3 nights in Las Terrenas may not have been enough. But my first impression was that it was too much and that 1 hour with a police escort would probably be enough. We lived in the center of a village where you run into a white man as often as you run into a black man in Olomouc. People were always watching us, sometimes they shouted something, but mostly it was something like, “Jesus, you’re tall!” and they’d laugh. However, the all-pervading poverty, the filth, the men with machetes, shotguns or rifles at their waists, the constant traffic of motorbikes, the constant street noise, all created an impression of terror and fear. We were not prepared for it. Mainly because our idea of the Dominican Republic consisted only of googled images of beautiful nature and beaches…

Our plan here was to visit the Limon waterfall and go on a whale watching trip from the fishing village of Samana. Unfortunately, our timing didn’t work out. It was late afternoon when we arrived in the village of Las Terrenas and it took us a long time to find our accommodation. Then we just walked through the village with our cheeks drawn up and went to bed all scared. We spent the next day at the beach, which was right at the end of the village. Which was a whole different world, the beach was clean, the bars were touristy, the buildings by the sea were mainly hotels of a class. There were very few local ones. This put our minds at ease a bit, we arranged a trip to the waterfall with one of the local tour agencies (French lady) who had the cheapest one ($30) explained what to do, had us pay and done. We can definitely recommend the trip, it was worth it. The whale watching trip was priced much higher, around $80 and up. I’m sure it would have been cheaper directly from the aforementioned fishing village, but we couldn’t find the time.

There are plenty of street shops in Las Terrenas, you can find ATMs and shops where you can exchange dollars for Dominican pesos. There is also one large supermarket where you can find everything you need, including an extensive selection of Dominican rum. We didn’t try the food from the street stalls, neither looked safe or appealing. The restaurants and bars on the beach mostly spoke English, if you chose the smaller bars here, they are usually manned by older ladies who don’t speak much English, but then again they smile all the more. Watch out for the prices. On the menu they usually have prices without extra charges (tax to the government + tax for being by the beach etc.) Sometimes it can be up to 30% extra to the original price.