The town of Luperon

Dominican Republic

December, 2005

Luperon is a small town on a gorgeous natural harbor on the north coast of the Dominican Republic.  The Dominican Republic is one of two countries that share the island of Hispaniola.  Haiti takes up the western third of the island of Hispaniola.  The Dominican Republic is a much larger country.  The language is Spanish and they have their own pesos, but US currency can also be used frequently, especially here on the north coast which is a tourist area.  (On the left, photo from the Luperon Yacht Club on a hill looking down on the many boats anchored in Bahia Luperon, or Luperon Bay).

The north coast of the Dominican Republic is sometimes referred to as the "Amber Coast".  There are many resorts on the beachfronts.  The Dominican Republic is where many scenes in the "Jurassic Park" movies were filmed - all those ones that you thought were Costa Rica.

The island of Hispaniola has both the highest point of elevation in the Caribbean - one of its many gorgeous mountains - and the lowest elevation.  The DR is a lush country that grows coffee, bananas, strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots - all kinds of produce in its valleys and on its mountains.  The mountains make areas of cooler temperatures where they can grow things like strawberries, which you don't normally think of as a tropical fruit.  But then they also have bananas , coconuts and pineapples growing.   We bought fresh local cheese on the side of the road that was fantastic. Chicken, beef, and pork seem plentiful (and of course, any kind of fish that you want).

Here are some pictures from the town of Luperon (the dirt road on the right is just outside of town).  Motorcycles are the most common form of transportation.  In fact, there are motorcycles on the street corner just waiting to take you wherever you need to go - just like a taxi ("motoconchos").  Ken used one of these motorcycle-taxis to go get our propane tank filled.

We have seen families of four on these little 100cc motorcycles that are so common.  The Dominicans seem to be able to carry anything on their motorcycles - we have heard stories about seeing them carry outboard motors, and even a donkey!

There are, of course, cars and trucks of all kinds also, but the locals in this area still use horses in more remote or unpaved areas and donkeys are also used to pull wagons full of produce.  In Luperon, a common way to buy vegetables is from the back of a pick-up truck, that drives around the street with a loudspeaker yelling "Cebollas!  Lechuga! Bananes!" (Onions!  Lettuce!  Bananas!)  There is always music playing in the streets, too.

Here is a photo of one of the small churches in the town of Luperon.  I loved the architecture with the built-in dove!

Here is the town dock or government dock.  You can see two cruising boats docked on the left side, checking in with Customs.  The Dominican Navy ship is docked on the right side.

Here you see a local fisherman going out from the town dock.  All those white things in the mangroves behind him are egrets that nest there.

We've had a few days of rain since we've been here (one night we got about 5 inches of rain - about an inch an hour!  Welcome to the Tropic of Cancer!)  In the photo below I tried to catch the clouds, rain and mist sliding down off the mountains around the harbor.

During the nighttime, the harbor can be silent and still, protected from the trade winds.  It is quiet enough to hear the small splash of the fisherman who row their own boats.  it is quiet enough to hear the waves pounding against the blowholes in the reef at the mouth of the harbor.  But on the weekend, you hear the party music from the town. 

Soon, it will be time for the humpback whales to make their journey along the coast here to their breeding grounds.  I'm hoping we'll get to see some.  We've heard that on a quiet night when the whales are passing, you can hear the sound of them slapping the surface with their tails and breaching all the way in the harbor.  And if you dinghy out to the mouth of the harbor, you can hear them talking to each other.