Back to Homepage Back to Travel Photos	Punta Cana, Dominican Republic -- March 2008
We stayed in the Occidental Grand Flamenco Resort in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana is located on the easternmost tip of the island of Hispaniola where the Dominican Republic occupies two-thirds of the eastern part of the island and Haiti occupies the western third. Hispaniola is the second-largest and most populous island of the Antilles, the islands forming the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea, lying between the islands of Cuba to the west, and Puerto Rico to the east.
Bavaro beach with beautiful white sand beaches.
Parts of the beaches were crowded with tourists, some American, but many were European, but there were quieter stretches as well. The length of Bavaro beach was lined with resorts and palm trees.
Each night at our resort they had live performances. Most of the songs were in Spanish and many of the women and men were dressed in Caribbean style outfits.
David and I went on a tour, which first included visiting a working farm.
We also went horse-back riding on the farm.
And we visited sugar cane fields.
Our guides cut fresh sugar cane and let us taste it. The main language spoken in the Dominican Republic is Spanish.
On our tour, we went through some rural areas. Many of the houses were built with a mixture of materials but the traditional structure was made of wooden slats.
Another wooden slat house. The houses were often painted in vibrant, cheerful colors.
We visited a place where they sold cigars and showed how they rolled them by hand. You can see the tobacco leaves drying here. The Dominican Republic is said to be the world's largest producer of cigars.
A man hand-rolling cigars
We also visited a farm that produced cocoa plants and they sold the coffee and chocolate that they produced from the cocoa plants. Here was another brightly painted traditional wooden slat house on the property that the family lived in.
The cocoa plant that is used to make chocolate, coffee, and many other products. We got to eat some of the ripe fruit from the inside and it was tasty.
Turning the cocoa beans into chocolate or coffee requires pounding, heating, stirring and then grinding.
Back at Bavaro beach
Parasailing was a very popular activity
You could see that the beach at times had very strong winds from the way some of the palms were shaped.
Our last day at the resort. The resort was all-inclusive meaning all the food and drinks were included. It was very relaxing.
Last day in Punta Cana before a 12 hour travel day back to SF.