Windsurfing
in Las Salinas Beach, trekking in Rio Blanco, and psychedelic mosaic art in
Bonao are all within a few hours’ drive of Santo Domingo. Escape the noise and the heat of the
city, and take off to one of our favorite overnight trips from Santo Domingo.
Overnight Trip 1
Glistening Salt Flats, Mangos, and Windsurfing: Las Salinas, Baní
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| Mural of Baní |
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| Typical Architecture in Baní |
Baní is perhaps best known for its tremendous diversity and production of mangos. The season’s pinnacle is celebrated during the Feria del Mango, which takes place every June and includes dozens of types of mangoes – as well as a huge party. Salt is another major product from the area, extracted from the mines by the beach in Las Salinas.
Do: Playa Las
Salinas - Salt Mines
On
the way to Las Salinas Beach are a series of sand dunes, known as Las Dunas,
whose unusual beauty is worth a photo. While this beach isn’t the best the
South has to offer, it is a relaxing place to cool off from the hot Southern
climate. From the beach, blinding white piles of salt, harvested from the
surrounding salt flats, shimmer under the South’s unobstructed sun. The mine’s manager
will gladly let visitors take back a handful of this crucial condiment and
local moneymaker.
To
get to Las Salinas, head southwest toward the coast on Carretera Máximo Gómez.
Pick up this highway by turning left at the Isla Gas Station located on the
highway leading out of Baní heading west (Parador Baní is on the right). Drive
to the end of the road and turn right and pass through the towns of Villa
Sombrero and Matanzas. Keep going until the coast and follow signs for Las
Salinas. You can also pick up a guagua (RD $ 80; 20min; hourly 7am-6pm) at the
stop located a few blocks south of El Mercado Público.
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| Hotel Las Salinas |
Right
on the water, this hotel’s 35 rooms are adorned with bright white linens that
contrast the dark wooden furniture, and though they come with A/ C, the ocean
provides a refreshing breeze. The hotel draws both a wealthy Dominican crowd
and windsurfing fanatics, who have been visiting the hotel since it held a
windsurfing competition in 1988. Offering a private beach, pool, glamorous
chaise-lounges, and a dock with a gazebo, Las Salinas Hotel creates an
exclusive atmosphere without breaking a traveler’s budget.
RD $ 2000-3000; Puerto Hermosa; on the
right on the main road through Las Salinas; 809-866-8141, 809-310-8141;
hotel_salinas@ hotmail.com, www.hotelsalinas.net
Overnight Trip 2
Bonao and the Río Blanco Ecotourism Complex
Bonao and the Río Blanco Ecotourism Complex
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| Central Park in Bonao |
Bonao
is the first city on the highway north out of Santo Domingo, about an hour’s
drive away. It is bounded on one side by seemingly endless rice paddies, and on
the other by the rapidly rising rock of the Cordillera Central. Bonao began,
like many other towns, as an outgrowth around a fort; this one built in 1495 by
the Columbus expedition.
Modern
Bonao is a two-industry town: rice production and mining. In the foothills
outside of town are one of the largest mines in the country, with enormous impact
on Bonao employing a plurality of residents, but also has environmental
consequences. Bonao is also proudly home to artist and master painter Cándido Bidó,
and there is a fascinating museum here in his honor.
Visit www.bonaocityrd.blogspot.com, a local website dedicated to local news, sports, and music, for updates on local happenings in the city.
Visit www.bonaocityrd.blogspot.com, a local website dedicated to local news, sports, and music, for updates on local happenings in the city.
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| Mosaic Bathroom: "The Throne" |
Do: Casa Museo Tiburcio
The
Casa Museo Tiburcio, known by locals as La Casa de Piedra, is worth a stop in the town of Bonao before heading to the Río Blanco Ecotourism Complex
(see below). Home of the Bonao
artist Cristian Tiburcio, along with his wife and three children, the house is
made entirely of ceramic and stone mosaics, from the walls to the beds - and
even the blender. Bright tiles form figures like fish and animals, but the
house features the artist’s signature piece: eyes. Tiburcio uses eyes as a form
of self-portraiture, producing an often-overwhelming sensation in its visitors.
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| Mosaic Bedroom:"Bosque de los Sueños" |
One
particularly impressive area is in the bedroom called Bosque de los Sueños
(Forest of Dreams), where the bedroom’s toilet is literally a throne covered
inside and out with colorful tiles. The artist studied under the Dominican
master Bidó, whose influence is apparent in Tiburcio’s use of color, especially
Bidó’s classic hues of blue and orange. The first floor is the only space with
white walls, used to display the artist’s paintings, sculpture, and mosaic
pieces. His home-as-project began in 1998, and continues to be a work in
progress with plans that call for an outdoor theater and community park.
12 C/ Los Pinos, Urbanización
Falconbridge; contact Cristian at 809-525-2972 or 809-304-6510;
cristiantiburcio@ yahoo.com; www.casamuseotiburcio.com
Sleep: Río
Blanco Ecotourism Complex, Hoyo
del Pino
Seventeen
kilometers uphill from Bonao into the deep, piney forests of the Cordillera
Central is the small valley village of Hoyo del Pino. In 2004, community
members founded a non-profit dedicated to the conservation of the area around a
tributary of the Yuna River, one of the largest watersheds in the Dominican
Republic. The Río Blanco Ecotourism Complex provides a peek into the
wilderness and coffee farms around the village. Locals and seasoned experts guide
hiking treks, birding tours of endemic and migratory species, and visits to
mountain-cold swimming holes. Other attractions include one of the highest
waterfalls in the country; coffee production, demonstrations, and tastings; and a
stop at a bamboo artisan’s workshop. A natural history museum is in the works.
The complex has its own kitchen and lodging, and proceeds go to ecosystem
preservation efforts and improving economic opportunities for families living
around the project area.
Guide service, which is required for
some activities, is RD $50. 809-310-5767; contacto.coeturb@gmail.com; https://sites.google.com/site/visitacoeturb/; https://www.facebook.com/COETURB
