Rest day but no rest!

Today was a rest day from running and a rest day from lazing at the beach.

We went on a mega trucks tour up into the mountains to see how the Dominican Republic natives live!

At 7:45 this morning we set off to walk the half a mile to our collection point! The mega truck arrived at 8 and off we set on a very rickety ride into the countryside.

Our first stop was at a ranch type place where we got to go on a trek on a mingy, probably flea ridden horse that didn't understand any English!

Thankfully the trek only lasted about half an hour and I managed to stay on despite my horses best efforts!  When we got back in the truck although it only 9.30am our tour guide opened the chiller and gave us all a well earned beer to quench our horse riding thirst!

Next, in the mega truck we headed out up into the mountains on what was rather rough terrain, which was extremely steep in places! It was definitely a case of hold on tight and keep on high alert to dodge the tree branch's as they whipped past the open sided vehicle!  I didn't totally succeed with this one and got slapped in the face by a load of leaves!  I am now sporting a cut on the bridge of my nose to go with my bruise and bump from the other day!


Our next stop was in a tiny village where we had the opportunity to shop for souvenirs aka junk.

After leaving this village we passed fields of sugarcane and locals (including young children) walking with big canisters to find water.  It was very difficult not to feel uneasy about it when you have bucket loads of drink on board!

 Next we visited a 'typical' Dominican Republic house and met the locals living there. We were given a very interesting and information talk and demonstration on how coffee and chocolate is produced from the time the coffee beans and cocoa is picked off the plants to become the products we know!  We even got to taste the end product which were delicious from such basic manufacturing means.  We also got to taste a local "cure all" drink called mama wanna which was made of rum, honey,bark, leaves and roots etc.  It didn't look too appetizing but didn't taste too bad!


After leaving here we stopped for lunch before heading to a glorious beach where we spent the rest of the afternoon. 

During the day we were bombarded with alcoholic beverages including Dominican Republic champagne which was delicious but was basically just rum and sprite!

We arrived back at our hotel at around 4:30pm and after walking the half mile back and depositing our stuff in the room headed out again for our daily exercise!  Today's walk along the beach took us left out the hotel and we walked 3:5 miles in total! It felt incredibly hard going today as the sand was very soft and it almost felt like sinking sand.