and see the following pictures, that let me look like having a halo and gloriole:
All the rest of the park is organized quite good as well. Enough sanitary facilities, kiosks and (like always) too many souvenir shops. One of the kiosks had paintings on the walls, beautiful and colorful paintings:
The temperature of the lagoons vary between 20 °C to 29 °C, but it all the time very humid down there and you start sweating easily. Upstairs, the sun lashes merciless down the sky and make you sweat again. After climbing all 692 steps (!) of the cave, you can continue a 15 – 20 minute walk to see more of the national park. And see the ‘Los Zaramagullones Lagoon from above.
But the earlier pictures from the perspective below are better. Anyway, the vegetation is greener than green and makes you forget all the grey beton and loud noises of the town.
Ich habe mich entschieden, den folgenden Artikel über Pozuzo in Deutsch zu verfassen. Hurra! Holdrio! Donnerlüttchen!
Schild am Ortseingang von Pozuzo
Gleichzeitig stellt dieser Artikel somit ein Novum auf meinem Blog dar, da ich bisher lediglich in Englisch und Spanisch schrieb. Ich erhoffe mir dadurch natürlich einerseits das Interesse meiner Freunde, Familienmitglieder und alten Weggefährten, die eventuell weder mit Englisch noch Spanisch mithalten können, bzw. dann an der Fremdsprache schnell das Interesse verlieren. Zum anderen jedoch glaube ich, dass ich diesmal um die ein oder andere deutschsprachige Vokabel nicht herumkomme, denn was ich auf meinen knapp zwei Tagen in Pozuzo erleben durfte sprengt die Vorstellungskraft eines jeden Lesers.
Um den Artikel so authentisch wie möglich zu halten, nahm ich mir sehr viel Zeit bei der Erstellung. Sie, werter Leser, benötigen ebenfalls ein gewisses Zeitpolster, bis Sie mit allen Texten, Bildern und Videos durch sind. Nun aber genug der einleitenden Schwafelei: Lehnen Sie sich zurück und tauchen Sie mit mir in ein bizarres Reiseziel ein, das Sie sich nicht einmal in Ihren kühnsten Träumen hätten vorstellen können.
WAS MACHT EIN REISEZIEL EINZIGARTIG?
Diese Frage gilt übrigens nicht nur für Reiseziele, sondern praktisch für jedes Produkt oder jeden Service. Aus Marketingsicht wird immer gerne der U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition) verwendet, also das Alleinstellungsmerkmal, das einen Wettbewerbsvorteil eines Produktes gegenüber seiner Konkurrenz darbietet. Gewiefte Marketing- und Kommunikationsstrategen versuchen daher zuhauf, einen U.S.P. in ihr Produkt in Form von Vokabeln wie „einzigartig“, „ausschließlich“ oder „einmalig“ kommunikativ zu untermauern.
Die Realität sieht jedoch anders aus, liebe Freunde. In Wirklichkeit gibt es gar nicht so viele einzigartige Produkte zu erwerben, wie sie denn kommuniziert werden. Erst Recht nicht, seitdem die Globalisierung den problemlosen Import indischer und chinesischer Schrott-Imitate ermöglichte. Aber das ist ein anderes Thema.
Gleiches gilt ebenfalls für Tourismusdestination. Möglicherweise hat auch Ihnen die gelernte Reiseverkehrskauffrau im lokalen Reisebüro bereits weismachen wollen, dass Sie diese eine Reise, die Ihnen überteuert angedreht werden soll, ein einzigartiges Reiseziel darstellt. Der naive Idealist mag zwar auf einen solchen Trick reinfallen und die Reise buchen, bevor es zu spät ist. Wohingegen der kühle Realist feststellen wird, dass es möglicherweise auch in anderen Ländern Strände, Berge, Wälder, Tiere und Hotels gibt, wie es der Urlaubskatalog verspricht.
Und Recht hat er! Es gibt nur wenige generische, einzigartige Reiseziele auf der Welt, die von Mutter Natur selbst geformt wurden. Und selbst falls das einmal der Fall sein sollte, so war es bestimmt nicht die Absicht von Mutter Natur, dass der Mensch ihre natürlich erschaffenen Ressourcen als Reiseziel auslobt, um diese dann kapitalistisch auszubeuten und zu verwüsten.
Meistens sind dann diese Reiseziele von Menschenhand erschaffen, wie das teuerste Luxushotel oder das höchste Bauwerk der Welt. Aber was, wenn man mal von den vielen einzigartigen olympischen Disziplinen á la „Höher, Schneller und Weiter“ absieht und nach kulturellen, bzw. herkunftsbedingten Merkmalen sucht?
POZUZO IST DIE EINZIGE ÖSTERREICHISCHE KOLONIE DER WELT
Ich hatte die Gelegenheit, ein Reiseziel kennen lernen zu dürfen, das den Titel „einzigartig“ mehr als gerechtfertigt verdient hat. In Peru gibt es die einzige österreichische Kolonie der Welt. Da kommen Sie womöglich ins Zweifeln und auch mir ging es beim ersten Mal genauso.
Wir haben ja alle schon einmal etwas von den vielen französischen, niederländischen und britischen Kolonien gehört. Die Spanische Krone hat vor knapp 500 Jahren gar einen halben Kontinent unterjocht und kolonialisiert. Aber wie um alles in der Welt haben es denn die Österreicher geschafft eine Kolonie zu gründen? Noch dazu als Binnenland auf dem europäischen Kontinent ohne eigenen Hafen?
Hierzu empfehle ich das folgende YouTube-Video, das ihnen komprimiert die wichtigsten Fakten vermitteln wird:
Jenes Video sollte einen ersten groben Eindruck dessen vermitteln, was ich in dem kleinen Dörflein selbst erleben durfte. Allerdings habe ich mich nach Betrachrtung des Videos natürlich wie so oft über die deutsche Lügenpresse, verfälschte Berichte, schlechte Recherchen und mangelhaften Journalismus geärgert.
So auch diesmal, denn eine Vielzahl der von der Redaktion von Galileo vorgestellten Informationen sind geschönt, nicht authentisch oder schlichtweg falsch. Wie so oft wird dann dem Zuschauer – hier diesmal von Pro7 – ein falsches Bild vorgegaukelt, was leider nicht den Tatsachen entspricht. Dies soll natürlich nicht ungesühnt bleiben und wurde mit einem saftigen und deutlichen Kommentar meinerseits zu dem Video sanktioniert:
Anstatt des überbezahlten Moderators Harro Füllgrabe hätte ich selbige Rundführung für Galileo völlig kostenlos gemacht, wäre authentischer rübergekommen und hätte niemals so viel unwahres Zeug dahergeschwafelt. Und viel schlechter als der Moderator sehe ich auch nicht aus!
Wer sich also bis hierhin alle Informationen angeschaut und durchgelesen hat, dem sei gesagt, dass es noch nicht zu spät ist: Eine Umkehr zum seelenlosen Massenmedium ist noch stets möglich und Sie dürfen gerne das Schäfchen bleiben, dass dem Pro7-Massenmedium bedenkenlos folgt und alles glaubt, was ihm vorgezeigt wird. Möchten Sie aber dem Pro7-Schäfer abtrünnig werden, aus der Herde ausbrechen und einen Insider-Report über die einzige österreichische Kolonie der Welt nach authentischen Maßstäben lesen, der mit einem Kommunikationsstil á la ‘frei von der Leber weg’ serviert wird, so dürfen Sie gerne weiterlesen. Kleinere Rechtschreibfehlerchen natürlich inklusive!
Lima! Capital of Peru! What a megacity with more than 10 million people living there! I was blessed to have had twice in my life the opportunity to live in Lima. 2014 as a student during a semester abroad and 2018 as the regular expat traveler. In total, I lived for more than a year in Lima and feel eligible to write a useful guide for expats about life in Lima. Are you a foreigner and are interested to live in Lima as well? There are some things to consider, but plenty of reasons to make the move. In this article, I would like to exemplify 5 reasons to live in Lima.
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Approximate reading time: 18 minutes
(Last update: April 10, 2021)
The official flag of Lima in Peru
“Hoc signum vere regum est”, means loosely translated from Latin to English “This is the sign of the truth of the king”. Lima appeared for me less than a royal city. It showed me more of a very rough and maritime city with passionate and hardworking people. Many hardworking people in a real megacity.
Lima is the biggest city I lived in so far in my life. According to recent statistics in 2021, Lima has in total 10,861,999 people living in the whole Metropolitan area of Lima. The 5th biggest city in South America! A lot of hungry mouths have to be fed in this huge city, don’t you think?
I already dedicatedin a former blog article my gushing praise for the Peruvian kitchen. Every visitor will be more than happy to be able to expect the best kitchen in the world. You should read this article and agree with me. If not, I hope, that the few pictures I will show give an indication about the quality of the Peruvian kitchen.
Lima is the best city for ambitious expats with predilections for foodies. I lived and traveled through various Latin American cities for years and did not enjoy a better cuisine than the Peruvian one. Peruvians are very gastronomic and hospitable people. And in a big city like Lima, you’ll find a lot of people who are proud to introduce their kitchen to you. Be sure to be gustatorily pampered.
2
Living costs are relatively cheap
I remember the conversation with the operators of the short flight I did:
The guy told me, that the same flight experience ‘somewhere else’ would cost up to three times more than in Lima. Inside I laughed because I thought that this was a feeble argument of his selling tactic. But then I realized, that he meant with ‘somewhere else’ other countries. And of course, this guy was right with what he said. Somewhere else life is definitely more expensive than in Lima!
A life in Lima costs – Of course depending here on the level of consumption and the private lifestyle – in average only 504.78$ per month. According to numeo.com Lima is ranked on number 446 of 602 cities worldwide when it come to living costs. In the South American ranking, Lima is on 8 of 30, after many other Latin American capitals. But of course a comparison amongst 27 cities isn’t very expressive and more data would be needed to have clear imagination here.
But this indication should be proof enough to say, that life in Lima isn’t that expensive. A good argument for expats to live in Lima.
And yes, I know that the whole country was awarded for being a green destination, not the city of Lima itself. But in 2018, there are already many parks and green spaces spread over the whole city. They better should get over the awful traffic situation, that I will describe in another article. Why have a beautiful and green park, if you can’t enjoy sitting there because of the awful traffic noises 😉 At least the parks are all maintained very well.
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Another indication is the news from 2015, that Lima wants to invest $110 Million in Green Infrastructure And Climate Adaptation. This sounds reasonable for Lima, which is the world’s second-largest desert city after Cairo. In another very interesting source, I read, that Lima is returning to nature by diverting one percent of water fees to restore Andean forests, grasslands and wetlands that provide critical ‘ecosystem services’ such as regulation of water flows. If I will ever return to Lima, I will be very curious about how green the city will look.
4
Lima has a royal nightlife
Do you remember the flag of Lima? That Lima is the city of kings as I introduced earlier? Good! I would like to enhance, that you can also live the nightlife of a king in Lima. In no other city than Lima, I had so much fun and different activities to do. New York might be the city, that never sleeps. But Life should be awarded then as the city, that always celebrates parties. You can go out every night, there is always something to do.
But it’s supposed to be at least a semi-serious article with the approach of quality insight reports. Whenever there is something to celebrate like concerts, festivals, football, or national holidays, you can be sure that hell will break loose in Lima and everywhere around. One good example to give an indication about the party mood in Lima are the following videos:
What you can see here was what happened on the 29th of May in 2018. It was nothing more than a Tuesday night, maybe 10 pm. The national football team of Peru defeated Scotland with 2:0 in a FRIENDLY MATCH. It wasn’t an official tournament match or anything comparable. But still, reason enough for the people to make party after the match for hours in the city.
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And that was ‘only’ football. What anarchistic parties will happen during the Peruvian national day? I can only imagine…
5
There are beaches everywhere in Lima
Lima is a coastal city. If Coastal cities don’t have cliffs, they usually have beaches. Lima has maaaaany beaches as well. Lima’s beaches, located along the northern and southern ends of the city, are heavily visited during the summer. No wonder in a city of almost 11,000,000 people. Eventually, you have to share your space on a summer Sunday with someone from the city.
In Lima city and near to the metropolitan city, you will find numerous resorts and beaches on the banks of the Pacific Ocean. Although a perfect holiday doesn’t symbolize for me the beach itself, it can’t harm to visit each month for a day or two the local beaches and swallow some sunshine. And you should cherish the good weather in Lima during the summer months of November till April because starting from mid of May until October the climate will change the whole city to a grey and gloomy area.
The Peruvian coastline is equipped with challenging Pacific waves all year long. On the coast of Lima, great surf beaches are Punta Rocas, the site of one World Qualifying Series surfing tournament, and the beach of Pico Alto, whose waves are compared to those in Hawaii. The coast area is characterized to be rather desertic, some of them with sand, and others with stones.
…which should give you a great impression about a lovely and funny day at the beaches in Lima. You should not expect the best beaches of the whole country in Lima. To see them, you need to travel to the northern or southern coasts of Peru. But living in a city with direct access to a beach is always a big plus. As an expat, you should consider that. I am not the biggest beach person, but don’t reject a nice day at the beach with friends either.
Enjoying beaches in Lima generally difficult in this city with its grey season. Almost half a year, you’ll miss sunshine in the capital city of Peru. You don’t believe me? Please read my following article and find out more about the 5 reasons to NOT live in Lima. This will be the consequent article that shows you as an expat the reverse of the medal.
I hope, that I could give you support for your decision to live in Lima. By giving several arguments from the insider’s perspective, you should now have a better imagination about the fifth biggest city of Latin America.
I’d be very happy if you decide to leave a comment below or become a subscriber to my blog. Many other interesting articles are already in preparation. Never miss an update and follow me on social media!
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The good thing about Peru is, that you can have it all. The Andean country has 90 different microclimates, including 30 of the 32 world climates, making it one of the most diverse countries in the world in microclimates. So what ever you want to see, be sure that Peru can offer it to you!
Six hours away from Lima you can find an authentic and green area in the mountains, called ‘Reserva Paisajistica Nor Yauyos-Cochas’. I had the opportunity to travel to Huancaya, a very small village in the Peruvian mountains:
Where is Huancaya?
Needless to say, that it is a green area in the mountains, you can already see that yourself at Google Maps. What you can not see yourself are the following pictures and videos I made during the last weekend. I was really astonished, because I like hiking, mountains and being in the nature. So for me it was a wonderful relaxing weekend.
What also helped relaxing and disconnecting, was the situation with the cell reception. I could not receive a signal with my mobile phone and a world without mobile phone and internet can be beautifully relaxing and efficient. Why efficient? Because I felt living more time at the same day and wasting less time with our modern times, where you are fully dependent on the Internet, WhatsApp, communication, etc. It was very refreshing to see on the one hand how slow, rhythmic and stable the life in these segregated communities works. On the other hand it helps to gain more empathy in transforming your mind in a living scenario where is no use of internet and mobile phones or any hospitals, supermarkets or discotheques exist. For the generic urban blockhead like me it is a good challenge and exercise to change suddenly your usual behavior and adapt to new and unknown environment. But I do really like it, because the expected ordinary life with all the repetitive occurrences let routine and boredom emerge.
Every new situation and incident is always welcome and doesn’t shriek me off. Far from it! I’m even looking for these challenges and therefor I can consider the trip to Huancaya a welcome opportunity and change to see and discover something new.
Huancaya should not be mistaken with Huancayo. Huancaya is a village of maybe 400 people whereas Huancayo is a city of 400.000 habitants. What can also confuse is the distance of these two localities, because they are only 137 kilometers away from each other or three hours with the car. If you now notized, that three hours with the car is quite a lot for 137 kilometers, you’ll probably understand as well, that the consistency and quality of the Peruvian streets – especially in the mountain areas – might not be the best.
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If you now noticed, that three hours with the car is quite a lot for only 137 kilometers, you’ll probably understand as well, that the consistency and quality of the Peruvian streets – especially in the mountain areas – might not be the best.
The architecture of the buildings and streets Huancaya is quite simple. I only made a few pictures of the buildings there, but they use mostly stones and simple tin roofs to construct their houses.
Generally, they even don’t heat their own houses, although it was bitterly cold. Rather putting on additional clothing to not freeze. And the nights can be very cold there. Especially at the end of Aptil, when I visited Huancaya. So that’s why I wear in most of the pictures and videos warm clothes as well, because it was simply too cold to put on only a shirt.
I went with Pakary Travel, a specialist for Tours to Huancaya and Vilca, for one night or two days to Huancaya. The travel schedule and program they set up was very stiff and there was not much time to stay somewhere. All was more focused on seeing as much as possible, especially nature. The focus they set was on hiking experiences and water sports, things I like to do very much.
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Everyone who has ever heard of ‘Ciudad Perdida’ knows what the following pictures are about. Peru, respectively the Huancaya region has an own little abandoned village as well:
Only rests of stones of approximately 15 buildings are still standing in the hilly area. Knowing, that this is of course not as impressive as ‘Ciudad Perdida’, it is very similar, that there is an abandoned ghost town (or village) and no one knows what has happened to its population. After years, decades or centuries, the buildings collapsed and only loose heap of stones remained in place.
One of the local Huancayan specialities is the ‘Trucha’ (trout) and you can see on the following video a fresh preparation of it:
I had the opportunity to try one of them and I must say, that the Peruvian trout is a very tasty fish with only a few fishbones.
Huancaya is on 3,554 m and the mountains where I was hiking almost on 4,000 m. Typically the altitude sickness occurs above 2,400 meters and I was in the past also very sensitive to that. No matter if I was in Huaraz, Quito or Cajamarca, I always have had problems with places who are in high or very high altitudes. This time I haven’t had any problems and I am very glad about that, because I could enjoy my time in Huancaya to the fullest.
And speaking about enjoying to the fullest, it’s always a question what type of personality you are. Some people like deserts, some people like fluvial areas and some people beaches. At a beach area I get bored after more than two days, because there is quite less to see and do. Same happened to me in Mancora, when I traveled there in early March. But in these green areas like forests, jungles or these mountain areas I feel very good! Not only because of the landscapes, but they are supporting to the happiness, that delights me, when I see things like this:
Was ‘Lord of the Rings’ shot in New Zealand or in Peru?
This wonderful natural landscape I filmed during a hiking tour in the Huancaya region of ‘Reserva Paisajistica Nor Yauyos-Cochas’ to the so-called ‘Bosque del Amor’, the forest of love.
A perfect place to go for a challenging hiking tour and if you’re lucky with the weather, you’ll soak up the sun on a stone plateau. Almost everything there consists of mountains, green scenery and water. The air is purified clean and respiration was never that pleasant for my urban lungs.
‘Bosque del amor’ had a really dense vegetation of different trees. It happened a few times, that I hit my head on a branch.
I don’t really know, why they call it the forest of love, but I couldn’t find it there. Maybe I have to go to Paris, the “City of love’, soon to manage that. Although I love all this nature and hiking experiences, I could not survive for long in a mountain area. There are too many urban temptations, the mountains can not fulfill or compensate. But being in the mountains for a while is always a good and balancing alternative to relax and disconnect from all the city lifestyle stress.
On the following two pictures you can see, that I am on my way to ‘Laguna Huallhua’ and ‘Cascada de Chuchupasca’.
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Huancaya is a waterlogged area where you are surrounded of sheer unlimited water resources. Waterfalls which rise from the 4.000m high mountains flow down and sometimes agglomerate in one of these beautiful lagoons. Does it sound too childish, if a ‘that’s amazing’ would follow a ‘Wow’?
Anyway, I was visiting ‘Laguna de Huallhua’, which had cristal clear water. I can not remember, if I could see before in my life from the water surface to the lake bed. All thanks to freshly sputtered natural spring water and no pollution in the air. The right boat was the transport to the waterfalls. No engine, no gasoline, only manpower was rowing the passengers to the waterfalls.
The man on the right side of the first picture – our ferryman – was already old, I would guess maybe 55+. Nonetheless, he was capable to row his boat and 11 passengers for a few kilometers to ‘Cascada de Chuchupasca’. My deepest respect to him, he told me, that he is doing that back and forth for about ten times a day. With his performances he could as well qualify for the next Peruvian rowing team for the Olympics.
The waterfalls are A wonderful place to go and relax and their roaring noises of the water can calm someone down. Water in general has a relaxing effect on me. No matter if it is rain or the sound of the sea or a waterfall: The noise of the nature relaxes my mind.
Many bridges in the Huancaya area are not build out of stone or concrete, but simply made out of wood:
If you got scared now, because I was not using my hands for the suspension bridge, don’t worry: I had everything under control 🙂
Nature, nature, nature. I can not stop to upload more pictures and videos and get happy again because of all these beautiful memories that rise up again to my mind. When was the last time, that you saw something beautiful like that:
Can you see me on the following pictures? Human is so small in comparison to the mountains…
Animals play a key role when you go into the nature and see something new. There are many many interesting birds flying around the Huancaya area. I couldn’t capture pictures or photos of them, because they were simply too fast. But I am not a professional bird watcher, so I could only take videos from these animals.
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According to their voices, the first two animals sound hungry to me. The cat and dog fight is just a traditional conflict, that will probably continue forever.
Wow, I see now, that I already made it up to more than 1,700 words until now. Maybe it’s better to find an ending before the ending finds me. Although I could continue with a lot of stories more, I don’t want to overcharge my readers. So I want to let the nature speak again with a few videos and say ‘See you next time at my ensuing blog post again’
Every visitor, traveler and tourist might have heard already something about Barranco. Where old Colonial buildings and atmospheric bars project a bohemian neighborhood amongst all the graffitis, street musicians and artists. So far so good, but not anymore an insiders’ tip, more a necessity for every visitor of Lima.
A real insiders’ tip is the picturesque little city of Callao. You’ll find here as well many incredible and colorful graffitis, street musicians who play the sounds of Latin American music and many interesting museums. The whole district around ‘Monumento Callao’ pulsates of culture and you can breathe history at every corner.
First thing I learned during my visit was, that Callao isn’t part of Lima, but independent. It is even an own district in the inner Peruvian geopolitical classification and doesn’t belong to Lima, neither was ever part of it. This surprised me a lot, because it borders directly with Lima and is only 15 kilometers away from the city centre. Callao was found in 1531 and is now 487 years old. Therewith it is even older than Lima, which was found four years later. And I’m pretty sure, that no one else who read this text, knew that before.
First time I visited Callao was in early April, it was a nice and sunny Sunday. With the two local Peruvian friends I was travelling with – Susan and Giuliana – we have had a wonderful day there. Both told me, that Monumental Callao is a ‘Must’ for everyone who loves graffiti, neo-fashioned arts and culture. Thus, the perfect destination for someone who has these interests like me.
Callao has many interesting corners with a lot of colors and unusual things to show, every street is a mystery and you’ll be curious what you can find here.
What I really like about some art objects in Callao, is that the artists seem to give a f**k about what society thinks about their work and have love and passion for detail as you can see on the following pictures showing a stallion made out of metal…
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Callao was a problematic region of Peru and it still is. People are very humble in this area and live in simple housings. Daily life happens there for the people on the unpaved roads. It happened often, that I heard people in Lima talking about Callao with caution and a certain dose of awestruck respect.
From the socio-political point of view, Callao might not have the best reputation. Whether this is justified or not, Callao could be perceived as a problem child. A few years ago, Callao was completely restored from resourcefully architects and city planners and finally it was modelled a showable and proud face to the world.
The most important thing about arts (similar to satire), is that there are no rules, regulations or limits. Every limitation robs the artist the air to breathe and the possibilities to express their creativity. So if you take a look at the following pictures, which were taken at the ‘Plaza de Armas’ en Callao, would you agree or disagree, that it has something to do with arts? For me it was at first glance shocking to see this in public…
I can recommend to invest a day trip to Callao, but at least to spend five or six hours there. Public bus transport to Callao exists, but please don’t ask me how to get there. I never understood the chaotic public transport system of Lima and always preferred to take a taxi. Driving to Callao with a cab might cost you – Depending on your own location – between 5 and 8 dollars. The best would be to go during the day at noon. I heard several stories about the danger to be in this area at night, so better go there when you have the opportunity to see everything during the day. Graffiti are anyways easier and better visible at daylight 🙂
You can reach and see all the things by yourself without being in need of a tour guide. Although it might help of course to get a lot of background information if desired, I think, that this is the perfect location to discover yourself. Callao was for many weeks and months on my “To see”-list, but I always postponed a visit. Damned, I wish, that I would have done it earlier!
The second time I visited Callao was only one week after the first time. There was a festival about electronic music, which is at the same time very special, because electronic music is quite difficult to find in Peru. And it was a rooftop party with the option to see the whole skyline of Callao illuminated at night. Very beautiful, especially the harbor looks terrific at night.
So if this didn’t convince you yet to make a visit, what else can I write to support my assertion, that Callao is the fanciest and most breathtaking place of Peru? I can only recommend to add Callao Monumental to your travel schedule, if possible. You won’t be disappointed!
Who of you people thought about Buena Vista Social Club when you read the headline? I had exactly the same reasoning and thought about the most famous song of the Cuban band when I had the option to visit Chan Chan?
“How can I visit a song from Buena Vista Social Club”?
You can. And you should as well. Chan Chan is the largest still existing pre-colombian city in South America. To save myself some time I will quote Wikipedia here to give the basic infos:
“The name is probabilly derived from the Quingnam “Jiang” or “Chang” which means Sun, from which Chan-Chan would be literally: Sun-Sun. Chan Chan is believed to have been constructed around 850 AD by the Chimú. It was the Chimor empire capital city with an estimated population of 40,000-60,000 people. After the Inca conquered the Chimú around 1470 AD, Chan Chan fell into decline. In 1535 AD, Francisco Pizarro founded the Spanish city of Trujillo which pushed Chan Chan further into the shadows. While no longer a teeming capital city, Chan Chan was still well known for its great riches and was consequently looted by the Spaniards. An indication of the great Chimú wealth is seen in a sixteenth century list of items looted from a burial tomb in Chan Chan; a treasure equivalent to 80,000 pesos of gold was recovered (nearly $5,000,000 US dollars in gold).
In 1969, Michael Moseley and Carol J. Mackey began excavations of Chan Chan; today these excavations continue under the Peruvian Instituto Nacional de Cultura.”
Can you believe how big the areal might have been, if they are busy since more than 50 years with the excavations? Although these figures of 40,000 – 60,000 habitants might seem to our nowadays time a quite small amount for a city you should not forget to imagine how difficult it must have been these days for the Chimu to control and lead the life of their people. In our times, architects and construction workers build skyscrapers to solve the problem of missing living space and use modern techniques and the aid of machines. But the Chimu hadn’t had these possibilities and needed to build everything from hand and maybe smaller primitive mechanical facilities.
And this is the next big thing, that stunned me. How could it happen, that such a huge city was forgotten for such a long time? People think when they hear about Peru always about the Inca and Machu Picchu. Probably because they were in charge of the reign when the Spaniards arrived. But the Inca were only in charge for 62 years (below in yellow color on the graph). That’s not quite long, is it?
Timeline of ancient high civilizations in today’s Peru
But for me as well the people of the Chimu were complete unknown and I’ve never heard about them before. Apparently they had 570 reigning years in what we call now Peru. Neither do I know anything about the people of the Moche. Looks like there is much more to learn for me!
Anyway, let me now after this far too long introduction talk a little bit about the day itself. I was in a very bad shape and upset my stomach two days before. In the overnight bus ride from Cajamarca to Trujillo (The next bigger city) I didn’t sleep at all and haven’t eaten much. So all in all my energy and motivation level was at this day of the travel the lowest and I needed some external motivation help from my travel companion Dimixtrix.
I traveled with no one else as much with the bus as with Dimixtrix
He convinced me to stay for one more day in Trujillo and visit Chan Chan and Playa Huanchaco. Without his help, I would’ve probably taken the next bus back to Lima and would’ve missed a wonderful tourism destination.
From Trujillo you can take busses who drive to Huanchaco. On half way there is the entrance of Chan Chan. We didn’t inform us upfront and haven’t planned enough money and time for a full visit at Chan Chan. But as a recommendation to everyone I would say, that you can plan 4 – 5 hours time, if you use the service of a tour guide and transportation service. And this you should definitely do, because the areal is too spacious to walk and the opening times of the archaeologic site of Chan Chan are limited from 9AM to 4PM. Cheap tour guides can be found at the entrance, one operator requested 40 Soles from us, what are not even 10 Euro for four hours of work. A good deal, but we didn’t use it, because we had different plans for the afternoon.
Chan Chan is placed at a huge areal and we had to walk for 3 kilometers under the hot sun from the street to the entrance. It was definitely worth it and I wished that I would have been in a better shape to do the full tour. So we could only see two of the four possible sights (Plaza Ceremonial and the museum). But still what we saw was impressive. It didn’t happen often in my life that I visited archaeological sites, but this time I somehow could imagine how difficult it was to live as a civilian 1,000 years ago in Chan Chan. As distinguished from the pyramids in Egypt – Which are a good comparison because they were built as well in a desertic area – the stone ruins of Chan Chan were not in a good condition.
