Jarabacoa, Entrance to Dominican Alps

Jarabacoa, The Dominican Alps

Jarabacoa is a village in the central mountains in interior Dominican Republic. I travelled there with Tamara during Dominican’s vacation week called Semana Santa which concludes with Easter Sunday. The area is a popular place for wealthy Santo Domingo residents to build weekend homes because the elevation lends to a more convivial temperatures year round. During my stay the highs were consistently in the low 80’s without substantial humidity, while lows dipped to the low 60’s which made for some comfortable sleeping. In fact this was and still has been the only experience I’ve had in the Caribbean where sleeping without a fan (or seldom A/C) was desirable.

Having traveled to Jarabacoa prior to this visit, Tamara related to me in what capacity I was to become enamored with the location. We were loaded heavily with provisions that we had taken from Tamara’s house in San Francisco de Macoris, where we had recently vacated. That coupled with our luggage made any walking about town with belongings unmanageable. A hostel was already booked for us, so we just made the easiest choice for the hostel owners to come pick us up. Alternatively, another plan was to walk the town a little bit that morning and see what lodging we could find available.

At first glance, I was skeptical of the house. It did seem like a far drive from town to get there, and the house and yard looked tiny from the front. This feeling of a bad choice in hostel didn’t last long, the owner quickly took us on a tour of the inside and informed us gratefully that we were the only guests currently and would have the house alone for the weekend. Hot water, electricity, wood burning fire place, bicycle use, drinking water, local grown coffee, and internet will be considered substantial amenities for a DR rental at $18 per person per night. Tamara and I got settled quickly and met Eduardo; a Canadian whom was using the internet at Jarabacoa Mountain Hostel twice weekly for business. Our conversations centered on activities that Jarabacoa had to offer.

Town was a quick bicycle ride away, and it’s a small place so finding the park was easy. Jarabacoa’s central park offers crafts and more for sale, besides a comedor that Eddy had recommended. DeTillde’s is a house fronting the park turned into cafeteria style lunch place. The best Dominican food I have had yet was served me there. I received pork meatballs on white rice with a savory sauce, beans with sauce, a cabbage and tomato salad with vinaigrette dressing, and a super sweet glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. This meal was followed with a slice of Dominican Sheppard’s pie; seasoned ground beef topped with sweet ripened mashed plantains. The nice added benefit of eating a family establishment like this place is that it’s safe to leave your bicycles there while you walk to the grocery store.

The American owner of the hostel had written up some great directions for the nearby natural attractions as shortcuts attainable via bicycle. A wood fire in a fire place is really a novelty on an island in the Caribbean, and the cool night temperature made it really desirable and enjoyable. The box from the pizza we ordered that first night did little to light the rotty, dampish logs and neither did the napkins help much. The best fire starter in the house revealed itself as the roll of paper towels, the bamboo furniture being out of the question as a fuel source.

Tamara and I embarked on the trip to Salto de Jimenoa, one of two popular waterfalls created by rainwater runoff making its way from the central mountain region, through steep passes on its way to the Caribbean Sea. The falls, though not many kilometers from our hostel, lay high and beyond more than a few steep hills. The normal driving route to this waterfall took many more miles due to the lack of bridges over the river, yet our shortcut required us to carry our bikes over a fast, yet less than knee deep section of the flowing water. The route lead through some quite farms and neighborhoods. It being the start of Dominican Republic’s biggest holiday weekend, things were probably comparably loud for the area.

Reaching the falls protection area, we hiked over the suspension bridges up into the lower falls basin area. Gathered from information from Eddy, I knew that a trail was close to the termination from the main pathway that would lead us up over the top of the lower falls and to the base of the upper falls. The start of the trial looked no more than a goat path, and having to duck in to the start of the steep climb up no doubt discouraged many would-be users from the ascent through the forest. At times the trail follows a 4” irrigation pipe and skirts a cliff overlooking the rushing river far below for much of its length.

The forest opened to reveal a sandy beach fronting the pool at the base of the falls. Nobody else was at the falls when we got there, Tamara and I spread out our towels and commenced to enjoying books, snacks, and the cold fresh water. The pineapple was ripped into small chunks and set to soak in the rum for dessert. I took some worthy photos of the falls before we left to hike back down to the bicycles.

Another Peace Corps Volunteer named Jim joined us the following day for a hike of the closest high peak called Mogote. The trail took us from just over a thousand feet to a summit above 4,000 feet in a distance of about 1.5 miles. The trail started mellow with wide pathway through pine and deciduous forest, but then started straight up the mountain and turned into a washed out rutted track through thick brush over hard clay soil. Still wet from the prior afternoon’s showers, it was a steep and slippery climb. The trail afforded great views on the way and even into the next valley’s cities of Santiago and La Vega.

The top was not a sharp bit of stone, but a slowly slopped pasture cleared for grazing. A leaning observation tower occupied the top, but its door was closed and locked. We three hikers were greeted by a group of 9 or so farmers having their lunch and accompanying siesta. A far cry from a tranquil summit hour, we listened to the workers shout at one another in the usual conversational volume for Dominicans. Tamara told me a very funny joke that proved to be a statement of fact; the group would only be quite while stuffing their mouths. Aside from the workers and us hikers, the top was occupied by two mules, two dogs, four cows, a rooster, and some chickens with their chicks. I fed the chickens an almond or two and some mango skin. After the hike, Tamara and I went to our favorite restaurant in town, La Tinaja, for some great sandwiches and German beers.

I biked solo to the waterfall the next day and was hit on by two young Dominican women at the falls. They began by splashing me in the pool, carried on with pressing me into taking photos with them, and finished by talking to me in English about my girlfriend. In this way I discovered that it was not just the men of the country whom are aggressive in pursuit of the opposite sex. The older guy with their group attempted to steal my can of almonds while leaving the falls. I saw him from my position in the water, made my point that I wasn’t impressed, so he opened the can and took a handful before proceeding to eat them as he walked past me muttering something in Spanish.

At the hostel two other groups actually shared the house with us. A group of three guys from Santo Domingo partaking in Semana Santa parties for the second night, and a group of three young women traveling from Denmark for the last two nights. On the morning of the day we were departing the three girls joined Tamara and I at the Jimenoa waterfall, which made for my third time there. I really liked that waterfall and would have gone back for a fourth time should I have had the opportunity. Jarabacoa is great, it’s now my favorite place in the country. Besides the hiking and biking that I did, the place offers white water rafting, horseback riding, and atv trail riding. I think the weather, the village feel, and the smell of the pine trees are obvious attractions, but a more difficult thing to quantify is the laid back attitude of the residents.